Helen Margaret Seymour

"You think your teacher is tough? Let me tell you, she's a pussycat compared with Miss Helen Seymour, Tutor Supreme!"

- Indiana Jones

Helen Seymour was an alumni of Oxford University, and mentor to Henry Jones, Sr. and Jr. She traveled around the world with the Jones family from 1908 to 1910.

Years at Oxford
Miss Seymour taught Henry Jones, Sr. at Oxford University in the late nineteenth century, and later tutored his son Indy. She was the daughter of a minister, and as a result, had strong Christian beliefs. This was in contrast to T. E. Lawrence, whom she attended Oxford with. . When not traveling with the Joneses, she lived in Oxford, England.

Lecture tour
In 1906, the Jones family visited her in Oxford to hire her to serve as Indy's tutor while they traveled the world on a Professor Jones' lecture tour. While at first she thought he was too young, the lure of world travel changed her mind.

She accompanied the family to Egypt, where she and Indy met T. E. Lawrence, who invited the pair to a dig by Howard Carter.

In 1908, she took Indy to the Louvre in Paris, where they met Norman Rockwell, and gave her student an assigment on Leonardo da Vinci. She took both boys to a puppet theater, but they convinced her to let them stay while she went home. When Jones didn't return to the hotel that afternoon, she called the Hotel Inspector, who also summoned the Police Inspector. When she discovered Jones the next day, she grounded him, forcing him to read Les Misérables. When he escaped that night to go to a party thrown by Pablo Picasso, she discovered his absence, and a clue to his whereabouts. She went to Le Lapin Agile, where the Barman pointed her to the party. She entered the masquerade just as Henri Rousseau was telling a ghost story. Picasso took her aside at gunpoint, and drew two sketches of her, one in a realist style, and one in a cubist style. Later that evening, Jones showed her the Degas painting, which Kahnweiler was interested in purchasing.

In 1909, she journeyed to British East Africa with the Jones family and went to the Kirinyaga safari camp, where she met Theodore Roosevelt, whom she admired. She had an awkward moment in the camp shower when the senior Jones arrived to splash her with a bucket of water, thinking that the woman in the shower was Mrs. Jones. She tutored young Jones in African zoology, but when she dozed off, Jones slipped out to meet with his new friend, Meto, and track down the Fringe-eared Oryx.

Later years
In May 1916, Indy came to Oxford to see Miss Seymour, and introduce her to Vicky Prentiss. Miss Seymour invited them to attend a dinner with her, where Winston Churchill was also a guest. Prentiss caused embarassment to Miss Seymour when she flung some dessert on Churchill over the issue of women's suffrage. Indy had joined the Belgian army, and received his call papers not long after. Miss Seymour met him at the train station prior to his departure, to wish him luck and say goodbye.

Sick in October 1918, she wrote a letter to Indy, hoping that he would put his talents and mind to good use and finish his education, and also to reconcile with his father. She had hoped to live until the armistice, but died of influenza in the weeks before peace was declared. After returning from the front, Indy arrived at Oxford too late to see his tutor one last time, but received her final letter from her maid.

Although conservative and emotionally reserved like most women born during the Victorian Era, and was frequently exasperated by Indy's irresponsbile immaturity, Helen neverthelss came to love Indy dearly like a son. In his own later years, Indy recalled fond memories of Miss Seymour, as he told numerous stories from his youth.

Behind the scenes
Actress Margaret Tyzack portrayed Helen Seymour in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

Henry Jones, Sr. seems to reference Helen Seymour in Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars, the original script of what became Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After hearing his son's story of his encounter with aliens, Henry remarks "The last time I heard a story like this, was when you were trying to get out of your Greek lessons...We were on the Carpathian off the Bay of Bengal and you told you tutor, you had just seen a sea serpent."

Appearances

 * My First Adventure
 * The Perils of Cupid
 * Passion for Life
 * The Perils of Cupid
 * Passion for Life
 * Travels with Father
 * Journey of Radiance
 * Journey of Radiance
 * "Indy in China: The Runaway Adventure"
 * Young Indiana Jones and the Titanic Adventure
 * Young Indiana Jones and the Pirates' Loot
 * Indiana Jones Jr et le Fantôme du Klondike
 * Young Indiana Jones and the Journey to the Underworld
 * Love's Sweet Song
 * Daredevils of the Desert
 * Treasure of the Peacock's Eye