Both of my parents had a strong sense of family. My father was one of six children who maintained strong bonds with one another well into adult life. My mother was close to her two brothers, though one of those died in his early twenties in the war. Unlike with my father, however, both her parents were alive well into my lifetime, and played an important part in my life, just as they had done in my father’s life (through Hillbrow School which he attended).
I have included as sub-pages of this page (a) extracts from my family history, and (b) a number of significant relations. Apart from my two wives and my children, who though hugely important only came into my life when I was over thirty, these relations shaped to a considerable extent my conception of the social world as I was growing up. In other words, they played a part in determining who I thought I was, that is in forming my identity. Various factors have been taken into account in deciding who to include in this list, and it is not exhaustive. Click on the links below to read more about these significant relations.
I have labelled all the sub-pages of my relations as I knew them – e.g. Daddy, rather than Father.
