I constantly think back to when I first met Robert. I had known Edward Checksfield known to the people of St. Helena as George, from the age of 15 years old. I would always listen intently as George speak to to me about his children back in England.
George and his wife Angela had adopted Royston and Ivor Beard’s daughter Brenda. One day Brenda excitedly told me that her brother Bob was coming to Saint Helena for a holiday. At the time I did not think much of it, as I had never met him before or any of George’s extended family.
George introduced me to his son Robert very shortly after Robert had arrived on Saint Helena. I shook Robert’s hand and walked away and thought nothing more of George and his son. The very next day I met Robert again and he tried to be friendly towards me but I didn’t really want to get involved with a holidaymaker and tried to avoid all of Robert Checksfield’s advances.
Robert was rather persistent and didn’t give up. Eventually, I finally went for a picnic with him. I really did enjoy being with him and he made me happy, and I couldn’t believe it, when he asked me to marry him. I thought that he was joking as I had only known him for just three short weeks.
I said to him “But I hardly know you!” to which he replied “But we can get to know each other better if we got married.” Robert and I had met and married in a month of meeting each other.
We were married in a little Baptist Church by Father Longstaff in Jamestown. Jan Tetto the dentist’s wife made my wedding dress. I really was the happiest bride in the world.
I can remember clearly, Robert had got into a fight with some island boys, they picked a fight with him and he had a huge black eye. I think that they came off worse as Robert had done boxing in his time and was quite good.
We had a beautiful wedding in an old Georgian hotel called the Consulate Hotel. We had Saint Helena fish for starters followed by a roast. None of my family came but it was to my honour that my neighbour the late Aruiel Williams, her husband Ivor and their daughter Ivy came. Aruiel was very supportive to me during my ordeal at the Corkers.
After all that I had been through in my life I was happy at last. Robert kept telling me how wonderful I was and he was ever so loving to my little girl Hayley. He would read her stories and take her to play. I can never forget one day we were out walking with my little girl when the police Land Rover pulled up alongside us and grabbed my little girl Hayley Checksfield and took her to live with her biological father.
My foster mother and I were devastated. I didn’t think that I was ever going to stop crying. Robert also cried for me and we were both petrified of what could happen. Robert’s father, with the kindness of the Salvation Army Captain Surrcombe, managed to get my little girl Hayley Checksfield back to me.
I was happy to have her back as she would have suffered the same fate as me if she had been left on Saint Helena. She had already suffered a fate when Hayley had watched the evil man rape me at such a young age. She was only 3 and had witnessed the violence of a man raping her mother while she cried in her cot. That could explain why she suffered from such severe depression even to this day.
Robert’s dad took my little girl Hayley Henry to England, while Robert and I stayed on Saint Helena for the ship to return from Cape Town to take us to England. It was around six weeks before I saw my little girl again and it felt like an eternity. By the time I saw her again she had lost her Saint Helena accent.
A year later Robert and I had been blessed with a baby girl and Robert’s father chose her name and called her Georgina. We lived with Robert’s mother until we could own our own house.
Bob and I celebrated 37 years of marriage on 26 May, 2015. That’s not bad as we only knew each other one month before we were married.
I love you Robert Checksfield.
Dorothy