Notes for Erica Julia Augusta Saucerotte: Erica Palau, nee Saucerotte.
I first met Erica when I became friendly with her daughter Julia. We'd met climbing and I must admit I thought she was a bit above me. However, when she eventually invited me home and I'd sampled Erica's cooking (and Paco's wine) I was hooked. How best to describe Erica? Statuesque is the word that most readily springs to mind. She was a very handsome woman with considerable presence. She had come to Britain from Germany just before the war, met and married Paco when they were both working at the Selsdon Park Hotel, Paco as a wine butler and Erica as a chambermaid. In 1936 they were blessed with their first child, Rosita and in 1939 their second Julia who was later to become my wife. They were very hardworking and had a very varied life together. Erica died on Tuesday 26th September 2006 at the age of 92. I shall miss her and be eternally grateful that I met her daughter.
Notes from Zita... 3rd October 2006.
My mother, Erica, was born in Feb 1914, the only child of her parents, Julia and Victor Saucerotte. Almost immediately her father was enlisted (conscripted?) in to the German army as a cavalry officer.. After the war, in 1918 the family settled in Phorzhiem in the Black Forest (the centre of the German gold and Jeweller industry) There Erica went to school and played with Trudi, the same age as herself and the daughter of her grandfather. Her father was an artist and designed jewellery for many of the gem factories in the town. When she was about 12 the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland where her father continued to design. They had an opulent apartment overlooking the lake and mountains beyond. One Christmas she as given a dolls house made by her father which was an exact replica of the apartment they lived in. Her mother embroidered curtains and bedspreads and crocheted clothes for the dolls that went with the house that she delighted in. After school she trained as a dressmaker then in 1932 came to England, Wendham, in Constable country as an au pair then after a couple of years she moved to Selsdon Park Hotel as ladies maid to the owner. Thee she met my father who was head wine butler there 1940 the family moved to London where mother and father ran a cafe in the Brompton Road. We lived in a flat in the Cromwell Road which was destroyed when a bomb fell on The Natural History Museum. They then moved to to the basement of another restaurant which was also destroyed when they were bombed out again. After the war they moved in to a large house in Kensington. This was a happy time for Erica as her children, who had been evacuated to Norfolk returned. Also the Red Cross found her parents alive and well and living in the town where she was born. They came to England for a visit in 1947. In 1956 they moved to Streatham to a large house and a garden that was her delight as she grew vegetables and fruit. Another house was purchased and rented out which left pocket money to travel to Spain every winter to escape the cold weather. My father retired aged 75 so there was more time foe travelling. It was also a busy time looking after her husband and the four (5?) grandchildren who arrived after the girls married. She spent her last years at Elmwood House where she was the star of the quizzes and joined in sing songs. She did on her 90th birthday meet her great grandchildren, the last afternoon we visited her with her youngest grandchild.
More About Erica Julia Augusta Saucerotte and Francisco Juan Enrique Palau: Marriage: 27 October 1936, Marylebone Register Office, London.
Children of Erica Julia Augusta Saucerotte and Francisco Juan Enrique Palau are:
+Julia Ellisa May Palau, b. 15 March 1939, Selsdon, South Croydon, London, d. 7 August 1986, Near summit of K2, Pakistan, at 28000 ft.
Erica Julia Augusta Saucerotte (b. 20 February 1914, d. 26 September 2006)
Notes for Erica Julia Augusta Saucerotte: