(19 January 1929 - 1946) (divorced) (1 child)
Rosalind 3 Dec. 1933
Frances Clare, affectionately know as Fran, was Esmond's first wife and Rosalind Knight's mother. She and Esmond first met in 1927 whilst appearing together in a play called Yellow Sands with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. ...
They became engaged (secretly at first) while still on tour and were married on Saturday 19th January 1929 at St. Martins-in-the-Fields. The same evening Fran went on stage at the Gate Theatre and Esmond at the Children’s Theatre in Covent Garden. For a while the newly weds moved into a flat at No. 11 Clarges Street, off Piccadilly, once the home of Lady Emma Hamilton and which, by Esmond's own admission, "....was far too expensive."