NZ and Beyond

ANZAC Day remembrances

ANZAC DAY 2021

Andrew James Loller was born in Kellerberrin, WA on the 20^th June 1914 to

parents James and Rosetta.

The South Australian James Loller had married Bruce Rock born Rosetta

Barr and the couple had arrived back in Bruce Rock from Belka in 1923.

Andrew’s siblings were Stanley, Bert, Ethel, Gilbert, Gladys, Dave, Violet

,Daphne and Margaret.

He was always known as Jim.

Jim attended Bruce Rock Primary School and excelled at cricket.

At age 22, Jim was hospitalized first in Bruce Rock and then transferred to

Perth for an operation.

Their father passed away in 1939 when Jim was 25.

He enlisted as a private in the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion on the 30^th

October 1940.

The Army trained in Northam, and then marched the men to Perth, a hilly

route of almost 100 kilometres.

Stanley, Gilbert and Bert also joined the AIF, and Gladys the AWAS.

James was in Singapore when it fell to Japanese invasion, and he was

severely wounded in the leg.

This caused an amputation to be performed by Japanese doctors. Many men

lost their leg(s) due to tropical ulcers.

The 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion arrived in Changi at 3am on the 18^th

February 1942.

Over 300 were selected for working parties.

He and many of his comrades spent 3 ½ years in Changi POW Camp.

Conditions became extreme in Changi as the war continued, and many men

succumbed to illnesses due to near starvation, limited diets, crowded

conditions and cruelty by their captors.

Of the 961 members of the 2/4^th, 137 were killed in action, and 263 died as

prisoners of war.

His brother Gilbert was in an Italian POW camp and was released home to

Bruce Rock before Jim.

Neither were home when their young brother David died aged 24.

Stanley married Stella Bird, and her sister Lily married Jim in 1945.

The Bird girls lost a brother in an Italian POW camp the day before peace

was declared.

Jim and Lily lived in a soldier settlement area in Perth and raised 3 children,

2 sons and a daughter.

Jim died on the 24^th April, 1986.

Thank you for your service, soldier.

The murder trial-a personal story continues

Last August I posted the story about a connection to a murder trial in New South Wales.

The trial is now under way, and evidence is mounting up regarding the accused’s role in the death of our godparents son and grandson.

I was looking through photos for something else yesterday, and came across these three, taken in 1962, 1964 and 1966“Pandora” 1962 Maree, Catherine front, Michelle being held by Colleen

“Pandora” and inscribed by my Mum APRIL 1964.My youngest brother was born in late March, 1964, so this was 2 of the 4 kids who stayed at “Pandora” while Mum was recuperating for the 2 weeks that was expected after childbirth in that era. Maree and I looking very happy and well cared for, hair all prettied up and best clothes on! I think Mrs Dunbar would have liked a daughter in her own family.

“Pandora” 1966/or 1967, with Edwin now 2 or 3 years old- the 5 of us did not have television at home for very long before this hence the fascination seen on all our faces.

We moved to West Australia in 1968, ending the bond between families.

People and Places

I was just looking through Facebook memories from my trip of nine years ago. A photo of St John’s Gate in Clerkenwell caught my eye, and inspired me to blog after a long absence!

I confess that this is not my camera expertise!, most photos anywhere in Britain are either full of people or cars!

My go-to quick information page is Wikipedia, and the following photos come from there:

It was the next sketch that fired my interest the most:

Thomas and Sarah Roydhouse, as well as young Henry and William were less than 15 minutes walk from here during this time frame.

Also, as noted an a very early post, so were the Maxton family and the Dunn family.

In the Census– of 1841

In 1853, William married Mary Jordan, and the adress was given as 1 St John’s Square, which is pictured in this sketch.

Revisiting the Chelsea mob

Henry Roydhouse was the son of Thomas and Esther of Chelsea, born at 72 Alfred Street in 1855, and baptised at Chelsea Holy Trinity on the 1^st April.

Aged 7 in 1861 census, he has older siblings Esther, Ellen, Benjamin and Edward, as well as a younger sister Ann aged 4.

The census of 1871 should find Henry aged 17, however the only two Henry Roydhouses recorded between 1861 and 1881 ( Born in Chelsea recorded on that document) are the two intriguing ones listed below.

31 March 1877 Kildare, Ireland. Dog licence white female fox terrier with him at 7 Dn Gds, and other registrations from this address include men with military titles.

