Can anyone help in the search for Margaret Rachel Hull? She left Oxford and sailed to America in July 1940 to escape Hitler’s bombs and spent four or five years there before returning to the UK.

Now the family with whom she stayed as a refugee are trying to find her and are appealing to Memory Lane readers for help.

Alan Smith, who lives in New York, writes: “Margaret Rachel Hull, who would now be in her seventies, came to America in the arms of her mother, Judith Rachel Hull (nee Moore, of Greenwich). They had been living at 137 Woodstock Road, Oxford. I knew her as Rachel and for a few years, she was as close to me as any sister could have been.

“Rachel’s mother returned home to England alone, perhaps to Oxford or to her family’s home in Greenwich, and in the summer of 1943, she died, perhaps of cancer.

“We understand Margaret Rachel’s father, Professor Richard Hull, died in 1944 or 1945, perhaps a casualty of the war. Rachel returned to England in 1944 or 1945, but to where and to whom, we do not know.”

Mr Smith’s interest in Rachel’s whereabouts was rekindled when he came across her name while compiling a book about the building of his family home in 1941.

He said: “I thought that if Rachel is still alive, I would like to contact her and give her a copy of the book, Red House: A Story of Building a House in the Woods.

“I still remember clearly, with my five-year-old eyes, the day she left to go back to England. For some reason, my parents never kept in touch with Rachel, at least not that I knew about.”

If anyone knows Rachel’s whereabouts, email Mr Smith at hasmith11@gmail.com or write to him via Memory Lane.