 Daphne's mother was Maria Magdalena Maré, born in 1878, who was known as "Mittee".She married an Englishman, Edward Knevitte or Knevitt in 1899.During the Anglo-Boer war, tensions between Afrikaans and English ran high, and the couple and their four children (Daphne's three half-brothers and a half-sister) were forced to leave Pietersburg because of Knevitt's English citizenship.