LADY Montagu has unveiled a tribute to two members of the wartime Special Operations Executive who were trained on the family estate at Beaulieu.
Francis Suttill, who was married with two baby sons, became head of the biggest SOE circuit in France - the Paris-based "Prosper" network.
The 32-year-old was captured by the Germans and spent 18 months in a prison camp before being executed in March 1945.
Yvonne Rudellat, the first female SOE agent to be sent to Nazi-occupied France, kept explosives hidden under her bed.
She was arrested and taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died of typhus a few days after it was liberated.
Lady Montagu is a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, to which 45-year-old Yvonne was also attached.
Now she has unveiled a tribute to the two agents at an SOE museum in the grounds of Palace House, the Montagu family's ancestral home.
Some of the other country houses on the estate comprised SOE's finishing school, where recruits completed their training before being sent to war-torn Europe.
Their job was to organise members of the Resistance and help them carry out a range of subversive activities, including sabotage and reconnaissance.
A Beaulieu spokesperson said: "Francis and Yvonne trained at Beaulieu during the same month, worked in the same circuit, and were captured only a few days apart.
"They were ordinary people living in the safety of England at the outbreak of the war and yet put themselves forward for some of the most dangerous missions in France - their country of birth."
Surviving members of their families helped Lady Montagu build a picture of their lives before they joined SOE and what led to that decision.
"Francis left two baby sons who he never saw again after joining SOE and taking up his role in France, where he organised hundreds of agents and supporters for the network.
"Yvonne kept explosives under her bed in France and used them to sabotage train links, factories, and a power station.
"Their families have loaned photographs and the agents’ medals, as well as a canister that would have contained guns and ammunition when it was dropped by parachute for the Resistance."
Referring to the agents' skill and bravery Lady Montagu said: "The war turned two ordinary individuals into quite exceptional people."
She added: "The personalities of those who volunteered for such hazardous work has always fascinated me."
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