Magaret (Skinner) Haynes
WWII Nurse in south africa
Margaret Haynes (nee Skinner) was our great-aunt and the last of seven children born to James and Rosa Skinner of Abernant Farm. She was born Margaret Rose Skinner 28th December 1908 and baptised alongside her siblings 2nd June 1912 at All Saint’s Church in Kemeys Inferior.
Margaret grew up on the farm with her family and appears to have followed after her sister Jessie and excelled at school. Margaret also enjoyed working with her brothers on the farm and riding horses.
Her elder sister Jessie described Margaret in a letter she sent to her uncle John in Nebraska in January 1917. The letter paints a picture of a happy and daring 8-year-old Margaret.
“Margaret Rose who is 8 and in standard II. She is top of her class and is fond of school, but I think prefers an outdoor life when home. She is fond of boasting of working outside with the boys on Saturdays when she is at home, though she says she is fond of poetry and drawing. She is not like me, afraid of horses, but rides horseback most courageously and she is really of a jolly disposition and fond of fun. Dada says she is sometimes like Aunt Jeannie.”
Margaret last appeared at Abernant Farm on the 1931 electoral register along with brothers Donald and Raymond, and her mother Rosa. In 1932 a 24-year-old Margaret left Abernant Farm and travelled to East London to live, while she trained to be a nurse at St Olave’s. It was a general hospital serving the Rotherhithe area and had 687 beds at the time.
Margaret spent three years at St Olave’s from 1933-1936. Qualifying by examination, Margaret was first registered as a nurse 27th November 1936. She was training at St Olave’s when Sir Michael Caine was born and the former hospital building has a blue plaque to that effect.
After completing her qualifications Margaret worked for a short time at the Surrey County Hospital. The nursing register in 1937 and 1940 recorded her home address as Hendrew Farm, the home of eldest-brother Wallace. She sailed to Mombasa in Kenya to nurse during 1939 and later travelled to South Africa where she joined the SA Military Nursing Service. The SAMNS was formed in 1914 but reached its peak during World War II. Major-General A.J. Orenstein CB, CMG, CBE, Director-General said that, at the height of the war period, there were employing 3,691 female nursing staff.
Margaret served at the Oribi Military Hospital which was attached to a Military Camp and situated in Oribi Village. It ran from 1940 to 1944, closing after the war. In the 1950s the South African Government introduced a means test and Oribi Camp/Village as it was known gradually became a sub-economic housing area. Today the village is just known as Oribi, but the shale sentry boxes built by the Italian prisoners of war are still there although cemented in and starting to crumble.
On 11th November 1941 Margaret wrote to her brother Ralph and his wife Edith from the hospital, recording her service number as 254672. She wrote of being homesick and her hopes that the war would end next year so she could travel home. She also described feeling envy at some colleagues who had travelled to Egypt, this abruptly ended when she heard about the snakes, heat, flies, flees and filth they had encountered.
Of her experiences on the wards Margaret wrote “Today I have said ‘goodbye’ to 30 officers, ex patients in my ward who were going home to ‘Blighty’. It made me feel quite homesick especially as I had a very soft spot for a Scottish doctor who was among them. However, I probably shall not see any of them again.”
After the war Margaret worked as a Nursing Sister at Grey Hospital in King William’s Town. At some point, she met a local farmer named Harry Verdun Haynes and decided to live permanently in South Africa. In 1948 Margaret travelled back to Wales to see her family, and one would presume to tell them about her plans.
During the visit she stayed with Wallace and Edith at Hendrew Farm. She sailed on the famous troopship, MV Llangibby Castle, which coincidently had been named for a castle just 8 miles from Abernant Farm. The ship had returned to service after being torpedoed in 1942 by a German submarine.
In March 1949 Margaret married Harry Haynes, he was from King William’s Town in Cape Province. He was a famer and they set up home together at Waterlily Farmstead, an isolated property on the outskirts of Stutterheim close to the Nabakyu State Forest. Margaret became a South African national and a son, John Verdon Haynes, was born 30th April 1950.
John Haynes was baptised 12th October 1950, and the ceremony took place at St Barnabas Anglican Church in Stutterheim. In the 19th century it was known as the settlers church, popular with those arriving from Britain and Germany. Acting as a sponsor at the baptism was Wallace Skinner, who had travelled from Wales to support his sister.
After her marriage Margaret left nursing to raise her son and support Harry on their citrus farm. In 1959 she took an extended trip to Wales with her son John and stayed for four months. They again based themselves with Wallace and Edith at Hendrew Farm.
This trip was a chance for John to meet his family in Wales and discover where his mother was from. They sailed back to East London on the Athlone Castle, 25th June 1959. We are unable to find a record of any further trips to Wales. Margaet later worked as a midwife and community nurse, and in retirement volunteered at a geriatric clinic.
Both Margaret and Harry Haynes enjoyed a long life in South Africa. Harry died first in 1998 with Margaret following a year later aged 91. They were married for 50 years. Attempts to find their final resting places are ongoing,
We had been unable to find any information about John Haynes as an adult. However, in June 2024 we received an email from someone wko had known John in Durban during the 1980s and early 1990s. They told us that John had left a university course where he was studying architecture, and was working with cars. They also recalled attending his 40th birthday party, which would have been in 1990. If you can help with our family research in South Africa, please get in touch: [email protected]