Margaret Breeds was born in Bromley in 1925. She was the daughter of John Breeds, a horse dealer from Beckenham, and his wife Margaret (née Wilson). In 1939, the family lived at Hill View, London Road in Wrotham where John worked as a haulage contractor.

On 15 October 1940, Margaret was working as the kitchen maid in the Royal Oak pub in Wrotham Heath and preparing sandwiches with the cook, Mary Ann Fisher, and her employer’s mother-in-law, Mrs Harriet Fread, when a bomb crashed through the ceiling and exploded. Margaret died within a few minutes of the explosion and was buried in Wrotham four days later.