Editing Henry Royce (section)

==Early life==
Royce was born in [[Alwalton]], [[Huntingdonshire]], near [[Peterborough]] on 27 March 1863 to Mary (née King) and James Royce.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27>Reese, pp. 17-22, 24-27</ref> He had four older siblings, Emily (born in 1853), Fanny Elizabeth (born in 1854), Mary Anne (born in 1856) and James Allen (born in 1857).<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> On both sides Royce was descended from generations of farmers and millers.<ref name=Pugh_Pt1_Pg6-7>Pugh, ''The Magic of a Name – The First Forty Years'', pp. 6-7</ref> His father James started as a farmer before upon in 1852, his marriage to Mary, the daughter of a farmer, he acquired the lease of a flour mill at [[Castor, Cambridgeshire|Castor]] in Northamptonshire.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> James was unable to make a success of the mill at Castor and moved to nearby Alwalton where he took up the lease of a flour mill, which he leased from the [[Ecclesiastical Commissioners]].<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> In 1863 financial circumstances forced James to mortgage his lease to the London Flour Company. In 1867 the business failed and due to their reduced circumstances the decision was made to board the three girls in Alwalton while Mary worked as an housekeeper with various families in the area. Meanwhile James took the two boys with him to London where he found work in a flour mill in Southwark operated by the London Flour Company. At some stage James had contracted Hodgkin’s disease, and he died in 1872 at the age of 41 in a public poorhouse in Greenwich.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/><ref name=Pugh_Pt1_Pg6-7/> Royce was later to describe his father as unsteady but clever, someone lacking the determination to apply himself single-mindedly to a task.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> Royce was nine years old at the time of his father's death and his formal education to date had consisted of one year at the Croydon British School.

For a while he stayed with an elderly couple who were family friends in London, but when one died he was forced to move on. He later reminisced that “My food for the day was often two thick slices of bread soaked in milk.”<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> On one occasion he found it warmer to sleep with a dog in its dog kennel. As his mother was able to only provide him with very limited financial help, Royce at the age of 10 got a job selling newspapers for [[W. H. Smith]], firstly at Clapham Junction and later at Bishopsgate Station. He was able to earn sufficient money to allow him to also attend school over the next two years. In 1876 at the age of 13 he obtained a job at the Post Office delivering [[telegrams]].<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> He was paid a half penny for each delivery.

He would occasionally visit his great-aunt Catherine on his mother’s side, who lived in [[Fletton]] near Peterborough. Feeling that he deserved a better future she was able in 1878 despite her own limited financial circumstances to obtain Royce an [[apprenticeship]] with the [[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)|Great Northern Railway]] company at its works in Peterborough in return for paying them £20 a year.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> Moving to Peterborough Royce boarded with the Yarrow family, who had a son who was already an apprentice at the works. To pay for his day to day living expenses Royce continued to deliver newspapers.<ref name=Pugh_Pt1_Pg6-7/> To make up for his lack of formal education, he also took evening classes in English and mathematics. In November 1980 Royce had to give up his apprenticeship after his great-aunt’s money ran out.  Due to a depression affecting at the British economy at the time Royce couldn’t find a local job so he walked from Peterborough to [[Leeds]] where he stayed with his sister Fanny Elizabeth and her husband.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> Royce’s mother was also a member of the household. Within two weeks Royce had found employment at toolmakers Greenwood and Batley in Leeds where he was paid 11 shillings for a 54 hour week.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> Outside work he studied various technical subjects, including electrics.

Before a year had passed he returned to London where he was able to obtain a position at the Electric Lighting and Power Generating Company in Southwark as a tester, despite having no practical experience in the electric field.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> The role doubled his wages to 22 shillings a week, though he continued to work long hours and to neglect his diet. The company changed its name to the Maxim-Weston Company after it expanded into manufacturing lamps designed by Hiram Maxim and Edward Weston. In his spare time Royce began attending evening classes at the [[City and Guilds of London Institute|City and Guilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education]].<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> Among his tutors was the highly respected physicist and electrical engineer [[William Edward Ayrton]]. 
In 1882 at the age of 19 Royce was promoted to chief engineer of his employer’s subsidiary the Lancashire Maxim-Weston Electric Company in [[Liverpool]].<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/><ref name=Evans>{{cite book |last= Evans |first= Michael |year= 2004 |title= In the Beginning-the Manchester Origins of Rolls-Royce |location= Derby, UK |publisher= Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust |isbn= 1-872922-27-9}}</ref> The under-capitalised company was involved in lighting streets and theatres. Despite winning a major contract with the Liverpool City Council the company was forced into [[liquidation]] on 24 March 1884.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/> In May 1884 the Maxim-Weston Company purchased the assets of its subsidiary, with the aim of obtaining further contracts with the Liverpool City Council, who had expressed confidence with both Royce and the company’s work to date. Until these could be obtained Royce would be unpaid if he stayed with the new company. Royce decided instead to start his own business.<ref name=Reese_Pg16-27/>