Lena and Miriam Boutros
1918. Port Said. Lebanese sisters Lena and Miriam Boutros met two Australian light horseman.
Lena and Miriam were born in Lebanon to Boutros, son of Tanous, and his wife Saada El Hag. They had at least two younger brothers, Tawfik and Maroun, and, like many Levantine Christian families, the children later adopted their father’s given name as a surname.
As part of the wider Lebanese diaspora, the family relocated to Port Said, where Boutros opened a confectionery shop. It may well have been there that Private George Godbold of the 11th Australian Light Horse and Sapper George Patterson of the 9th Australian Light Horse first met the Boutros sisters.
One can imagine the scene: the soldiers peering into glass cases, laughing as they debated over trays of baklava and ma’amoul, trying to pronounce the unfamiliar names while the sisters served sweets with a mix of curiosity and amusement.
What began as a wartime encounter quickly blossomed into romance. The first couple to marry were Miriam and George Patterson, who tied the knot before His Majesty’s Consul in Port Said just days before Christmas 1918, with Lena and George Godbold among the witnesses.
Two months later, Lena and George Godbold celebrated their own marriage at the same Consulate, followed by a religious ceremony at the local English Church. Both couples’ marriages were conducted under the provisions of the Foreign Marriage Act of 1892 (UK) with the sisters obtaining British nationality on marriage.
By May 1919, the sisters faced a bittersweet separation. Miriam and George Patterson sailed for Australia aboard the H.T. Hungaria, while Lena and George Godbold remained in Egypt. On the sea voyage, Miriam might have been comforted by the presence of two other war brides of Lebanese origin, one of whom was also bound for Melbourne.
On arrival, Miriam was exempted from the usual restrictions towards Lebanese migrants (then termed Syrians) under the White Australia Policy by virtue of her status as the wife of an Australian soldier.
In Port Said, Lena petitioned the Australian Military Authorities for her husband to be discharged abroad, suggesting he might join her father in business. Instead, George Godbold obtained a position with the English Coaling Company in Port Said. He was among a number of Australians who ultimately settled with their wives in Britain, France, Belgium, and Egypt.
The sisters were now an ocean apart, yet their bond endured. When Miriam welcomed her first child in Melbourne the following year, she named her daughter Lena, in honour of her elder sister. Miriam and George Patterson would go on to have four more children.
Lena and George eventually visited Australia, arriving in Sydney aboard the H.T. Indarra in June 1920 before continuing north to Queensland. In Biggenden, Lena was warmly welcomed into the Godbold family and local community.
Later that same year, the couple returned to Port Said, accompanied by George’s younger brother, Herbert Godbold, who would also settle there and later marry Wahida de Ghazal.
Lena and George remained married for many years, though they had no children. Lena passed away in Port Said in 1951, and George died in Cairo in 1956. That same year, Miriam was widowed in Melbourne; she would later remarry and divorce before passing away in 1976.
The Boutros sisters reminds us that Australian soldiers married women from far beyond Britain and France, forging connections across oceans and cultures in the aftermath of war.
Photo: Private George Godbold and Lena Boutros, Port Said, 1919. Courtesy of Bob Godbold.