Charles Cousland Royle was born on 25 Nov 1858 at the Downs Hotel, Altrincham. Family spoken history maintains that Charles had to leave his boarding school, Sherborne in Dorset, at the age of 11; this has not yet been confirmed. He was an upholsterer, working for a furniture company, and married Frances (Fanny) Elizabeth Doherty (born in Manchester c.1858) at St Paul’s Church, Manchester, on 14 Dec 1880. In the marriage certificate Charles is described as a ‘Gentleman’. Before marriage Frances was a tailor and lived at 26 Leamington (or Kennington?) St, Greenheys, Manchester. After marriage they lived at 19 Blossom Avenue, Chorlton upon Medlock, then at 5 Crofton Street, Moss Side and lastly at 21 Parker Street, Moss Side. In later life Charles suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was visited daily by his son Edward Crisp Royle. He died on 15 Sept 1934 of Chronic Encephalitis

Lethargica surviving his wife by a few months. Their children were:

Edward Crisp Royle was born on 31 October 1886 at 19 Blossom Avenue, Chorlton upon Medlock. He married Ada Coles, a milliner, on 14 August 1914 (having first courted her sister Elsie who died of TB at the age of 21); it would have been earlier but, first of all, Edward refused to have Charlotte Coles (Ada’s mother) to live with them (Ada’s sister, Emma, was persuaded to have Charlotte) and then the wedding was postponed because of the uncertainty of the coming war. Edward refused to postpone it any longer. They had planned to go to Ilfracombe for their honeymoon but, because of the war, went to St Anne’s instead. After the honeymoon they rented a house in Cecil Street, Rusholme, Manchester. By 1933 they had purchased their own

house in Withington on the edge of Fog Lane park. Edward was an

accountant and travelled to France and Holland on behalf of  his

employer. He joined the local Civil Defence in WWII as he could not

serve in the forces because he was an asthmatic. Edward and Ada

had two children:

Harold Royle was born in Rusholme, Manchester, on 22 June 1915

whist his father, Edward, went to get the midwife and Frances,

Edward’s mother; Ada delivered Harold by herself. Harold attended

William Hulme grammar school then joined the Broughton Copper

Works at the age of 16. He went to night school at the then

Mechanics Institute (now the Faculty of Technology of Manchester

University). The Broughton Copper Works was taken over by ICI

and became part of Yorkshire Imperial Metals; in time Harold rose

to the position of Managing Director. He married Gladys Royle on

2 May 1942. During the 1940s he shared an office with Charles Cowley and the two families became life-long friends. The family moved to Birmingham in 1957. Their elder daughter, Susan, married Charles’s elder son, Michael, in 1968.

Harold & Gladys’s two daughters are:

 

 

 

 

 

Harold and Gladys had two daughters: