Sepia memories (2)

Stanley Howlett Schwartzel married Irene Doris Bloomfield in Nairobi Cathedral, Kenya on 22/02/1930. They had three children John (my father), Jill and June. This follows on from my earlier blip of my mother's parents.

Stan was well regarded in his occupation and received an MBE in 1957. They moved to New Zealand in the late 1950s/early 1960s when the rest of the family came to this part of the world but finally settled in Brisbane Australia when they lived out the rest of their quite long lives.

My grandfather's family had their roots in Southern Africa and before that Austria and probably Germany. His mother's father was killed in action at Isandhlwana in one of the battles for Zulu land in 1879, a tragic, unauthorised assault by the British. My grandmother's family were long established in the UK.

I remember them both very well as even though my father left our family, his parents remained in constant contact and even when they moved to Australia we saw them every couple of years.