HORNCASTLE, Juliet
As Juliet F Purnell, she was born at St Thomas, Devon in 1933, daughter of Donald Purnell (26 October 1903-15 September 1997) and his wife Margaret Marion née Hill (31 May 1909-23 March 1993), who married at Brentford in 1930. Juliet was educated at a convent boarding school on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and at the age of 17 Juliet, together with her parents, went to Kuala Lumpur, and during her three-year stay worked as Programme Assistant on Radio Malaya, writing, and announcing and she also assisted in the founding of the Malayan Arts Theatre. Returning to England, she married at Dartford, Kent in 1953, Richard Horncastle (died 17 April 1987) and they lived on an 80ft Thames Barge travelling wherever her naval officer husband’s position took them, including Cuxhaven, Germany. They later moved to a former coastguard cottage at Shingle Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk where they had three children. Juliet retained her interests in drama and painting and, as a mature student, studied for three years for State Registered Nurse and worked for twelve years in an Intensive Therapy Unit. In 1980 they purchased a farmhouse in Żebbuġ, Malta and where they lived part-time. Juliet continued with her painting, studying under Suffolk artist Yvonne Drewry and began exhibiting with other East Anglian painters. Her husband died in 1987 and Juliet went to West Africa for two years nursing in a Franciscan Mission Hospital, mostly with mal-nourished children, but continued with her painting in West Africa and, returning to Malta, she worked in the newly opened Zammit Clapp Hospital for about two years. In 1999 she married again. As Juliet Horncastle she had two exhibitions in Aldeburgh, Suffolk also showing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Malta.