In 1881 he is a 26 year old Groom of Chamber at the Junior Carlton Club, established in 1869 at 30 Pall Mall.

Gentlemen’s Clubs with a political bias were very popular in London, and the Junior Carlton Club was established in 1866. At the time of the 1881 census the Club employed over 53 staff including clerks, waiters under-butlers, plateman, porter and a predominately female kitchen.

Luxuriously appointed to suit the discerning gentleman…

Three years after the census, the second record that needs to be explored further:

1884 birth of Maude Margaret, daughter of Clarissa Russell actress, and Henry Roydhouse, actor

43 year old Henry married 20 year old Grace Yates on the 1^st November 1899, and although he states his occupation as Librarian, his address is 30 Pall Mall. I can not find a birth entry for Grace with a lawyer father named James, as stated on her marriage record.

Electoral rolls show Henry employed at 30-35 Pall Mall ( the Club) and living in Upper Marylebone Street, Westminster by 1903.

In the census in 1911 Henry and Grace have been married for 15 years, live at 57 Bernier Street and have Daisy Cadbury, a 15 year old niece living with them.

Henry is now recorded as a Steward at the Mercantile Marine Club.

The couples ages seem to disagree with other records.

In June 1918 Henry was admitted to the Northumberland Street Workhouse/Infirmary and seems to have recovered sufficiently to travel to Westgate-on-sea in Kent.

Probate records show his death aged 63 at the Kimberley Hotel in Westgate-on-Sea on the 5^th September 1918.

Cuthbert Roydhouse

According to a well known genealogy site, “Ackerley Roydhouse” was

christened at St Peter’s Warmfield on the 11^th January 1660.

The father was recorded as Eastgate Roydhouse.

After studying the scanned document on-line, I decided that the child was a

daughter, but while her name does not look like “Ackersley”, it is difficult

to be sure exactly what it is.

However, “Eastgate”, the father, is readable as Cuthbert-split over the first

and second lines.

Saint Cuthbert was a part of the Lindisfarne monastery, and lived between

634 and 687.

(St. Cuthbert and the timber, Wikipedia reference)

Cuthbert Roydhouse was one of many males named after the Saint, with St

Cuthbert’s Church in nearby Ackworth.

Cuthbert baptised a further 4 children

:daughter Barbara in 1598

:daughter Margaret in 1601

:daughter Agnes in 1604

:son John in 1606

A Cuthbert Roydhouse was buried at St Cuthbert’s in 1616, and in 1660 a

Cuthbert Roydhouse , born in Sharlston was buried at All Saints in

Wakefield. I have no proof but I suspect given close localities and naming

that 1660 Cuthbert was a son of 1616 Cuthbert.

(Maps courtesy of Google Maps)

Known as Old Sharlston now, the village has existed for over five hundred

years, with Sharlston Old Hall built in 1574.

152 years on

The good ship Asterope arrived in Wellington New Zealand on the 8^th October 1868, 152 years ago.

Onboard, the Roydhouse family, which included five young children were immigrating to commence William’s new employment to install cabling around the North Island.

William and Mary would surely be proud patriarch and matriarch of the growing branches of Australian and New Zealand Roydhouse descendants.

Mary Johns Roydhouse nee Jordan

With a strong focus on newspapers originally, the 21^st century family has really diversified in their occupations.

A quick Google search revealed 24 of them:

Soccer player USA from NZ

Fencing contractors Australia

Female Indie singer Australia

CEO engineering Australia

Ophthalmologist Australia

Scientific researcher Australia

Management services Australia

Tech entrepreneur Australia

Education Australia

Cosmetic nurse Australia

Pharmacist/brewer Australia

Senior research Fellow Australia

Clinical Lab Doctor Australia

Male Indie singer Australia

Basketball player NZ

Plumbing business Australia

Casino food & beverage manager Australia

Trekking, fund-raising Australia

Children’s counsellor Australia

Construction director Australia

Executive producer advertising production NZ

Renovation company NZ

Professional musician NZ/Australia

** All photos were on Google images in publicly available places. This blog is not available in the public domain**

Elizabeth Roydhouse

James and Mary baptised a daughter, Elizabeth in 1797.

https://wp.me/p9wfSj-hG

In 1813 a baptism was performed at St Giles in the Fields, Holborn for an Eliza Roydhouse, base-born child of Elizabeth, servant and the reputed father, Hugh Elliott, gentleman. St. Giles in the Fields

Store Street,5 minutes walk from St Giles Church.

