Posted by Dave on September 05, 2008 at 15:17:37 from 92.12.183.254:
In Herne Bay post WW2 there lived four elderly, unmarried, Clarke sisters - Grace, Minnie, Florence and Gertrude - in adjacent houses. Presumably they were related to JF`s second wife, Phyllis, in some way. Gertrude (? youngest) died about 1963 and was befriended by my mother in her last years. She had a large collection of JF books, all signed, and was obviously very proud of her connection with the author. She lent me a copy of `Beltane the Smith` to read.
The thing is that this Clarke family came from the same area of North kent as JF had been brought up in and it would appear that the connections between them long pre-dated his marriage to Phyllis. Has anyone ever documented this?