What right age? E.L. could have been 20 or 70 back in ‘61. No one knows if he’s a real person much less his age. While it’s interesting there is a Lavender who is sometimes in Africa, that doesn’t mean it’s him or a relative. Africa is a really big place.
I found another reference to your Eric and posted this morning up the thread. He was still working with the ministry and was a member of the board for their schools in various locations around Africa. It also stated he was from the UK which to me means he lives in the UK but travels to Africa to handle school business.
I also posted a list of older UK males with an E-whatever as a first name and last name Lavender I found on a phone number site.
Check posts #4814 and #5217
Lavender might have been the clerk who typed the BC
I'm not saying it's the same man. Just that it is a possibility on circumstantial evidence.