… picturememories One 1,000 your family
My great aunt Florence May Clewer (left), or May as she was best known, was the daughter of John Victor Clewer and his wife Sarah Ann (née Laird). John was born in Liverpool, England in 1887. When his father, Lee Brown Clewer, tragically died after his horse and cart overturned, John bravely came to Australia on his own at 12 and settled in Warrnambool, Victoria. It was there that he met and married his sweetheart, Sarah. After their first child Lily died Sarah gave birth to Florence May in 1915, followed by Allan, Basil, Betty, Norman, Audrey and Joyce. May married Robert Patrick Laurie and, when she was 8½ months pregnant with their baby, she became ill with influenza. May went into labour and suffered cardiac failure. Sadly both May and her baby died — May was only 19 years old at the time. I’ve always been mesmerised by this photo of May as a toddler with her angelic little face, oversized bow in her hair and baggy socks. Only two photos exist of May, this one and another when she was eight years old. The Clewer family has always spoken of May’s striking beauty and apparently she became more beautiful as she got older. I only wish I had a photo of her in her teen years. — Sally Giblin, Warrnambool, VIC
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