Ian Handford: Why this volunteer deserves spotlight over famous husband

Phoebe Beer (nee Hill) was born in Manchester in July 1909 the youngest of seven.

Her father, William Hill, was a railway clerk and her mother had died when Phoebe was a child. 

Later when denied a scholarship and a teenager she left home and moved to Totnes a town she knew as her parents had moved from it to Manchester. Interestingly it seems the Hills were a minor aristocracy in Devon having originally been based at Modbury near Plymouth. 

At Totnes she worked as a cook and housekeeper to a family of the town. Now 18 she quickly found she loved Devon and next found Paignton where she became employed as a carer to Mr Edwin Beer's wife Margaret Finney in 1932. 

Sadly Mary had contracted consumption on a world tour with Edwin and although they had originally intended to make their home in San Diego, California, her illness had forced them to return to England and eventually reside at a Kings Ash home in Paignton.

When Margaret died Phoebe then married Edwin in 1934 and they worked closely together for the rest of her life. 

As a member of the Devon Beekeepers Association, years later during the Second World War they enjoyed extra supplies of sugar. 

But for now they joined virtually every institution locally and often even national bodies when associated with the natural world. 

Phoebe alone became an associate of a Charity called "Beauty Without Cruelty (to Animals)" where she was particularly good at fund-raising for them and was often seen  "badgering local businesses" for prizes and even once reported as "marching into Woolworths Paignton to persuade them to donate 1d or 2d items for her so-called Bran Tub. 

She supported the local Conservative and Unionist Party in the 1950's and in having strong feelings about the plight of unmarried mothers then helped establish the first Family Planning Association in Torbay, becoming its Honorary Secretary and appointment maker.  

She was often embarrassed when her young son, Lionel, took calls for the FPA but then failed to pass on the unfortunate women "in trouble" to the doctor. Nevertheless Phoebe remained in the voluntary job for years.

Jointly, husband and wife became members of the Devonshire Association from 1956 and in fact Phoebe once again served as Hon Secretary to its Geology Section for some 33 years. 

She became renowned for finding quality speakers and like her husband was also publishing authoritative papers on geology or the natural world as by now she had a Doctorate. 

One publication, an eight page pamphlet entitled Dr Phoebe on "Architecture and Geology in Torquay" I particularly liked and although it was undated it is likely to have been written in the 1970's. 

She even published her husband's autobiography in 1962 titled  "The Beginning of Rayon.”

Edwin meanwhile became an important player in the growth of Torquay's Natural History Society which would eventually become Torquay Museum. 

He was of course now internationally famous and that led to him being elected a Fellow at the Geological Society of London in 1971. 

It was a rare honour and even today - 50 years on - Edwin Beer is believed to have held the award Fellowship longer than anyone else survived until age 107. He was at the time believed to be the oldest man in Devon. 

Phoebe meanwhile served as Secretary of the Museum's Archaeology Section for more than two decades while being President of the Naturalist Society and even helping the National Trust establish a branch in Torbay.  

During her final years Dr Phoebe Beer became involved with her husband as members of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, while both travelled the world extensively. 

Phoebe lived until a marvellous age 99 dying in September, 2008, although Edwin survived until September 1986 aged 107.