William James

Written by Colleen Rose Nichols - April 2023

When I originally started my family tree in 2010, I did not know the names of my paternal great-grandparents;
i.e. the parents of my grandmother Ida Knight Rose who had left a dilapidated
“birthday book” which listed her siblings and other family members and their birth and death dates.
I spent a lot of time pondering over the entries in this book. The entry for her mother was written by
my grandfather, Norval as “Mrs. James” stating only her date and place of birth and I was curious
why there was no entry for her father. The important emigration date from England to South Africa
was noted as June 1903. As a young girl, I used to ask a million questions and knew so much
more than anyone in our family, but I wish I had asked more questions. The one thing that was
clear in my mind was the fact that my grandmother told me she and her younger sister Agnes were
raised in an orphanage. I knew my grandmother was born in England and imagined that she and
her little sister had been adopted by a South African family and then took the long boat trip alone to
meet their new family. When I found the “birthday book” the emigration date was one year before
Agnes was born, so that blew my theory out the water. Each of the 5 James children carried the
middle name Knight and it took me quite some time to figure out that Knight was their mother’s last
name. For 8 years, my family tree showed my great-grandparents as Mr. and Mrs. James.
In 2016, I took a DNA test merely to learn my ethnicity. As technology advanced, in 2018, I was
matched with several profiles that had “James” ancestors. I proceeded to contact each match and
eventually received a response from a sixth cousin in Australia who put me in touch with someone
in South Africa where I was born and raised, although now I reside in the USA. This person in
South Africa, Ros, turned out to be my 1st cousin, once removed, the daughter of one of my three
half great-aunts that I didn't know existed until that day! What a shocker!! She responded by
attaching a photo of her grandfather, William James, with four children, labeled “James Family
from UK”. I immediately recognized my grandmother Ida and thought I was looking at a picture of
myself as a young girl. I was not aware that my great grandfather, William James, was widowed in
1906, 3 years after immigrating, and then married a 30-year-old German lady, Helena Ernestine
Bohm in 1912. She was 21 years younger than he was and they had three daughters. As you can
imagine my brain was boggled. My grandmother Ida would have been 5 years old when her mom
passed away and 11 years old when he remarried. The photo appears to have been taken about a
year after Williams wife, Annie Knight passed away. By the way Ros had a copy of Annie’s death
notice.
In 2018, thanks to Ancestry.com, I connected with my great-aunt Alice’s granddaughter in England.
(The granddaughter of William and Annie’s first born daughter in England.) We are 2nd cousins and
were pen pals 50 years ago but had lost touch. When we first connected neither of us knew our
great-grand parents’ first names. Together we unraveled a lot of the mysteries, not all of them, but
a lot of them. Amazing treasures surfaced from the trunk with her grandmother’s photos etc.,
including a handwritten family tree of Annie’s branch and many photos including one of my dad at
13 years old. Considering I only have a handful of photos of him, this photo is a gem!
My grandmother’s youngest sister Agnes Knight James McLoughlin who was born a year after they
immigrated to South Africa, had two sons, one being 85-year-old Brian who is still alive in South
Africa and claims memory loss. We are thankfully still in touch and I asked him specific questions
but to no avail. He has very sparse recollections of certain happenings including both his mother’s
and my grandmother’s funerals. When I finally received a lengthy email from Brian, I was floored!
He confirmed that his mother was the only one of the five siblings to be born in South Africa and
that the oldest sister, Alice remained in England when the family emigrated to South Africa. It was
great to hear that confirmed because I had only been able to ascertain that from census records.
He then went on to tell me that his mother was orphaned at the age of two and raised in an
orphanage in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Brian said at the age of 11 or 12 his mom was Quasi-adopted
by a family in Johannesburg to be of help around the house. He says they treated her
very well and she learned to be a seamstress. It appears my grandmother was never adopted from
the orphanage. When Agnes was 18 she packed up her sewing machine and went to Bulawayo,
Rhodesia to set up a business and that’s where she met her husband Patrick McLoughlin.
