To whom it may concern

I have obtained your email from the internet site re: your interest in the WARING family.
I am writing with sincere hope and anticipation that you will be able to help me with my quest.

My mother's name is Angela King (nee' WARING).

She has a very sad history and I am trying to help her fit the pieces to her past.

Angela was born in 1935 on the 18th February in KOROVOU, FIGI ISLANDS.

Her father's name on her birth certificate is THOMAS NICHOLAS SKATTOWE WARING. (Possible spelling mistake on the SKATTOWE which could be SKOTTOWE).

Her mother's name was ENGELA MAGRITA ANDRIETTA VAN ROOYEN born 1910 , deceased 2000.

From Angela's birth certificate we can ascertain that THOMAS N S WARING was born in VUCIMACA, REWA RIVER and that he was 36years old when he married my grandmother ENGELA VAN ROOYEN who was 16 years of age at the time. He was also an OVERSEER at the SUVA JAIL in FIGI.

My Mum, ANGELA was taken by her mother ENGELA as a babe in arms to Kenya to visit Engela's father who was ill and dying at that time. Whilst in Kenya, ENGELA received a telegram from THOMAS to tell her of the sad news that her third child, a son had been tragically killed in a bicycle accident.
ENGELA never returned from Kenya to THOMAS and the two remaining children ( a daughter, named ESME (?) and a son (name unknown).
My mother ANGELA remained in Kenya with her very strict Grandmother (ENGELA's mother) where she was bought up in extreme poverty.
ANGELA was told by her mother ENGELA, that THOMAS had not welcomed her birth due to her club foot, so he did not want her and was embarrassed by her defect. (Which in those days was a major disability.)
Mum was also told that her father THOMAS was later promoted from OVERSEER to diplomatic circles.
She was told that her sister's name was BARBARA. After many attempts to ask her remaining brother's name, she was never told.
ENGELA told ANGELA that prior to their leaving FIGI - she had begged THOMAS not to purchase the bicycle for the son and so when he was killed, it was enough for her not to return.

ANGELA later married my father BERNARD RICHARD KING at the age of 19 and they had thee children of which I am the youngest.

Mum and I have sat on many occasion talking of her past and many questions, queries and thoughts are always left unknown and unanswered.

ENGELA also had a hard life. She later remarried DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS who was an alcoholic ( Mum was never fond of him, although he was good to her and provided all the necessary things). Engela had eleven miscarriages from this marriage and later she adopted her brothers two youngest children, a son and a daughter. The son was also later killed in the Rhodesian War. ENGELA came from Kenya with DOUGLAS and joined my Mum and Dad farming in Zimbabwe. DOUGLAS eventually died from a gangrenous leg and Engela passed away at the age of 90 in her sleep. With her she took all the information Mum was so desperate to know about, but out of respect Mum never asked more than ENGELA was willing to give to her.

ENGELA was my granny, I loved her, felt so sad about her tragic life, but she was also very tough and in her later years managed a coffee farm practically on her own. She had many stories of her life to tell and often had us in awe and in laughter - none ofthem though were about FIGI and her life there. Engela lived with Mum for the last fifteen / twenty years of her life and Mum nursed her till her death.

ANGELA is almost 70 years of age and when I mentioned to her that I had "possibly" made progress with this search all she wanted to know was if there was photograph of her father - having never seen him, all these years she wondered what he was like, did he really reject her as she had been told? What was her brother's / sister's name's , professions, and all the heartfelt queries that go with it. A huge wedge missing out of her life which I would like to try and fill.

Thank you for your time in reading this email.

God bless.

With regards

Caroline Botha (Nee' King)
abotha@cfx.co.zw
chriss@sdzim.com
caroline@livestocktrading.co.zw
P.S
We have since discovered that THOMAS N S WARING had four brothers
JOHN WILLIAM PRINGLE WARING b1892 Fiji Islands
HENRY HARDING PARKER WARING b1894 Fiji Islands
HUGH GEORGE WARING b1896 Fiji Islands
WILFRID MARTIN PRINGLE WARING b 1901 Fiji Islands
and he had one sister
MARGARET ANNIE ALLPORT WARING b 1893 Fiji Islands
Should there be any descendants of these WARINGS reading this, please make comms with us -
sincerely
Caroline