Repatriation Records

My grandfather had a cousin, although I do not believe they knew of each other (another story), who went off to war.

HMAT A71 Nestor 2 October 1916  from Australian War Memorial

Clarence James Royle was the only son of William Royle and his wife Frances Marion (Holloway). He was born in Bairnsdale, Gippsland Victoria, on 16 January 1894 and five years later he had a sister, Ivy Lilian.

When he was just six years old he had pleurisy, an infection around the lungs
Clarence James Royle was only  22 1/2  years old on 21 April 1915. His unit, 24th Battalion. He was transferred to the 23rd Battalion and moved from Langwarren to Broadmeadows, back to Langwarren where is appears he spent time in hospital.

He finally embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A71 Nestor on 2 October 1916. They disembarked in Plymouth, England on 16 Nov 1916.

^{He did go to France, but never got to the front line,  Clarence was taken to hospital in April 1917 with Pneumonia. He was transferred 
from France to England and on 27 August was sent  home to Australia as he was unable 
to recover from his illness.} 

When Clarence arrived home, it first appeared that he lived with his parents, never married, and was usually listed as having no occupation. After his parents died, he took over Adelaide House from them.

Then, I got his repatriation records. It paints a picture of an old man who suffered in his old age. He spoke of his wife and how he lived with her for 50 years. This was an exaggeration as she was not that old. She died after collapsing in a supermarket. She had a massive stroke. She was also a well-known photographer and was all for women's rights, etc, way ahead of her time. 

The records showed his medical visits, bills for his travelling to the hospital, etc. He had applied for a soldier settlement and attended school for this, but I need a record I can find of him taking it up. 

 Clarence (Clarry) lived with his sister and brother-in-law for a time, but it became too difficult for them to care for him. Of course, they were all elderly and there seemed to be a money issue. Clarry suffered in his final years but because it was not war-related his appeals came to nothing. 

While sifting through his information I was I suddenly had a good DNA match with a lady. I wrote to her to find out our relationship and the reply was from her granddaughter. She informed me that it was her grandmother's DNA and she was 103 years old. She was trying to find her father. Her mother was not a name I knew but her name, Clarice Royal ... made me wonder. 

It was a tricky one as neither Clarence nor his sister had any children that we knew of. Of course I could not see Clarice's results other than she was connected to me and many others in the Royle family. So I asked her granddaughter if she had matches to Clarence's mother's family. I could not see that as they were not related to me either. The answer came back that there were many matches to that family. 

I also did some research on where Clarence had lived at the time of Clarice's conception and via his Army records found they were living in the same area in Melbourne. So William and Fransces Marion do have descendants. Also there was a photo posted of Clarice and to my delight I found she and my Aunt are very much alike.