Leila was born on the 4th January 1898 in Wandsworth. Her mother's name was Eliza, but she hated the name, she definitely didn't want to call her new daughter that. However, her husband, John, had other ideas. Before his wife had recovered enough from the birth, he rushed down to the register office and registered the new baby as ... Eliza! Her mother refused to call her by this name and so, throughout her life, she was known as Leila.

When she was 13, she went to work at Ede and Ravenscroft in Chancery Lane, a very old established company (and still going strong) making ceremonial and academic robes, judges' wigs etc.

In the 1920s she met Herbert Duerden while he was down in London (following his demob from the army in 1921) studying to be a barrister while teaching botany at Birkbeck College - also in Chancery Lane. As part of his self-improvement, he went to dancing classes, where he met Leila. Herbert's wife Olive was still in Lancashire at this time, working in the mill. When she eventually came down to join Herbert in London, in about 1926-7, Leila went with him to meet Olive off the train - no doubt somewhat disconcerting for Olive!

Leila was obviously very skilled at needlework and so she gradually worked her way up the company until she had a position of some responsibility. When Ede and Ravenscroft were chosen to make the Queen's coronation robe in 1953, Leila was put in charge of the team who made it, and she also went to Buckingham Palace to fit it on the Queen. On one visit, she laddered her stockings. The taxi driver made a detour to Gorringes department store, between Victoria and Buckingham Palace, because she couldn't possibly meet the Queen with laddered stockings.

The original design for the coronation robe was quite fancy, but the Queen wanted it less fussy at the front, so many of the tassels and baubles were removed to make it simpler.

Herbert Duerden's wife Olive died in 1967, one year after their Golden Wedding Anniversary. His family had never at this point heard of Leila, so it came as quite a surprise when he announced just a few months later that he would like to marry again. He had been struggling a little on his own but Herbert's two sons, Gordon and Keith, gave him every encouragement.

He and Leila married in the summer of 1968 and had nine years together in their bungalow at Mackie Avenue, Hassocks, Sussex. Herbert died in March 1977 aged 86. Leila lived on till June 1993 when she was 95. She was still living on her own in the bungalow, with a little help from Meals on Wheels and a home help.