Almost 20 years later, a marriage for an Eliza Roydhouse to widower Robert Crook was performed by Banns on the 1st April 1832 at St Mary’s, Islington.

St Mary’s Church is about half an hours walk from where her grandmother Mary lived with Walter Mapperly, her second husband at his death in 1847. The map also shows how close Rawstorne Street is to these other locations.

In 1835, the death of a one year old Robert Crook is a strong possibility to be Eliza and Robert’s first child.

From that date, the fate of this family has no real proofs or evidence although the death in 1857 in St Giles district is a strong possibility.

James Roydhouse

James Roydhouse was a son of Henry and Ann (nee Appleby), born in Hertingfordbury on the 27th May, 1763. This makes him my 4 times great uncle!

On the 23rd July, 1783, a trial at the Old Bailey found James guilty of fraud, for “unlawfully, knowingly and designedly obtaining ” from William Hill six 8″ brass case locks, valued at forty shillings.

Punishment: Whipping, and discharged

He married Mary Smiths/Clark on the 1st of July, 1792 at Spitalfields Christ Church in London.

(“Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0”)

A daughter, Elizabeth was born about 1797.

James and Mary lived in Clerkenwell Close from 1801 ( or earlier) until 1827, when James died.

Mary remarried very shortly after to widower Walter Mapperly.

Walter died in Skinner Street, Islington in 1847 and by the 1851 census Mary was living on Parish Relief at 16 Upper Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, about a 5 minute walk from the families of Thomas Roydhouse, her first brother-in-law.

Revisiting the Chelsea Roydhouse family

Going back to Yorkshire-the Chelsea mob

I first posted about this family almost 12 months to the day.

While searching for other Roydhouse folk, I found the marriage for Thomas Roydhouse to Mary Collins in Great Driffield, Yorkshire on the 4th of June, 1811.

The couple moved to London soon afterwards, as the birth of their first child William Collins Roydhouse in 1813 is registered in Mary-le-bone.

The Robson’s London Directory of 1834 has the family living at 81 Seymour Place, Mary-le-bone.

This directory, street key, and conveyance list, particularising the residence of 60,000 establishments in London and its environs : also a list of coaches, waggons, vans, with the names of the carriers, their route, inn or calling house, and day and hour of their departure, coasting vessels, steam packets, and inland navigation : together with an alpahabetical list of public carriers for 1834.

It is a handy document for researchers to discover the residences of people in Britain prior to the first formal census of 1841.

(Ancestry records)

(Google Maps street view 2020)

William Clark Roydhouse

Another great-grandson of plumber Daniel John Roydhouse (born 1752) was William Clark Roydhouse.

William was the eldest son of James (1822) and Ann nee Johnson, and brother to George Henry whose family line was developed in a previous blog post here:

https://wp.me/p9wfSj-gM

William was born in 1854, and married Elizabeth Harrison. 11 children were born to this couple.

1.Eva Jane born 1876, married Albert Harrison (died 1913)

a son born William James 1908, married second George Levitt.

2.Gertrude Ann, born 1878, married Edward Dobson and had 4 children:

Marie 1908,Gladys V 1911,George 1913,Kathleen 1916

3. Emma 1880-1910 married William Dobson

4.William James 1882-1904

5. Marion 1884 married Charles Henry Simpson -Hare, second Roy Hodgson

6.Arthur 1886-1963, married Eliza Nicholson and had 10 children:

Alice 1908 Alvie 1909, Jessie 1910, Lewis 1911, Doris 1914, Arthur 1916,

Ida 1925, William 1929, and two others

7.Harold 1888-1915, married Eva Thompson, one son Edwin born 1910, Harold died in Yorkshire in November 1915.

8.Alice 1890-1957, married George Hunter. Her probate left 2,000 pounds to brother Tom.

9.Harrison 1892-1918,married Emily Cockerline, a daughter Myra born 1913 Harrison died in France.

10. Tom 1894-1982 married Kathleen Billany, and had 2 daughters:

Kathleen 1916, Phyllis 1921

11. Charles Ernest 1896-1983 married Vera Stancer, one daughter Kathleen

William Clark Roydhouse died in November 1900, aged 45, and is buried in Keyingham Cemetery.

By the time Elizabeth died in 1932 age 77, she had lost 3 sons, 2 daughters, a sister , her mother and her husband.