Editing Stanley Holloway (section)

===Family background and early life===
Holloway was born in [[Manor Park, London|Manor Park]], [[Essex]] (now in the [[London Borough of Newham]]), on 1 October 1890. He was the younger child and only son of George Augustus Holloway (1860–1919), a lawyer's clerk, and Florence May ({{nee|Bell}}, 1862–1913), a housekeeper and dressmaker.<ref name=H42/><ref name=dnb>Midwinter, Eric. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31250 "Holloway, Stanley Augustus (1890–1982)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 21 April 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref> He was named after [[Henry Morton Stanley]], the journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and for his search for [[David Livingstone]].{{#tag:ref|In 1965, Holloway recorded the album ''Stanley&nbsp;– I Presume&nbsp;...'' whose title echoes H. M. Stanley's celebrated line, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume."<ref>[[EMI]] catalogue number 33SX1656</ref>|group= n}} There were theatrical connections in the Holloway family going back to Charles Bernard (1830–1894), an actor and theatre manager, who was the brother of Holloway's maternal grandmother.<ref name=H74>Holloway and Richards, pp. 74–75</ref>{{#tag:ref|Charles Bernard was the father of [[Oliver Percy Bernard]] [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Military Cross|MC]] (1881–1939), an English architect and scenic designer, who designed sets for [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]]'s ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' Cycle at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]].<ref name=H74/>|group= n}}

Holloway's paternal grandfather was Augustus Holloway (1829–1884),<ref name=PROBATE1>Principal Probate Registry, ''Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice of England'', p. 418</ref> brought up in [[Poole]], Dorset.<ref name="opcdorset.org">[http://www.opcdorset.org/PooleFiles/1841PooleED1.htm "Poole St James"], 1841 census, accessed 23 April 2011</ref> Augustus became a wealthy shopkeeper, with a brush-making business. He married Amelia Catherine Knight in September 1856,<ref>General Register Office, ''England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes'', vol. 5a, p. 501</ref> and they had three children, Maria, Charles and George.<ref>[http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&gsfn=Augustus&gsln=Holloway&gsby=&gsb2co=1%2cAll+Countries&gsb2pl=1%2c+&gsdy=1884&gsd2co=1%2cAll+Countries&gsd2pl=1%2c+&sbo=0&sbor=&ufr=0&wp=4%3b_80000002%3b_80000003&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gss=angs-b&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=18458751&db=uki1861&indiv=1 ''Census returns for England and Wales (1861)''], ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 July 2012</ref> In the early 1880s the family moved to [[Poplar, London]].<ref name=PROBATE1/> When Augustus died, George Holloway (Stanley's father) moved to nearby Manor Park and became a clerk for a city lawyer, Robert Bell.<ref name=H42>Holloway and Richards, p. 42</ref> George married Bell's daughter Florence in 1884, and they had two children, Millie (1887–1949) and Stanley.<ref>[http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1901&h=9137399&ti=5538&indiv=try&gss=pt&ssrc=pt_t25950280_p1748169445_kpidz0q3d1748169445z0q26aidz0q3d15272604991z0q26pgz0q3d32771z0q26pgPLz0q3dpidz0q257caid ''Census returns of England and Wales (1901)''], ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 July 2012</ref> George left Florence in 1905 and was never seen or heard from again by his family.<ref name="Holloway and Richards, p. 68">Holloway and Richards, p. 68</ref>{{#tag:ref|George Augustus Holloway later remarried and moved to [[Forest Gate]], East London. The ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966'' shows George A. Holloway's death as being registered on 13 June 1919.<ref>Principal Probate Registry, ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966'', p. 231</ref>|group= n}}

During his early teenage years, Holloway attended the Worshipful School of Carpenters in nearby [[Stratford, London|Stratford]]<ref name="Holloway 1967">Holloway and Richards, pp. 42–43</ref><ref>[http://www.newhamstory.com/node/1089 ''The Worshipful School of Carpenters''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406071231/http://www.newhamstory.com/node/1089 |date=6 April 2012 }} courtesy of Newham Council, accessed 6 December 2011</ref> and joined a local choir, which he later called his "big moment".<ref name=dnb/> He left school at the age of 14 and worked as a junior clerk in a boot polish factory, where he earned ten shillings a week.<ref name="ReferenceA">Holloway and Richards, p. 46</ref><ref>Ten shillings (10/-) is 50 pence in British decimal currency</ref> He began performing part-time as ''Master Stanley Holloway&nbsp;– The Wonderful Boy Soprano'' from 1904, singing sentimental songs such as "[[The Lost Chord]]".<ref>Morley, p. 124</ref> A year later, he became a clerk at [[Billingsgate Fish Market]],<ref name="ReferenceA"/> where he remained for two years before commencing training as an infantry soldier in the [[London Rifle Brigade]] in 1907.<ref name="Holloway and Richards, p. 58">Holloway and Richards, p. 58</ref>