Lily's Letters

Lillian Sarah Hill came from Alton, where her father was a gardener and she was a housemaid at Emsworth House School when P.G. Wodehouse first stayed there.

When he moved into Threepwood Lillian became his housekeeper and was responsible for buying food and keeping him fed.

In 1908 Lillian married Albert Barnett whose family had lived in Emsworth for several generations and were fishermen. Albert was a fishmonger and lived in West View Terrace in Emsworth, which is in Bridgefoot Path. This is where they set up home together.

Their first child, Hugh, was born in 1909 and Norah was born in 1913 but Lillian still looked after P.G. Wodehouse.

Even after P.G. Wodehouse went to America he still wrote regularly to her and when she died she told Hugh that she had been his best friend, a tribute indeed.