ROYCE, William Stapleton

Contractor

Born in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England of a working-class family. When he left school he became an apprentice joiner, but was listless, changing jobs frequently. On hearing that railroad construction companies were hiring labour for three years with free passage to the Cape Colony, he elected to travel there. He imigrated to the the Cape Colony where he worked on the construction of the early Cape to Wellington lines. It is also recorded that he supervised the local black labour for the construction of the line from Panmure to Queenstown. On its completion in 1879 he was joined by one Lang with whom he constructed the Berry Reservoir on the Bongolo River near Queenstown. He was also contractor for the St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in Queenstown as well as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and school. He thereafter was to build the Presidency in Bloemfontein.
After a interlude building in Bethulie, the family visited England and the Netherlands.
On their return they settled in Johannesburg. There he set up partnership with Abrey and Wise, creating the firm Royce, Abrey and Wise which constructed, amongst other projects, were the Dynamite Magazine, the Goldfields Club and the Holborn Restaurant, all of Ferrera Town.
He was to be one of the most experienced contractors as Warren & Royce on the construction of the NZASM line. He constructed bridges for the ZAR. Was responsible for the construction of the NZASM Eastern Line Tunnel at Waterval Boven. Later, as partner in the firm Royce and Lawley, he built the rail-line through Irene.
When the contractor for the Memorial to Cape Mounted Yeomanry 1878-1881 disappeared with the funds, he had it completed at his own expense.
During the Anglo-Boer War he returned to England, but was back in south Africa, engaged in the reconstruction of rail bridges over the Vaal River near Standerton as well as that over the Crocodile River near Klerksdorp.
While busy with this project he had an invitation to stand as Member of Parliament for his old town in England, so sold up and left for there. In 1924, as Member of Parliament for the Labour Party, he accepted the appointment as Governor for Tasmania, but, while traveling to parliament by bus, he died.
In May 1882 he had married Emma Broedelet of Panmure, eastern Cape district, by whom he had 10 children. she preceded him to England in about 1893, where he built a family home'Komani', in Spalding, the place of his birth.

(Entry substantially expanded from Botes, AC. 1967. Pioneer Railway builder. in South African Railways and Harbours Magazine. Volume 75 (March 1967) pp. 313, 315-316) See Digital Railway Images of South Africa).

All truncated references not fully cited in 'References' are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.

List of projects

With photographs
With notes

Road Bridge over the Vaal River (Kruger Bridge): 1891. Standerton, Mpumalanga - Contractor

ZAR Road Bridge over the Crocodile River, 'Schoeman's Bridge': 1891-1917. Hartbeespoort, North West - Contractor

ZAR Road Bridge over the Mooi River, 'Suidbrug': 1890. Potchefstroom, North West - Contractor

ZAR Road Bridge over the Schoon Spruit, 'Schoonspruitbrug': 1891. Klerksdorp, North West - Contractor

References

Erasmus, Koos and Friebus, Hein. 2008. Vergete padbrûe van die ZAR : 'n oorsig van die padbrûe wat gebou en beplan is tydens die regering van die Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek. Centurion: Koos Erasmus and Hein Friebus: . pp 22, 34, 35, 37