Preserved within the pages of Olive’s diary was this newspaper clipping, which had been carefully cut from the middle of the fourth column on page eight of The Thanet Times. This weekly broadsheet had covered many events in Thomas Higgins’s life since he had arrived in Cliftonville to build and run The Hydro Hotel.
Two heavy circular watermarks graze the newsprint: the indelible stains from tear drops.
The loving preservation of this cutting ensured that one day Olive’s story could be told.
On the same page, in the bottom right hand corner, Olive’s death was announced in the Births, Marriages and Deaths column.
‘HIGGINS: On Feb 25th at the Institute Notre, Dep. [sic] Champs, Paris, Olive Hilda, the beloved and only daughter of Thomas R. Higgins, of the Cliftonville Hydro Hotel, Margate, aged 16 years. Her end was most peaceful.’