The extraordinary life of a secret Kent millionaire has been unearthed following revelations about her amazing generosity which is set to benefit thousands of people across the county.

Hilda Levi, who had a modest 1970s semi-detached home in Whitstable, gifted her considerable wealth to numerous local good causes after she died in 2022 aged 98.

Her recently published will revealed she gave £500,000 to the Friends of Kent and Canterbury Hospital, the same amount to Age UK in the hope it would benefit the Whitstable branch, £200,000 to the Friends of Whitstable Healthcare and another £200,000 to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.

They are delighted but mystified, having had no previous contact or even knowledge of Hilda, who likely inherited a substantial sum from a rich uncle.

Neighbours of her home in Seymour Avenue said there were no clues that she was so well-off, with her house and garden left in a poor state.

But now it has been discovered that Hilda was an orphaned child Jewish refugee who fled to England from Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, where all her family were killed in the Holocaust.

She was found a home in Sutton Valence, near Maidstone, where she became part of her adopted family, eventually gaining ‘naturalised’ status in 1958.

Now it is known that Ellen Jeffery - who is buried in the same plot as Hilda in Whitstable cemetery, albeit 22 years earlier - is her ‘adopted’ mum who cared for her. But Hilda’s name has not yet been inscribed on the headstone.

Ellen, who died in 1980, was a resident of the former Ladesfield Old Persons Home in Vulcan Close, Whitstable. But her burial record states that her home address was in Seymour Avenue, the house owned by Hilda, who also rented a flat in London.

Working with genealogist Julie Hunt from Whitstable, who was fascinated by our original story on KentOnline on Sunday, we have now been able to piece together the life of a woman who overcame tragedy and adversity.

“I was just intrigued and thought there must be much more to this extraordinary woman,” said Mrs Hunt, who worked in youth services in Canterbury for more than 20 years.

For the past seven years she has become fascinated by genealogy, compiling family trees for families and friends.

Trawling through numerous historic documents, Mrs Hunt was able to uncover many more details about Hilda’s life story.

This includes an internee record from May 1941 which confirms Hilda, then aged 16, was a “genuine refugee from Nazi Oppresion”.

Mrs Hunt discovered Hilda attended the former Red Hill School in East Sutton Hill, where Mrs Jeffery was a teacher, before studying at Maidstone Secretarial College and later Bromley Technical College.

It was there she received a distinction in business studies in the finals of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries examinations, which was reported in the Kent Messenger on August 16, 1963, when she was 38.

The report describes Hilda as “a refugee from Cologne who lost her entire family during the persecutions in the last war”.

It says she was the daughter of Dr Friedrich Hermann Levi and Mrs Irma Levi.

The article adds that she had called The Radicans in Sutton Valence home for more than 20 years.

Hilda worked as a confidential secretary in Maidstone and later at the Duke Of Edinburgh Awards Office in Westminster.

It had previously been unclear how she gained her wealth.

However, Mrs Hunt’s research has revealed that Hilda had a wealthy uncle, called Herman Hecht.

He moved from Germany to San Francisco when he was just 16 and made his money as a partner in a large coffee import-export firm.

From 1939, he was depositing money from the US for Hilda's parents in Germany. They were still alive in 1940 but ultimately perished.

Mr Hecht died in 1951 and left more than £1.3 million - which is £34.8 million in today’s money - to his remaining siblings and their family, but also to distant relatives and charities.

As Hilda was his orphaned niece, it is highly likely that she benefited from his generosity.

It is still not known why Hilda spent her final years in a Jewish care home in Prescott, Manchester, where she died.

Her will was written in 1982 and validated at the time through former Whitstable solicitors E A Barton, which later merged with Furley Page in Canterbury.

The firm says it was notified of her death in 2022 by a local authority and was subsequently appointed executor to distribute her estate to the benefactors.

Her generosity, however, will prove invaluable to the charities who are set to benefit.

For the Friends of Kent and Canterbury Hospital, its £500,000 gift is its largest ever single legacy.

“It’s a huge amount of money for us and the biggest ever legacy gift in our 70-year history,” said Louise Coleman, the chairman of the Friends of the K&C.

“Contrary to the norm, the League of Friends was informed at the end of the process, not the beginning, and the money has already been paid into the bank.

“This in turn has meant that we were able to approve two very large purchases for the hospital - an ophthalmology laser system and a urodynamics machine to a sum just short of £100,000.

“We didn’t know of Hilda, but her generosity will greatly improve treatment for patients.”

The Friends of Whitstable Healthcare will use its donation to buy a new X-ray machine for the Estuary View Medical Centre.

Chairman of the Friends of Whitstable Healthcare, Georgina Baker, says the charity “had no idea” who Hilda Levi was.

“But her generosity will bring huge benefits to patients,” she added.

“We are extremely grateful for her gift, which is amazing and a massive help to a charity like ours.”

Chief officer of Age UK Herne Bay and Whitstable, Linda Cowdry says the charity was stunned to hear about the legacy set to benefit the branch.

"I’m working with Age UK National to make a claim via their legacy protocol so we can access Hilda's legacy,” she said.

“I will be notified as to the outcome after their next meeting to consider applications on April 2nd.

“I'm hopeful we will receive a lasting legacy that will have a big impact on local service provision for older people in Whitstable.

“All charities are facing challenging times and this legacy will make a big difference to us."