James Royce b.1897

[cathjavelin]

Hi All
Been suggested I contact you good folks for some ideas about tracing the birth of my great grandfather James Henry Royce born 4th May 1897, possibly in South Africa.

He does not appear on the birth register in the UK, nor does he appear in the 1901 census.

His father (Thomas) was a civil engineer and may have been working in South Africa. His wife may have been swedish and she may have died giving brith to a boy (who also died) who was younger than my Great Grandfather. On my great grandfather's marriage certificate it says that his father was deceased and this was in 1922.

I've checked to see if there was a Royal Engineer called Royce who was in the Boer War but this doesn't appear to be the case.

There was a benefactress called Miss Grafton involved in his childhood. My grandmother always thought he was born in Worthing but I have recently found out that there is a worthing in East Cape South Africa. We know he returned to England (he married here) and did an apprentice in Stained Glass with a Mr Paul in London.

We've been trying to crack this one for 3 years so any help would be appreciated. My gran is now 84 and so all the information above could be incorrect or he could have just "made it up." He could of course have been lied to as a child. He has no other family that we can ask...

If there's anyone with any information that could help us I would be incredibly grateful.

[jorose]

I didn't have any luck looking at all the overseas indexes. There are some Royce listings heading to South Africa in the 1890s on findmypast but without first names.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,307016.0.html - I'll link to your other thread. Is James Henry or James Jeffery the right one?

I think you might have a little luck with:
Tracing the witnesses on the marriage certificate, and the address he was at when he married.
Looking for more information on Mr Paul.
Trying to figure out if/where he served in WWI.

Also, as you mention Hereford in the other message, you might want to look into the only Royce family I can find with a Hereford connection - Thomas and Sarah Royce, who have sons William Benjamin (b. 1855) and Thomas (b. 1858).

Thomas Senior dies in 1884, William Benjamin then marries in Lewisham in 1888 (to Julia Bennett) and has a child Mary Emily in Wiltshire in 1889. They are listed on the 1891 census but then seem to disappear. Thomas seems to disappear between 1881 and 1891. They may both have emigrated.

[cathjavelin]

Hi James Jeffery Royce was my great grandfather (if I mentioned James Henry then I am going mad!)
Cath

PS Found a potential WW1 medal card but not conclusive as there real information on it.
Both my great grandmother and great grandfather are listed as living in the same address in Gower Street, London on their wedding certificate.

One of the witnesses was a Braxton (ie - a relative of my great grandmother) but the other was a GW Luxford who means nothing to me so I will see what I can dig up about him.

I'll also investigate the Royce Family you mention in Hereford.

I'll keep you posted
Cheers
Cath