 Birth Notes:
http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03079.pdf
Death Notes:
http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03079.pdf
And
National Archives of South Africa
DEPOT NAB
SOURCE MSCE
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 0
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 34543/1942
PART 1
DESCRIPTION ROYSTON, JOHN ROBINSON. (S/S ROYSTON, MILDRED).
STARTING 1942
ENDING 1973
REMARKS MSCE 14 169.
Sources of information or noted events in his life were:
Web Based Info. http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03079.pdf
And
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Royston
General Comment. Royston, John Robinson ('Galloping Jack') (*Natal (?), 29.4.1860 - Port Shepstone, 25.4.1942), soldier, was the 4th son of William Royston of Bellair, Natal.
R. was educated at Durban High School, from which he absconded to join the Isipingo Mounted Rifles, and with them he fought at Gingindlovu (2.4.1879) and at the relief of Eshowe (3.4.1879). After settling in the Ixopo district as a farmer and trader he joined the Border Mounted Rifles in 1894 and was commissioned as lieutenant shortly after the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). He served in the siege of Ladysmith (2.11.1899 - 28.2.1900), and subsequently in Northern Natal in the Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment, and in the 2nd Imperial Light Horse, with which he saw action at Lake Chrissie in 1900. In this year he received the Royal Humane Society's medal for saving two soldiers from drowning.
In 1901 he was appointed as lieutenant-colonel to command the 5th and 6th West Australians in the Eastern Transvaal. In 1902 he returned to the 2nd Imperial Light Horse and then attended the coronation of King Edward VII, after which he went back to farming, this time at Port Shepstone. He received the D.S.O. in 1902 and was appointed C.M.G. in 1903.
During the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906 he served in Southern Natal and then raised and commanded Royston's Horse, being made an honorary lieutenant-colonel in the British Army for his services. He attended the coronation of King George V in 1911.
In 1914 he raised the Natal Light Horse in six days and led it against S. G. (Manie) Maritz on the Orange River. In 1915 he commanded a brigade consisting of the Natal Light Horse, Umvoti Mounted Rifles and 2nd Imperial Light Horse in German South-West Africa, distinguishing himself at Gibeon on 28.4.1915. Later that year he recruited an Imperial Service contingent in Natal and took it to England. In 1916 he was given command of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade and took part in the first and second battles of Gaza. He was wounded at Romani and received there the nickname 'Galloping Jack'. In October 1917 he returned to England and was appointed liaison officer to the South African Native Labour Corps, a post in which his fluent command of Zulu made him invaluable. In 1937 he commanded the contingent of ex-servicemen sent to the coronation of George VI.
R. was physically large and powerful. His courage was notable and he was a superb leader of mounted troops, although his tactical abilities were not remarkable and he was inclined to impetuosity in action. He was, however, particularly acceptable to the tough material in Royston's Horse and among the Australians.
In 1903 R. married Lilian Earle, daughter of C. F. Heugh, Swaziland, and had one son and one daughter. In 1937 he married Mildred, daughter of John Wright Standley, Hampshire, England. There is an oil portrait of R. at Warriors' Gate, Durban.
http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03080.pdf
And
ALL ABOUT ROYSTON'S HORSE
NATAL REBELLION MEDAL (1906) ?ROYSTON?S HORSE? & 1914-15 TRIO.1st M.R. & 7th S.A.I.John Robinson Royston,(1860'961942)
John Robinson Royston (1860-1942), soldier and farmer, was born on 29 April 1860 at Durban, South Africa, son of William Royston, civil engineer. He was educated at Durban High School where his chunky build and fierce patriotism won him the nickname 'John Bull'. He fought in the Zulu War in 1879 and by 1884 was a sergeant in the newly formed Natal Mounted Rifles. Trading in the Ixopo division of Natal from his farm, St Faith, he employed many Bantu, spoke their language and treated them with firmness and respect.
When the South African War broke out in 1899 Royston was a squadron sergeant major in the Natal Border Rifles. Commissioned lieutenant within a week, he was at the siege of Ladysmith, was prominent in the capture of a Boer field-piece on Gun Hill, and was twice mentioned in dispatches.
What Royston called 'the principal thread of my military career', his leadership of Australian troops, began in April 1901 when, as captain, he took command of the 5th and 6th contingents of the Western Australian Mounted Infantry. Over the next year they saw action in the Eastern Transvaal, Natal and Orange Free State. For the capture of Boer laagers in the Ermelo district Royston was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 28 January 1902 and later that year was appointed C.M.G., honours which he attributed to the 'courage and soldierly qualities' of his troops.
