Jocelyn Henderson
1921-2021
In writing an appreciation of a long-lived member of the community who has passed away, it is almost a convention to note that: “We will not see their like again.” In the case of Jocelyn Henderson, a prominent member of Abu Dhabi’s expatriate British community for 45 years, that is not just a fair judgement. It is also a matter of great regret.
Jocelyn, who first came to live in Abu Dhabi in 1976 with her late husband, Edward Henderson, died on November 13, 2021, three months after reaching the venerable age of 100. Among those sending her birthday greetings was the ‘Mother of the Nation’, Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, a token of the respect in which she was held.
Born in Britain on August 21, 1921 to a Dutch father and an English mother, she packed a lot into life before she married in 1961. Training as a secretary, during the Second World War she worked first in a hospital, then a film company and a theatre company, before going to work with Sarah Churchill, daughter of Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. After the War, she moved to Germany to work with the British forces there, before returning to Britain in 1957, where she met her husband.
Life was then, perhaps, lived at a slower pace, and a four-year courtship followed before Jocelyn and Edward married, shortly before he took up a post at the British Consulate-General in Jerusalem. A posting in Bahrain followed, introducing Jocelyn to the Gulf, and then one in Qatar, where Edward was, in 1971, the last British Political Agent and the first British Ambassador. By 1976, he had retired from the Foreign Office and the Hendersons moved to Abu Dhabi, at the invitation of the late Sheikh Zayed. He had become a close friend of Edward’s during earlier postings, as an oil company representative and then as a diplomat, in the late 1940s and 1950s.
While Edward quietly continued to work with Sheikh Zayed, Jocelyn began to carve out her own place in Abu Dhabi’s growing expatriate community, playing an active role in the local Anglican Church, St. Andrew’s, and helping to create and run the Daly Community Library, which was for many years a central feature of expatriate community life. In those early days in Abu Dhabi, so different from today, Jocelyn never wasted time on what perhaps she felt were trivial pursuits.
“I tended to shun woman who played golf or bridge,” she wrote in her memoir, Gulf Wife, published in 2014. These she said, were “expatriate pastimes that I had little or no time for”.
After Edward died in 1995, she decided to continue living in Abu Dhabi. In Gulf Wife, she wrote: “My home, even without my husband, who first brought me here, is Abu Dhabi, thousands of miles away from my birthplace.”
A biographical summary, however, does little to explain the way in which Jocelyn Henderson emerged quietly as one of the most highly respected members of the capital’s British community. Until relatively recently, when she appeared at events such as the annual Remembrance Sunday services at St. Andrew’s, or receptions at the British Embassy, there was always a steady flow of people coming to pay court to her.
At home, in the company of her beloved dogs, Jocelyn shared with younger friends conversations that flowed from life in Abu Dhabi to comments on British politics, interspersed with shrewd, but never unkind, comments on prominent members of local expatriate society. Gently, over the years she lent a sympathetic ear, offering wise advice to many. The deep affection felt so widely for her was well-earned, well deserved.
“In the years to come,” she wrote in Gulf Wife, “I hope to be considered, like my husband before me, among those who made a difference to life here… I hope I left a small footprint on the sands of Abu Dhabi, of which I am so fond.”
That footprint is still fresh. We will, indeed, not see her like again.
Welcome to The Winter Escape Issue.
In this issue we encourage you to POWER DOWN and take time to pause.
Whether you’re thinking of snow or sunnier climes, either physically or mentally – we’re encouraging you to stop, reflect and reset ready for 2022.
For our cover, we partnered with whind, a brand that embodies a new kind of beauty, expertly blending both science and skincare rituals. We discuss heritage and brand building with Founder, Hind Sebti in Otherworldly Beauty on page 18.
In this issue we have exclusive interviews with a personal long-time inspiration Beth Bugdaycay, Founder of Foundrae in Authentic. Classic. Personal. on page 42, Bvlgari Jewellery’s Lucia Silvestri who worked with Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the second part of the Jannah collection in
Chapter Two on page 78 and RAEY, an in-house brand by MATCHESFASHION in The New Classic on page 34. Rejuvenate on page 70 gives insight on the benefits of IV Drip Therapy as the smart way to see you through the event season and come out looking fresh for the new year ahead and we round up the best facials to leave you looking flawless in Party Prep on page 72. We also find out what some of the incredible women we know have on their wishlists, as well as what to buy the perfect host in The Gift Guide on page 82.
At a time when we are all thinking about giving rather than receiving, I’d like to thank an outstanding team that gives their all on a daily basis. Thank you every ounce of effort.
Wishing all our incredible women a wonderful festive season and a very Happy New Year.
Time to POWER UP for 2022!
Amy Sessions
EDITOR / ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER