Georgina, Bertha, Patricia and the yellow diamond

Pat on bike, Jack standing , Bertha on bumper and another chap.

 Georgina married Alfred Markham. We know this as they were divorced in 1925.Georgina was only 20 when she divorced him. Patricia was born on the 25th of February 1923 at which point Georgina was barely 18.   I wonder what he did that made her be so brave and actually get rid of him and face bringing up her daughter by herself. 

I have a feeling that she moved back home. Every picture that I have seen of Pat growing up has Bertha in it. Bertha is normally holding her for the photo. Was this due to Bertha being a bossy person or was poor Georgina made to suffer due to getting divorced. This is quite a joke seeing as both of her parents married each other with spare partners in the wings.

Georgina only got married again when she was 30 and Patricia was 12. At this point Bertha had been paying for Patricia's education for 6 years. Patricia went to St Alban's in Pretoria.  I am sure she was a boarder as the family lived in Johannesburg. Patricia always had a certain polish about her. It is sad to think that Georgina was not allowed to have her child with her. In all the things that Bertha did in her life you have to ask whether paying school fees cancels out the badness of taking a child away from her mother.

Rose on Jessie's lap, Max on Bertha and either Pat or Georgina behind

Bertha got married to Jack Wolff . Jack was 20 years older than Bertha and an excessively nice person. I think this is how he was able to put up with Bertha's bossiness. Jack was an old fashioned transporter. He would transport goods all over the show. One of the places he took goods was the diamond mine in Kimberley. The story goes that one evening when he was sleeping at Kimberly, he had a dream of a diamond in the dirt outside his tent. In the morning as he climbed out of his tent there it was. A great whopping yellow diamond. This he took, had it polished and presented to Bertha. This little bauble was always on her finger and almost her personal talisman.

In 1945 Victor, Bertha's oldest brother died of pneumonia. He left behind a sweet in ineffectual wife and two small children. It would seem that Bertha took over the situation and took in the whole family. Poor Jessie only lasted another 2 years and then went and joined her husband. Rosemary was 12 and Max was 10. These two stayed with Bertha and Jack for the next ten years. There was the impression that this was done with an unkind heart and great resentment. In the time that Bertha was paying for Patricia's expensive education, she would not allow Rosemary to finish school, but rather sent her out to work as soon as she could. If this story was told in England, there would be snow and half gloves.

Bertha dies many years later and once again the Yellow diamond becomes the indicator of who she loved the most. I wonder who has the ring now. That is the tale of a yellow diamond and how it was used right until the end to show favoritism.

Hope you have an amazing day!

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