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PART 2:

THE STRETCH ANCESTORS

CHAPTER 1:

GENEALOGY

Most of the information that I am about to give you comes directly from Google and web sites
and can be checked, corrected and added to by anyone who is interested.
We go back as far as one RICHARD STRETCH who must have been born in the mid 1700’s
presumably in Ireland. No information is available about him that I know of.
RICHARD STRETCH was the father, inter alia, of JAMES St LEGER STRETCH (1769-1822) born
in Knock Duff, Co. Cork, Ireland who married CATHERINE DEVENISH. James St Leger died at
Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape.
Two of their children are relevant for the family: RICHARD ALDWORTH STRETCH (born 1787
or 90) and CHARLES LENNOX STRETCH, born ten years later (1797-1882) about whom we will
hear soon.
This RICHARD ALDWORTH started his working life as a midshipman and was subsequently
commissioned to the 60th Rifles. In 1806 as a very young man he was sent to the Cape Colony
which made him the first in the family to come to SA. Other members followed about ten years
later. It appears that Richard must have gone back home for a while and then returned to the
Cape in 1817. He married MARIA BOTHA, daughter of Philip Botha of Somerset East. One can
find more about the Botha family on the Internet. So apparently a Dutch influence joined the
family.
RICHARD ALDWORTH and MARIA had inter alia a son,
born when his Father was already 53, whom they also
named RICHARD ALDWORTH (1840-1934). We know
nothing about these people except the barest statistics
and so we find that RICHARD ALDWORTH, the son,
married one GESINA BOLLEURS on April 18th 1870. The
name Gesina was anglicised to JESSIE.
RICHARD ALDWORTH and GESINA/JESSIE named their
first son CHARLES LENNOX STRETCH (1874-1942) in
honour of Uncle Charles Lennox whose only child, a
son, died in infancy. This Charles Lennox became a
Major in the military. All references to this family lead
one back to the military in some form or other.
Now we have CHARLES LENNOX STRETCH who
married EDITH BLANCHE WALDECK, born 1875 in
Graaf Reinet and this couple was to become Irma’s and
Denis’ grandparents. There were four children: this
time the eldest son was named LENNOX CHARLES. He
married Jeanette and had a son RICHARD ALDWORTH
whom they called Dickie. Uncle Lennox was killed at el
Alamein in 1941 when Dickie was a small boy.

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DENIS’S GRANDFATHER (MAJOR) CHARLES
LENNOX STRETCH (1874-1942)