During World War II, Eileen Le Croissette, later Eileen Younghusband, was an officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. In this time, she encountered aliens.
In 1940, she signed the Official Secrets Act.
In 1942, she was assigned to Gulliver Base to work with the Egg, an aircraft of alien origin, after tracking its movements. There she met Edward Travers, and he recommended her to the Home-Army Fourth Operational Corps. (PROSE: The Flaming Soldier)
On her first missing for the Fourth, she investigates the Sheffield Steelworks and uncovers a plot involving Quarks. She works alongside Matthew Lethbridge-Stewart (at the time calling himself Matthew Stewart) and Travers. Once her mission is over, she bumps into a future version of herself and is given a temporal marker. She is transported to the Quantum Realm and meets the Accord (the Azure Guardian). (PROSE: Home Fires Burn) Once she learns about the temporal collapse and the temporal shockwaves erasing people from time, she is sent on a mission to an alternative 1978 to collect Anne Bishop. It takes a few times to actualise, but eventually she collects Anne. (PROSE: The Shadowman) She remains in the Quantum Realm while Anne is sent another parallel Earth to collect Archie Lethbridge-Stewart. (PROSE: An Ordinary Man)
She often worked with Travers, but not always. (PROSE: Vampires of the Night)
She knew of Wing Commander Gordon Conall Lethbridge-Stewart, and even met him briefly during her service in the WAAF. (PROSE: The Flaming Soldier)
She married Peter Younghusband and circa 1956 she gave birth to Clive Younghusband.
In 1969, she visited her cousin Derek Younghusband shortly after he began working with Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Derek told her about his recent encounter with the Fungusmen. (PROSE: The Last Duty)
The following year, she encountered Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and helped him repel the same aliens she had previous encountered at Gulliver Base in 1942. She was saddened to learn of Edward Travers' death.
In May 2013, she visited the grave of Major Randall to return his medals, which she'd had in her possession since 1942. (PROSE: The Flaming Soldier)
It is around this time, that Eileen is taken out of time by the Accord and sent back to 1942 to collect Professor Travers. She unfortunately bumps into her younger self and passes on the temporal marker to her. Eileen is then erased out of time by the temporal shockwave. (PROSE: Home Fires Burn)
Behind the scenes[]
Eileen Younghusband existed in real life and many of the life details given in The Last Duty correspond with real life. She wrote three books for Candy Jar Books, the publishing company responsible for the Lethbridge-Setwart series. With Eileen's permission, the character Derek Younghusband was introduced into the Lethbridge-Stewart series in the short story The Band of Evil as Eileen's fictional cousin.
Eileen died on 2 September 2016, and the Lethbridge-Stewart short story The Last Duty was released shortly afterwards to honour her passing.[1]
