Nualchavee Dhepavalaya was an educated Singapalese girl of good birth who married Frederic Cobb shortly before the fall of Singapore in 1942. She escaped with her daughter Julia Cobb on 3 February 1942 by boat from Singapore and reached Ceylon. She must have died as a refugee in Ceylon as Julie was found as an orphan by nuns and looked after but this was obviously a very traumatic period for a small girl which may have reflected on her later character.