Helen Hilliard (née McNaughtan)
Very little is known about Helen Hilliard beyond her 1953 book, A Trout Rod in Natal. It is the main source for her life. She dedicated it to the memory of her sister, Flora Scott, and her brother, Donald L. McNaughtan.
The McNaughtan name, and a quote of a sentence by her brother spelled suggests Scottish ancestry. Her own account, though, places her childhood in England’s Lake District. She recalls fishing Lake Windermere with a governess, which points to a comfortable, probably wealthy, upbringing. Her Scottish connections show through in the book, where she renders her brother’s words with his strong Scottish accent intact.
As a married woman she travelled to Switzerland each year with her husband on his annual month’s holiday. Together they hiked widely, including in the Dolomites, and camped rough in the mountains. They were also early skiers. From 1908 they “never missed a winter except for the war years”, which puts them among the first generation of British skiers in the Alps.
When France fell in 1940, the Hilliards were caught there. They got out through Lisbon and sailed on a Portuguese ship to Lourenço Marques, then went on to Durban, where they made their home. By her own account they were too old for “war work”. She wrote of the deep distress she felt as Europe and England suffered under the German war machine.
In October 1940 she fished at Underberg for the first time. She lamented having left all her Hardy tackle in England, but she re-equipped and went on to fish every river in the district. Her favourites were the Umzimkulu and the Ngwangwane. She mentions staying at the hotel and, at other times, with farming hosts. This suggests the Hilliards visited Underberg often from Durban rather than living there. Her best trout was a rainbow of 5 lb 2 oz from Ivor Vaughan’s dam.
She was a well-read angler. She refers, for example, to an article by Negley Farson, one of the best-known angling writers of the day. One account mentions that she was referred to as “The Duchess” , and she was known to fish accompanied by a ghillie, at least partially because she had a habit of falling in! When she wrote A Trout Rod in Natal she was clearly well on in years. She is also known for her fly pattern the Hilliard’s Special, which is listed in Bill Hansford-Steele’s “Flies for Africa”.
She is remembered as a prim and proper lady. One story, recounted by Tom Sutcliffe in his first book, has it that she summoned Jack Blackman to her deathbed to lecture him on keeping up high standards in the art of fly fishing.
