A WOMAN who was deported from Spain as a child after her father was accused of being a spy and went on to become an MBE for her charity work has died aged 95.

Verity Frances Montagu Brown, who was known as Bobby, was born in 1921 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Aged three, Bobby moved with her parents to Huelva, Southern Spain where her father became MD of the Zaffra Huelva railway.

Educated by governesses up to the age of 12, Bobby spent a very happy childhood with her many Spanish friends and numerous rescue dogs as companions.

With only a few hours’ notice in 1941 Bobby and her mother were deported from their beloved Spain along with their father who had been imprisoned in Huelva accused of spying. They returned to England on a destroyer in the middle of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Bobby never forgot her links with her beloved Spain or her first language, Spanish.

She used this to her advantage as her work as a translator/interpreter at Bletchley Park in the Second World War before transferring to the Foreign Office in London during the blitz.

In 1947, she married her cousin Chris and moved to Broad Chalke, Wiltshire.

Chris, a doctor who fought with the Chindits in Burma, bought the local GP practice and Brook House, which became the family home and surgery.

Throughout the years of marriage to Chris and the birth of two sons and two daughters, Bobby was a constant at Chris’s side supporting him throughout, both with his work and life in the community.

Following the death of Chris shortly before his retirement, Bobby involved herself in many aspects of Chalke Valley and Salisbury life.

She worked voluntarily for Oxfam, the RNLI, The Spire Appeal, The Cathedral Chapter House and the Salisbury Hospice.

Aged 91, Bobby received an MBE at Windsor Castle in 2012.

The MBE was awarded in recognition of her voluntary work in the community over many years.

Bobby is survived by her four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A thanksgiving service will be held at All Saints Church, Broad Chalke on Friday, January 30 at midday.