Mary Rowlatt was born in Cairo in 1908. She represented the fifth generation of her family to make its home in Egypt. Her father, Sir Frederick Rowlatt, aged four, was present at the opening of the Suez Canal, and later became a governor and director of the National Bank of Egypt.
Major Maurice Patrick O'Connor Tandy (1912-86) Tandy had a career spanning the Royal Artillery, the North-West Frontier Province of India, and colonial administration in the Persian Gulf, where he was Political Officer, Trucial Coast, and later Political Agent, Kuwait. His posts and dates include: Vice-Consul Zabul 1939-40, Assistant Commissioner Kohat 1940-41, Vice-Consul Bushire 1941, Political Officer Trucial Coast 1943-44, Assistant Political Agent Bahrain 1944-45, Political Agent Kuwait 1945-48.