I have not been able to confirm but I suspect that the two younger James girls, Ida and Agnes,
were sent to an orphanage and that William James possibly kept the two older children who
would’ve been 10 and 7 years old respectively when their mom passed away. Or were they
possibly also sent to orphanages but reconnected with their father later in life? I found it very
interesting that my new-found cousin Ros’ family tree only showed Ethel and Arthur’s names but
not the younger two sisters. Either way, it’s obvious that William James couldn’t take care of four
young children under the age of 10. One would assume once he remarried six years later he would
want his children back with him. What an extremely sad story! Ros sent me a photograph of
William James’ son Arthur Knight James as a teenager and one of him with his father, both in
military uniforms showing proof of their connection. Apparently, Ida and Agnes had no contact with
their father but apparently, my grandmother Ida told Brian that her father was not a very nice
person. Brian told me he and his brother Christopher went to Marist Brothers College in
Johannesburg and sometimes took the tram which went along Rocky Street to the city. His mother
pointed out a large house in Yeoville that had a white balustrade verandah running across the front
and sides with two tall palm trees in the lawns on either side. She told him that had been her
father’s house. He had become blind and had been killed when knocked down by a tram in 1941 at
the age of 80. My father Dennis Rose would have been 15 at the time but I believe he never knew
or met his grandfather or his three half-aunts. My 1st cousin once removed, Rosalind, the daughter
of one of the aunts was born in 1946, 5 years after her grandfather passed away, so she obviously
never met him.
I find it so interesting that William James, my great-grandfather’s info is not entered in my
grandmother’s birthday book and neither are my grandmother’s 3 half-sisters mentioned. Everyone
has a story and some go to the grave with their stories untold. Who would’ve thought that my
pompous hoity-toity English grandmother had endured so much pain in her life? I use that phrase
flippantly, yet lovingly. Later in life, first her husband and then her son, my father Dennis Rose
chose to end their lives by suicide. So much pain!
I continued contacting relatives with DNA matches on Ancestry.com. In early 2019, I contacted a
4th cousin in the United States. All she knew about her great great-grandfather was that his name
was William James, born in the UK in 1861, and the family story was that he went to Africa and
never returned to his family in England. My mind was still reeling and I hadn’t quite wrapped my
mind around the fact that my great Grandfather William James had another whole family besides
us, (Annie’s descendants) in South Africa. I recall being quite upset when my 4th cousin in the
USA added “my William James” to her tree without concrete evidence. This is a no-no in geneology!
Consequently, we’ve tied together a lot of loose ends so here goes……..
My Great-grandfather William James, born July 28, 1861 in Great Torrington, Devon, England was
the first born of Richard James and Jane Stoneman and a bigamist of note.
In 1884, 23-year-old William James was a Corporal stationed with the Suffolk Regiment of the
British Army at the Shambles Barracks in Galway, Ireland and it was here that he married 23-yea old
Irish girl, Mary Ellen Riley on May 5, 1884.
In 1885, their first son Richard James was born at Launceston, Cornwall.
In 1887, their second son William Francis James was born on a military base, Curragh Camp in
Naas, Ireland. William James is listed as a sergeant in the Suffolk regiment. This son suffered with
Childhood Paralysis (Polio) and on returning to London, he was placed in the Dartmouth Home for
Crippled Boys at Lewisham where he spent his childhood.
In 1889, their first daughter Eileen Jane James was born at Pimlico, London.
In 1891, their third son Bernard James was born in the Westminster Workhouse in London yet the
1891 Census shows William James living with Annie Knight, my Great Grandmother, also in
Westminster so it would appear he had abandoned his first wife, Mary Ellen. William and Annie are
listed as husband and wife on the census.
Workhouses or “poorhouses" in Britain were all-inclusive institutions, which offered both
accommodations and a workplace for poverty stricken people. The harsh system of the workhouse
is known for its terrible conditions, forced child labour, long hours, malnutrition, beatings and
neglect.
In 1893 William James had his first daughter with my great-grandmother Annie Knight. This
daughter was my Great-Aunt Alice Gertrude Knight James who was born September 20, 1893 in
Westminster but I haven’t found an official record of her birth. Records show she lived with her
maternal grandparents in Bridgewater, Somerset, England where they raised her. This has
remained a puzzle but in hindsight it was probably because she was born out of wedlock.
In 1894, William James’ record of military enlistment shows Mary Ellen James, 19 Sparkle St,
Manchester as his next of kin even although William James was residing with and supposedly
married to Annie Knight.
Now one might think that William no longer had anything to do with his wife Mary Ellen but in 1895,
18 months after the birth of his daughter Alice with Annie Knight, William had another daughter
with Mary Ellen i.e. Kathleen Teresa James born 25th April,1895 at a Workhouse in London so he
was obviously seeing both Annie and Mary Ellen at the same time!!!
