William Royce

Who was William Royce?

William Stapleton Royce was an English Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for the Holland-with-Boston constituency from 1918 until 1924.

He was born in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and was educated at the Willesby School and at Pretty’s Commercial School, Spalding. On leaving school, he was apprenticed to a joiner, but served only two years of his apprenticeship before running away to London where he worked on the construction of the General Post Office building in St Martin’s-le-Grand. Three months later, he learnt that the Government of Cape Town were offering a free passage to South Africa for men to build the railways in that country. He accepted a three year contract, at the end of which he had saved enough money to set up in business on his own account.

During the next thirty years he was heavily engaged on the construction of various railway lines in South Africa as well as some important public buildings. In May 1882, he married Emma Broedelet, the daughter of a Dutch missionary.