POOLE property developer and entrepreneur, Rachel Allenby, has died at the age 94.

Born as Rachel Jolliffe in Sri Lanka, she moved back to the UK with her family, including her two brothers and a sister, in 1930 where they lived in Blair Avenue in Parkstone.

She was a descendant of the 17th century sea captain and smuggler, Captain Peter Jolliffe, whose exploits against the French led to William the Third giving him a bounty with which he purchased Jolliffe House. He also

Her family moved to British Columbia for a short while before returning to Blair Avenue.

She married her husband, Dr Peter Allenby, who worked as a GP in Salisbury, in 1944 and together the couple welcomed their children, Christine, who died aged 23 in a scuba diving accident, Susan, Josephine and Christopher.

She purchased Jolliffe House in 1968 and then Newfoundland House several years later. Newfoundland House, as its name implies, marks the heyday of Poole's trade with Newfoundland in the 18th century. Sadly, Rachel's husband, Peter, died in 1971.

She also went on to purchase 1 and 2 Market Close, the St Aldhelm's development site, Jade Manor Court and opened The Quay Hotel in Poole. In her spare time, her son, Christopher, said that she loved to travel and was an entrepreneur all the way through her life.

He said that her only formal training was as a St Thomas' nurse after leaving education.

She told Daily Echo in January 1974 that she 'loved Poole and anything to do with it."

Christopher said that she had requested that she could stay in her flat overlooking Poole Quay until her final days. She only moved out of it for a short while due to a period of ill-health, where she was cared for at Regency Manor Residential and Nursing Home, just a few steps away from the family home.

Rachel died on July 3 and a service to celebrate her life will be held at St James' Church, on Thames Street in Poole, on Friday, September 9.