He led the South African contingent to the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 and on 15 April 1903 married Lilian Earle Heugh; they had a son and a daughter. In 1904 he was made brevet lieutenant colonel of the Border Mounted Rifles, most of his men being Australians who had stayed in South Africa after the war. By 1906 Royston had settled at Kingston, a cliff-top mansion near Port Shepstone, Natal. In the Zulu rebellion of that year he raised Royston's Horse, again composed mostly of Australians, and was mentioned in dispatches. At the coronation in 1911 of George V, Royston was special aide-de-camp to Lord Kitchener.
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Royston recruited the predominantly Australian Natal Light Horse and led them successfully against pro-German rebels and German troops invading South Africa, before pursuing the campaign in German South-West Africa. After the surrender of the German forces there, he recruited a new regiment of Royston's Horse and took it to England. He was persuaded to relinquish command and, on Lord Kitchener's orders, travelled to Egypt where Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood was to give him 'the first available Australian command'.
Appointed colonel of the 12th Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, on 22 February 1916, Royston won the immediate affection and respect of his men, becoming a light horse legend at the battle of Romani on 4-5 August. In temporary command of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the 'massively built' 56-year-old Royston galloped around the battlefield with astounding energy and courage, reputedly riding fourteen horses to a standstill.
His nickname, 'Galloping Jack', would stick. Late in the first day's battle a bullet lodged in Royston's calf. Ordered by Major General (Sir) Harry Chauvel to have the wound treated, he galloped off before the dressing was completed, trailing strips of bandage. On the second day of battle Chauvel ordered him to hospital. Royston left within a few hours and the bullet stayed in his leg until his death. Next day the 1st L.H. Brigade was also put under his command for the Bir el Abd operation and on 9 August he took command of the 3rd L.H. Brigade. At the battle of Magdhaba in December he created another legend. Confronting several Turkish soldiers, he flourished his riding cane and ordered 'Hands up' in Bantu. The startled Turks dropped their rifles and surrendered.
During the battle he placed a 22-year-old, Major H. C. H. Robertson, in command of the 10th L.H.R., then galloped off to organize elements of the regiment in an elaborate bluff which climaxed with him personally leading a charge of 'the pack leaders and odds and ends of men who were supposed to be holding the led horses'. Royston emerged as the perfect foil to Chauvel: his high-profile leadership complemented Chauvel's less showy command-style. His love for forlorn-hope attack and the utilization of every man and horse balanced Chauvel's more cautious generalship and his shepherding of reserves. Remarkably, the only decoration received by Royston during his light horse service was the Russian Order of St Stanislaus, 3rd class, with swords.
After leading the 3rd L.H. Brigade in the 1st and 2nd battles of Gaza, Brigadier General Royston abruptly left the light horse in October 1917 on the eve of the Beersheba operations. According to the official history, his departure was 'for urgent personal business'. Royston told his biographer simply that he was ordered back to London. However, Major A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson claimed that Royston had deliberately inhaled poison gas so that he could be sure of recognizing its presence in battle. 'The result was that I found him in a hospital, a badly shaken man, passing green urine, and ordered away for a long leave'. Other sources confirm this unlikely story. Royston was persuaded to return to South Africa from London, 'a very sick man and broken-hearted at having to leave his command'.
After the war he continued raising horses, sheep and cattle and cropping on his many Natal properties. In 1934, when the 8th L.H.R. invited him to Australia for the Victorian centenary and the dedication of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, he received a hero's welcome in four States. In 1937 he led the South African contingent to the coronation of George VI and married Mildred Standly with Anglican rites.
Royston died at Durban on 25 April 1942, survived by his two children and his second wife who wrote that 'he loved his Australians to the last'. And the Light Horse loved him, as they loved no Australian-born officer. Writing of him, the men who knew him best produced strings of adulatory and sometimes contradictory adjectives. Perhaps Paterson came closest with his summing-up that Royston was 'by instinct a bandit chief and by temperament a hero'. As well, the man was vivid, generous, warm, impatient of protocol, careless of detail, single-minded, impetuous and stubborn. He was the stuff that military triumphs and disasters are made of. Fate, and perhaps his beloved Australians, spared him the disasters.
http://www.medalsofengland.com/medals.php?id=121&medalid=675
Web Based Info. http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03079.pdf
General Comment. Royston, John Robinson ('Galloping Jack') (*Natal (?), 29.4.1860 - Port Shepstone, 25.4.1942), soldier, was the 4th son of William Royston of Bellair, Natal.
