Beatrice Eugene Pitts (1902-1998) was born in Walworth, Surrey. In 1922, she married Eric Basil Harthan (1900-1972), then a deacon studying for the Anglican priesthood. The couple sailed to China in January 1932, when her husband was appointed as a missionary in Shanghai. They returned in 1937 to take up the living of Cheddar in Somerset. Here they stayed until early 1940. Her husband, observing her sympathetic work with children both in China and in England, called her "quite a Wendy-girl" and this nickname stuck with her throughout her life.

In November 1940, Beatrice joined the WRAF, where she served as an officer throughout the war. It was in these years that she met Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986), composer, pianist and leader of the Army Classical Music Group. They established a very close personal and intimate relationship, which lasted until the mid-1950s. Although not a professional musician herself, Beatrice was closely involved in the post-war British music world and became manager of both Rubbra’s own Piano Trio and, from 1950 to 1954, of the Amadeus Quartet.

Outside music, she worked in the probation service and was Secretary and Almoner of the Sheriff's and Recorder's Fund at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court. Here she was known to be particularly sympathetic and helpful in the handling of the problems of prisoner families.

The Archive focuses chiefly on Beatrice's longstanding relationship with Edmund Rubbra. As such, it throws valuable light both on Rubbra as composer and musician and on musical life in general in the 1940s and 1950s.