Shortly after this, William and Annie left London and went back to Devon/Cornwall where their 2nd
child, a son Arthur Knight James was born in 1896, then on to Swindon, Wiltshire where their
daughter Ethel Jane Knight James was born in 1899 and finally to Manchester where my
grandmother Ida Helen Knight James was born in 1901. Her Baptism record shows their address
as 19 Sparkle St, the same address shown for Mary Ellen Riley in1894.
In the 1901 census William James is listed as head of household at that same Sparkle St, address
with his wife Annie and 3 children while Mary Ellen and three of her children, Richard, Eileen and
Kathleen (Kate) are living in a charitable housing project in London. Their other son Bernard
James is recorded in the 1901 Census age 10 as being an 'Inmate' at the Workhouse in
Launceston which ties up with the Cornwall area again.
In 1903 William, Annie and their younger three children emigrated to South Africa where another
daughter, Agnes Knight James was born in 1904. I have not been able to locate any immigration
records or passenger lists but the emigration date hand was written by my grandmother in her little
birthday book. I have often wondered if William James was in South Africa fighting in the Anglo
Boer War (1899 -1903) and the family joined him afterwards. I located a UK Military Record dated
April 1902 showing William James enlisting for one year unless the war in Africa lasted longer than
one year.
In 1903, sadly, Mary Ellen Riley died in the Infirmary of the St George Workhouse, Hanover
Square, London at the young age of just 48.
I located a marriage certificate in South Africa dated April 18, 1905 for William James and Annie
Knight showing him as a widower and Annie as a spinster and this implies that their five children
were all born out of wedlock and he only married Annie once his first wife was deceased. This
marriage certificate completely stumped me as you can well imagine. It was located before I knew
about his marriage to Mary Ellen Riley. Another puzzle was why their first-born daughter Alice
Gertrude Knight James lived with her maternal grandparents and why the family had immigrated to
South Africa and left their 11-year-old daughter Alice, behind with her grandparents in England!
In 1906, my Great Grandmother Annie Rowsell Knight James died in Pretoria, South Africa at the
age of 39 years old of Acute Pneumonia leaving 2, 5 and 7-year-old daughters and a 10-year-old
son.
So what happened to Mary Ellen Riley’s children after the death of their mother?
Richard joined the army in 1903 just after the death of his mother Mary Ellen but died in 1904 from
meningitis.
In 1903, Eileen age 13 and Kate age 8 emigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, being
sponsored by their Aunt Julia Riley, sister of Mary Ellen, who already lived there. Eileen died 6
years later at the age of 19 but Kate lived there, married and moved to New York where she died
in 1977.
In 1910 Bernard James age 18 emigrated to the USA and lived in Lowell, Massachusetts until his
death in 1974.
In 1911 finally, William Francis James, age 24, the son who had Polio and who had been brought
up in the Boys Home, also emigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts. His 'sweetheart' from England,
Annie Louise Miller, followed him a few months later and they married and lived in Lowell having 9
children and he died there in 1976.
The final proof that it is my great-grandfather William James who married Mary Ellen Riley and
fathered 5 children with her, are the DNA matches between myself and the grandchildren of their
son William Francis James. Another distant cousin wrote a book about her father‘s childhood in
London. Her father was the second son of William James and Mary Ellen Riley James. Interesting
thing is that she wrote this book while her father, William Francis James was still alive and verifying
the information and he also told her which stories to include. In one of the stories he mentions that
his dad was a bigamist (his word of choice). It’s hard to believe that William Francis James,
crippled and abandoned by his father, and whose mother died young and his siblings were
scattered, fended for himself on the streets of London and still managed to have a pretty wonderful
life in the end. He moved to America and married his sweetheart, having 9 children with her.

At the end of the day my Great Grandfather William James had 3 wives and 13 children and we
have a huge new branch of the family tree in Massachusetts, and other parts of the USA.
I have been able to locate the 1941 death certificate of my great-grandfather, William James,
which states he was a teacher in South Africa and died at 80 yrs. old due to a fracture at the base
of the skull with subdural hemorrhage in an accidental collision with a tram car whilst crossing in
the middle of the street. The driver of the tram was found not to blame.
Karma is a “bitch”, so what can I say?