Hi Janis

This is very interesting. There can’t have been many people called Margaret Clegg in South Africa in the 1930s, so there’s a chance that this will be the right one.

Here’s what little I’ve been told about this particular Margaret Clegg’s early years. It came from one of Margaret’s cousins (b circa 1930) via this cousin’s parents and grandparents. Apparently, Margaret was left (aged about 3 maybe) by her father (“the black sheep of the family”) at Margaret’s grandparents’ home in Estcourt, South Africa. I believe that she spent the rest of her childhood there. There was some speculation that she’d been deserted by her mother (although it’s just as likely that her mother had died rather than that she’d abandoned her daughter) The cousin didn’t know where Margaret was born or the exact name of Margaret’s mother; there was speculation that she was from a particular ethnic group, and that the names Cassell and Fothergill may be relevant.

Now the Margaret Clegg who was your great aunt Johanna’s goddaughter. We don’t know her year of birth or her birthplace. It’s likely that she was born in the vicinity of wherever Johanna was living at the time of Margaret’s birth. Back in those days, did people choose godparents who were living close by in order that they could carry out their godparental duties diligently ? Would someone who lived in South Africa choose a godmother who lived in Wales ? It seems very likely that Margaret was born in the UK and subsequently moved to South Africa. I see from the England and Wales probate calendar that Johanna’s husband Harry Yeoman was living near Bath, Somerset, when he died in 1937. Do you know where the family was living between 1911 and 1937 ?

Jean C