Margaret Rose Balch was born on 21 October 1932 in Lambeth, a daughter for Bill and Stephanie Balch and a little sister for Stephanie Marie.

Sadly though, Margaret passed away when she was only 18 months old.

As her sister remembered, the two little girls had been playing on the bed when Margaret hit her head on the bedframe and became unconscious. In desperation, her mother ran with Margaret in her arms all the way to the hospital, but she could not be saved.

It was a terrible tragedy, but also a traumatic event for little Stephanie, who was only three-and-a-half when Margaret died. Stephanie felt somehow responsible for her sister’s death, and as an adult, came to realize that she had been made to feel responsible. She wasn’t allowed to play with small children for a long time afterwards, the implication being that they wouldn’t be safe with her. What a terrible burden for a little girl. It was only towards the end of Stephanie’s life that she saw the death certificate for her sister. It listed her cause of death as “fracture of skull consequent upon a convulsive seizure causing deceased to strike her head against an iron bedstead when suffering from purulent bronchitis”. So little Margaret had been ill and had a seizure before hitting her head – her death had nothing at all to do with her sister.

Stephanie remembered and mourned her sister all her life. Whenever she visited London, she always took a walk in St James Park, a place that reminded her of little Margaret and happier times together.