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Jean, as he was known, Duboudin was born 23 May 1907 in Halluin (59), a French town on the Belgian border, some 20 kilometres north-east of Lille.  His parents, Georges and Adelna Duboudin, were French nationals and Jean and his brother Marcel therefore took the same nationality.  When the Germans overran Halluin and northern France during the First World War, Jean and Marcel were sent, as refugees, to stay with cousins in the Saint Emilion region, not far from Bordeaux.  His family relocated to Paris at some point and Duboudin attended the prestigious Lycée Janson de Sailly in the capital where, an intelligent boy, he did well in his schooling. He served his national service in the French Army (probably from 1925 to 1927) in a horse-drawn anti-tank artillery unit and attended the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, from where he graduated in economics in 1930.  Thus qualified, he went to work for the French bank, Crédit Lyonnais in the capital and shortly afterwards met his English wife-to-be, Veronica Frances Ellen Mary Trumble, though the relationship almost immediately had to endure a forced separation when Veronica went to work in southern Spain.  In May 1933, however, Veronica returned to London where Duboudin had been posted by his bank and they married.  Duboudin immersed himself in British life and culture as a ‘City gent’, commuting each day from Finchley in north London.  His career was progressing well, he was made responsible for the important task of gold exchange between London and Paris and was expecting a promotion posting to Alexandria in Egypt when war broke out.

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