R. was educated at Durban High School, from which he absconded to join the Isipingo Mounted Rifles, and with them he fought at Gingindlovu (2.4.1879) and at the relief of Eshowe (3.4.1879). After settling in the Ixopo district as a farmer and trader he joined the Border Mounted Rifles in 1894 and was commissioned as lieutenant shortly after the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). He served in the siege of Ladysmith (2.11.1899 - 28.2.1900), and subsequently in Northern Natal in the Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment, and in the 2nd Imperial Light Horse, with which he saw action at Lake Chrissie in 1900. In this year he received the Royal Humane Society's medal for saving two soldiers from drowning.
In 1901 he was appointed as lieutenant-colonel to command the 5th and 6th West Australians in the Eastern Transvaal. In 1902 he returned to the 2nd Imperial Light Horse and then attended the coronation of King Edward VII, after which he went back to farming, this time at Port Shepstone. He received the D.S.O. in 1902 and was appointed C.M.G. in 1903.
During the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906 he served in Southern Natal and then raised and commanded Royston's Horse, being made an honorary lieutenant-colonel in the British Army for his services. He attended the coronation of King George V in 1911.
In 1914 he raised the Natal Light Horse in six days and led it against S. G. (Manie) Maritz on the Orange River. In 1915 he commanded a brigade consisting of the Natal Light Horse, Umvoti Mounted Rifles and 2nd Imperial Light Horse in German South-West Africa, distinguishing himself at Gibeon on 28.4.1915. Later that year he recruited an Imperial Service contingent in Natal and took it to England. In 1916 he was given command of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade and took part in the first and second battles of Gaza. He was wounded at Romani and received there the nickname 'Galloping Jack'. In October 1917 he returned to England and was appointed liaison officer to the South African Native Labour Corps, a post in which his fluent command of Zulu made him invaluable. In 1937 he commanded the contingent of ex-servicemen sent to the coronation of George VI.
R. was physically large and powerful. His courage was notable and he was a superb leader of mounted troops, although his tactical abilities were not remarkable and he was inclined to impetuosity in action. He was, however, particularly acceptable to the tough material in Royston's Horse and among the Australians.
In 1903 R. married Lilian Earle, daughter of C. F. Heugh, Swaziland, and had one son and one daughter. In 1937 he married Mildred, daughter of John Wright Standley, Hampshire, England. There is an oil portrait of R. at Warriors' Gate, Durban.
http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03080.pdf
And
Royston, John Robinson (1860- 1942)
by Ian Jones
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988
John Robinson Royston (1860-1942), by Daphne Taylor, 1924
John Robinson Royston (1860-1942), soldier and farmer, was born on 29 April 1860 at Durban, South Africa, son of William Royston, civil engineer. He was educated at Durban High School where his chunky build and fierce patriotism won him the nickname 'John Bull'. He fought in the Zulu War in 1879 and by 1884 was a sergeant in the newly formed Natal Mounted Rifles. Trading in the Ixopo division of Natal from his farm, St Faith, he employed many Bantu, spoke their language and treated them with firmness and respect.
When the South African War broke out in 1899 Royston was a squadron sergeant major in the Natal Border Rifles. Commissioned lieutenant within a week, he was at the siege of Ladysmith, was prominent in the capture of a Boer field-piece on Gun Hill, and was twice mentioned in dispatches.
What Royston called 'the principal thread of my military career', his leadership of Australian troops, began in April 1901 when, as captain, he took command of the 5th and 6th contingents of the Western Australian Mounted Infantry. Over the next year they saw action in the Eastern Transvaal, Natal and Orange Free State. For the capture of Boer laagers in the Ermelo district Royston was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 28 January 1902 and later that year was appointed C.M.G., honours which he attributed to the 'courage and soldierly qualities' of his troops.
He led the South African contingent to the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 and on 15 April 1903 married Lilian Earle Heugh; they had a son and a daughter. In 1904 he was made brevet lieutenant colonel of the Border Mounted Rifles, most of his men being Australians who had stayed in South Africa after the war. By 1906 Royston had settled at Kingston, a cliff-top mansion near Port Shepstone, Natal. In the Zulu rebellion of that year he raised Royston's Horse, again composed mostly of Australians, and was mentioned in dispatches. At the coronation in 1911 of George V, Royston was special aide-de-camp to Lord Kitchener.
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Royston recruited the predominantly Australian Natal Light Horse and led them successfully against pro-German rebels and German troops invading South Africa, before pursuing the campaign in German South-West Africa. After the surrender of the German forces there, he recruited a new regiment of Royston's Horse and took it to England. He was persuaded to relinquish command and, on Lord Kitchener's orders, travelled to Egypt where Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood was to give him 'the first available Australian command'.
