5. Margaret Brown

Above:Top: Margaret Brown with her namesake, my mother Margaret Oakley, daughter of Margaret's sister Ivy Brown. Taken c. 1942
Middle: Margaret Brown
Bottom: Sisters Marj and Ivy Brown, Beechworth.

Margaret Brown was born in Yarrawonga in October 1914, the fifth child and third daughter born to Jack Brown and Charlotte Willett.
Known to her family and friends as “Marj”, she was educated at Yarrawonga Primary School. On October 24, 1931, at St. Cuthbert’s Church of England, Yarrawonga, Margaret Brown married Yarrawonga mill hand George Edward Nicholls. George was born on November 24, 1904, at Yackandandah.
Their first child, Patricia Marion was born the following year at Yarrawonga.
Another child- a son- was born, but died in infancy. George William Nicholls was born in September 1933 at Yarrawonga. He died four months later on New Years Day, 1934, in the district hospital, Piper Street,Yarrawonga.
Baby George’s cause of death was given as ‘Acute colitis, 3 days, and cerebral toxaemia 5 hours’ by his doctor, Dr. Fairley. He was buried in the Church of England Section of the Yarrawonga Cemetery on January 2, 1934.
The informant on the death certificate was his father, George Nicholls, of Telford Street, Yarrawonga.
Patricia Nicholls, known as ‘Pat’,lost both of her parents while still a young girl. Her father enlisted in the Army in WW2 (service number VX78159,enlisted Caulfield, Victoria) and died as the result of an accident whilst in a training camp in Melbourne. He was travelling on the back of a truck and fell from it when he slipped, dying from the resulting injuries.
The information given below was taken from the Australian War Memorial website:
“ VX 78159. Private George Edward Nicholls, aged 37. Unit R.R.D, Army. Died 31 March,
1942, Australia. Buried Yarrawonga Cemetery, C of E portion, grave 301.
Usual place of residence: Yarrawonga, Vic.
Occupation: Flour mill hand.
Birthplace & parents: Yackandandah, Victoria. Harry & Alice Marion Nicholls.
Wife: Margaret Nicholls.
Roll of Honour: Yarrawonga, Victoria.
Next of Kin: Margaret Nicholls, c/- N. Oakley, Murphy Street, Yarrawonga.”
Marj was widowed at the age of 27, and her daughter Pat was a month away from her tenth birthday. Just five years later, aged 14 years, Pat lost her mother as well.
They had been living at 21 Pakenham Street, Echuca, when Marj was struck down with a
terrible headache. She sought medical treatment, and it was discovered that her systolic blood pressure was 220, which was severely high. She was in the Echuca District Hospital when a fatal cerebral haemorrhage occurred- Margaret Brown Nicholls had died at the age of only 32 years.
She was buried in the Anglican section of the Echuca Hospital on March 23, 1947, and her daughter Pat went to live with relations- first her mother’s brother Jack and his wife Ann, and then with Marj’s sister Ivy Oakley and her family in Yarrawonga.
After completing her schooling at Yarrawonga, Pat Nicholls worked as a book keeper. She was 24 years old when she married Michael John Ritchie (known as ‘John’) at St. Mary’s Church, Caulfield, on January 19, 1957.

Pat and John Richie had two children- Vicki Margaret Ritchie and Peter John Ritchie.