1946 Sent to St James' School, Malvern

1953 26 worked on General Erwin Starr for the International Federation of Agricultural producers and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conferences traveling with the parliamentary delegates on their tours to Zambia and northern and southern Rhodesia. In London with the Voice of Kenya.

1956 married squadron leader David Urquhart, RAF, divorce 1959 and returned to Kenya

1963 there was a job going int Zanzibar so went out to join the Election Commission under the direction of Jim Pedraza, son of a well known Kenya Provincial Commissioner. The elections went smoothly and after the December independence celebrations work was continuing on voters' roles and tidying up the electoral matters when on the night of 10 January 1964 "I was woken by the telephone and heard gunfire at 4:00 AM, while living in the Chief Justice's house to look after it while they were on leave. The Attorney General who lived next door instructed me to leave by an inflatable boat that would fetch me off the beach in front of the house as there was a revolution. I was taken out to a deep sea fishing boat to join others. After dawn had broken we tried to join the Sultan's yacht., but there was firing from from the beach. The owner of the fishing boat decided we should leave hurriedly and we sailed uncomfortably over the monsoon swells to Tanga where we were greeted by armed guards at midnight. But I can remember thinking when we passed my grandparents' old home, still the Smith Mackenzie office and flat, that she had lived to tell the tale and so would I."

Prominent in EAWL (UK) of which she became an honorary Vice-President (2019)
Vanessa Stoddard (god-daughter) in Jambo (Magazine of the East Africa Women's League, UK) Autumn 2024 President EAWL UK 2004-2007, Chair of Benevolent Committee 2004-2014. Phyllida was a truly remarkable woman. She was born into a family of ancient Scottish baronial heritage on her father's side and Cornish Celtic on her mother's. From trading companies in Bombay in the late 19th century to Zanzibar in 1888 her family were early pioneers. Her father George Nicol moved, after his marriage to Phyllis née Milton, to Zanzibar in 1933 and became Chairman of Smith Mackenzie in 1935. Phyllida's parents were very well known to the social set of the time in the Colony as Phyllida was growing up. Both parents flew their own planes. Her mother was glamorous, very quick witted and invariably wore a turban and held a long cigarette holder and a glass of whisky.
Phyllida spent much of her childhood attending every notable party, be it on the Sultan's yacht, or in the Palace or hotel, beach or Club. When not at these, she was in or around or on the ocean or up at either parent's farms. Phyllida's main anchor in her early life was her Nanny from Devonshire. Despite her very privileged life Phyllida felt at times very lonely and friends were collected, at her request to Nanny, by the driver. A series of cats became very important in her life and remained so till her death. Her beloved Nanny was increasingly disillusioned by her employers' rather 'fast' way of living as she saw it and returned to England when Phyilida was 12. Phyllida was distraught at her loss but being an adaptable colonial child, she accepted a new governess that now appeared on the scene.
She attended Limuru School in 1944- 6 which she loved. Then off to St James' Malvern where she was initially considered an exotic, and possibly recently expelled, but she settled in and thoroughly enjoyed school life and made many lifetime friends. Phyllida was offered a place at Girton College, Cambridge to read medicine, despite her dyslexia, but her father refused and she was summoned back to Africa.
She worked for a short time at Lushoto school but at 17 she had to take over the running of her mother's farm maintenance in the Usambara mountains. Her mother had had to go back the UK on medical grounds. This was when Phyllida needed a driving licence and was seen practising car gears on their 9 hole golf course by the local Sikh policeman. He passed her then and there!
ln 1950 Phyllida went to Constance Spry, Winkfield. Here she learned her considerable cooking skills and the art of floral arranging. She was to become an lnternational Judge in that art years later. 
Following a disastrous, unhappy marriage to an RAF doctor and subsequent long 5-year wait for a divorce, she returned to Zanzibar in 1964. She secured a job to manage the programs of various VlPs for the Elections that were soon to take place. It was here she became caught up in the Revolution from which she had a very dramatic escape, running down the beach under fire to a waiting private yacht in the harbour to safety. It was around this time she met Desmond Forbes Cockell who had been working in Smith Mackenzie for many years. They married (though neither parent attended) and spent a long and very happy life together. Desmond eventually became the Chairman of Smith Mackenzie and this meant a whirl of entertaining for which Phyllida was more than qualified. They lived in a lovely house in Nairobi and enjoyed all the trappings of a comfortable life, which included racehorses and world travel. They retired for many years to Natal, South Africa by the ocean and then eventually returned to Herefordshire, UK in 1990s. 
Phyllida continued to have so many interests including being President of the EAWL for many years; flower clubs and teaching; painting to a very high standard, and travel. ln her very old age, medical issues and new hip joints ignored, she travelled to the Arctic & Antarctic and scrambled in and out of rubber boats in freezing waters with no fear. Courageous and genuine always, she never complained and she loved life to the full and worked to surround herself with friends of all ages, and especially children and animals.

1965  Lived at Smith Mackenzie's house San Jose above Mombasa golf course, before moving to Nairobi Head Office (her husband was Shipping Director of Smith Mac)

Phyllida Cockell I wanted to be a doctor and had a place at Girton College, Cambridge, having had an interview in October 1947, provided I got my Latin certificate. I was booked into a school to be crammed, but Father said no and that I could go back to Limuru School. It did not work out well and after one term I came home to maintain the house at Lushoto to find that Grandma had breast cancer and was taken with mother to Nairobi so I started to run the farm which was more fun than school.

Notes in P. Cockell files Phyllida left Limuru in 1946 to finish her schooling at St James, Ma1vern. Later, after a period back in East Africa, she went to Winkfield to studv cordon bleu cooking and f1ower arranging. Both have since stood her in very good stead. Her working experience for the next few years was both varied and interesting, including cooking in restaurants in London, the Electors’ Union in Kenya and ‘Voice of Kenya’. In 1964 she was employed by the British government election commission in Zanzibar preparing for independence. She was still running the office when the Zanzibar Revolution took place. She was evacuated from the island, along with the attorney general and others, by a small boat, landing in Tanga, from where they were taken to Dar es Salaam. Looking for a somewhat more peaceful job she joined Smith Mackenzie and Company in Mombasa, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and father who in turn had been chairmen of the company. Not long afterwards she married her boss Desmond Cockell. Desmond and Philippa moved to Nairobi in 1970 when Desmond became chairman and for some time they were living at Roslyn. Eventually Desmond had to make a sideways step to enable Jomo Kenyatta’s nephew to take over as chairman and at the end of 1976 he took early retirement from Smith Mackenzie. They moved to South Africa and for 13 years lived in Ramsgate, Natal. She kept up her interest in flower arranging, had more time to devote to her hobby and she qualified as a member of the Natal panel for judges and was president of the Floral Art Demonstration Association of Natal. She herself competed internationally and was successful in gaining a number of awards in England and Europe. In 1990 they made a decision to move to England and settled in Ross on Wye. Keeping us busy as ever, she once again became involved with the local flora art and became an area judge