It is a tiny black leather book called The Christian Year.
The inscription, in a florid handwriting, is to Daisie Moodie from the Lady Warden of St. Anne's College, Maritzburg.
And it is dated Christmas 1888, her message to Daisie is "Be ye followers of God, as dear children".
Such a beautiful inheritance.
Doreen also showed me the bookmark, a finely embroidered piece of silk, gently worn but still in a wonderful condition.
As she and I were walking in Hilton the following morning she took me past St. Anne's College.
She lives just around the corner from the school.
What an extraordinary moment, Doreen and I standing outside of the same gate that our Great-grandmother would have used to go to school.
Our Nanny Ina's mother.
She was born on the 28th June 1870 and died aged 34 in Umtali (Mutare), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
Her parent were John Bell Moodie and Anne Emily Hallett. She had a brother called Harry.
She married Captain William Henry Boothby Phillips, at age 25, during a society wedding at the Holy Trinity Church in Kokstad.
They had two children, Charles Moodie Ralph Phillips (1896), Uncle Polo to my Dad, apparently because he was born during a polo match in Kokstad, and my grandmother Ina Moodie Phillips (22 June 1898).
Dad shares her birthdate: 22 June.
No comments:
Post a Comment