john st quinton mallandaine + emelene lane
c. 1955
John was born in Bombay on 16 June 1909 to Alfred Mallandaine and his third wife Mary Acey and baptised at St Thomas Cathedral on 25 August. His father was working as a private bandmaster after serving in the same capacity in the army in India for almost thirty years. By 1914, his father had retired and the family returned to England settling in Worthing, a seaside town 10 miles west of Brighton. John and his younger sister grew up in the family home on Kingsland Road in the Broadwater area of Worthing.
John was working as a clerk for Lloyd’s Bank when he married Emelene Edwina Marian Lane in Worthing in the summer of 1933. Emelene, known as Edwina, was born in Portsea on 10 November 1896 to Edwin Lane and Emily Coltson. Her father was a Tailor and the family lived on King's Road in Portsmouth until her father's death between 1903 and 1905. Edwina and her mother were living with her widowed uncle in Portsmouth when the 1911 census was taken. When she finished school, she trained at the Royal Academy of Music and taught at several schools in the Worthing area between 1916 and her marriage to John in 1933.
John and Edwina had one daughter, Jean Patricia, on 23 September 1934 and settled into life in Worthing. John was active in the community and served as the Secretary of the Worthing Operatic Society from 1932 to 1941 and as the Master of the Viatores Freemason's Lodge and a Provincial Grand Lodge Office in the province of Sussex. But he was forced to give up his duties when he enlisted as an Officer Cadet in the army. He trained in Catterick, Yorkshire and in 1942, he was posted to India and over the next four years, he served in various posts in the Finance Office at the British Military Administration in Rawalpindi, Agra, Abbottabad and Johore Bahru in Malaya.
When he was discharged at the end of the war, he returned to Lloyd's Bank and joined the staff at a branch in the City of London. His career continued to progress and in 1947, he was appointed to the inspection staff and after completing a course at the Banks staff college, he became a sub-manager at the Lloyd's office in Lombard Street. In 1951, they left Worthing and settled in Ashtead, Surrey so John could travel to work in London more easily but by the mid 1950s, they had moved north to Leeds in Yorkshire when John was transferred. His community service continued and he served as the treasurer of the Leeds YWCA.
The family returned to the south and settled in the small Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden. Edwina died on 18 November 1988 in Great Missenden followed by John eight years later.
Their daughter Jean was a very talented pianist and like her mother, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoyed a successful career as a pianist and a vocal instructor and coach. She began her career as an opera pianist and manager and toured the UK for the Arts Council of Great Britain before taking a position with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. After 25 years at Glyndebourne she moved to the US and spent fifteen years as the Head of Music Staff at the Houston Grand Opera and the Artistic Supervisor of Houston Opera Studio. As an accomplished pianist, she enjoyed a career as a soloist as well as an accompanist performing with Kiri Te Kanawa.
Jean died of cancer in Worthing on 14 November 2007 and was buried in the church yard at St Peter and St Paul in Great Missenden.