Appointed colonel of the 12th Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, on 22 February 1916, Royston won the immediate affection and respect of his men, becoming a light horse legend at the battle of Romani on 4-5 August. In temporary command of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the 'massively built' 56-year-old Royston galloped around the battlefield with astounding energy and courage, reputedly riding fourteen horses to a standstill.
His nickname, 'Galloping Jack', would stick. Late in the first day's battle a bullet lodged in Royston's calf. Ordered by Major General (Sir) Harry Chauvel to have the wound treated, he galloped off before the dressing was completed, trailing strips of bandage. On the second day of battle Chauvel ordered him to hospital. Royston left within a few hours and the bullet stayed in his leg until his death. Next day the 1st L.H. Brigade was also put under his command for the Bir el Abd operation and on 9 August he took command of the 3rd L.H. Brigade. At the battle of Magdhaba in December he created another legend. Confronting several Turkish soldiers, he flourished his riding cane and ordered 'Hands up' in Bantu. The startled Turks dropped their rifles and surrendered.
During the battle he placed a 22-year-old, Major H. C. H. Robertson, in command of the 10th L.H.R., then galloped off to organize elements of the regiment in an elaborate bluff which climaxed with him personally leading a charge of 'the pack leaders and odds and ends of men who were supposed to be holding the led horses'. Royston emerged as the perfect foil to Chauvel: his high-profile leadership complemented Chauvel's less showy command-style. His love for forlorn-hope attack and the utilization of every man and horse balanced Chauvel's more cautious generalship and his shepherding of reserves. Remarkably, the only decoration received by Royston during his light horse service was the Russian Order of St Stanislaus, 3rd class, with swords.
After leading the 3rd L.H. Brigade in the 1st and 2nd battles of Gaza, Brigadier General Royston abruptly left the light horse in October 1917 on the eve of the Beersheba operations. According to the official history, his departure was 'for urgent personal business'. Royston told his biographer simply that he was ordered back to London. However, Major A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson claimed that Royston had deliberately inhaled poison gas so that he could be sure of recognizing its presence in battle. 'The result was that I found him in a hospital, a badly shaken man, passing green urine, and ordered away for a long leave'. Other sources confirm this unlikely story. Royston was persuaded to return to South Africa from London, 'a very sick man and broken-hearted at having to leave his command'.
After the war he continued raising horses, sheep and cattle and cropping on his many Natal properties. In 1934, when the 8th L.H.R. invited him to Australia for the Victorian centenary and the dedication of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, he received a hero's welcome in four States. In 1937 he led the South African contingent to the coronation of George VI and married Mildred Standly with Anglican rites.
Royston died at Durban on 25 April 1942, survived by his two children and his second wife who wrote that 'he loved his Australians to the last'. And the Light Horse loved him, as they loved no Australian-born officer. Writing of him, the men who knew him best produced strings of adulatory and sometimes contradictory adjectives. Perhaps Paterson came closest with his summing-up that Royston was 'by instinct a bandit chief and by temperament a hero'. As well, the man was vivid, generous, warm, impatient of protocol, careless of detail, single-minded, impetuous and stubborn. He was the stuff that military triumphs and disasters are made of. Fate, and perhaps his beloved Australians, spared him the disasters.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/royston-john-robinson-8290
Will. http://eggsa.org/documents/main.php?g2_itemId=1476055
John married Lilian Earle Heugh, daughter of Charles F. Heugh and Unknown, on 15 Apr 1903 in All Saints Bellair, Durban, Natal, South Africa. (Lilian Earle Heugh was born Cal 17 Dec 1883 in Bredasdorp, Cape Province, South Africa and died on 17 Jan 1927 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.)
Sources of information or noted events in their marriage were:
Web Based Info. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/royston-john-robinson-8290
And
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6S4S-4YR?wc=M6BB-X66%3A353938401%3Fcc%3D2063749&cc=2063749
Witnesses:-
Geo. H. Royston
G? J. Royston
E.A. Hammok???
And
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2007-03/1174770767
And
http://www.eggsa.org/documents/main.php?g2_itemId=1476000
Their marriage date is inserted in error and crossed out.
John next married Mildred Standley, daughter of John Wright Standley and Unknown, in 1937. (Mildred Standley was born in East Ashford, Kent, England and died about 1959.)
Sources of information or noted events in their marriage were:
Web Based Info. http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03080.pdf
Web Based Info. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/royston-john-robinson-8290
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