Cicely Joy Hugh Roberts, also known as Joy,  was born in Deanshanger in 1910 to Harry Hugh and Eveline May Roberts of The Cottage, The Green.  Harry was the 2nd son of Henry Roberts, who was the “H” in E & H Roberts, owners of the iron foundry in Deanshanger.  Henry was one of the son’s of John Roberts who established the foundry.  Eveline was the daughter of William Chennel who farmed at Passenham. Cicely had a younger sister Jean Helen Hugh Roberts.  Cicely was educated privately and could speak French, Spanish and German.  The family moved to The Leat, Calverton Road, Stony Stratford during the early 1930s. This coincides with the wind-down of the foundry.   Towards the end of that decade they moved on to Thames Ditton in Surrey.

She had started to work for Reuters News Agency around 1929 as a shorthand typist. She was promoted to a reporter and is said to have covered the  Berlin Olympics in 1936.  In May 1941 she is said to have famously interviewed Emperor Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The interview is said to have taken place in a palace room while flanked by live lions. Selassie was returning from exile.  There is Reuters footage of his return on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo3TXE3GwBQ&t=10s

In July 1941 Cicely married Frank Bradshaw White.  Prior to their marriage Frank worked for Cameron Smith and Marriott agents who specialised in shipping paintings and antiquities to USA from UK. He travelled to New York and Jamacia before the war. At the time of their marriage he was an Acting Pilot Officer in the RAF.  They lived about 2 miles from each other, in the Thames Ditton area.  Like Cicely, Frank was privately educated.  His father, John, was a GP.  Frank died in 1949