The Children of Joe Riley and Elizabeth McLaren

Introduction

William McLaren Riley

The missing money of William McLaren Riley

The story of a life

Jeanie Riley

Norman Riley

Percival Malcolm Riley

Links to other pages

Introduction

A previous page talked about the marriage of Joe Riley and Elizabeth Helen McLaren in Bradford in 1878. This marriage between the children of two successful middle class and wealthy families should have resulted in a stable and prosperous future for the children. However, this was not the case. The disappearance of Joe Riley in 1896 and Elizabeth McLaren's hospitalisation meant disaster for the children of Joe and Elizabeth and lifelong impact. Their's is the story of separation. It's only in the course of doing this research that the full story of the children can be told and a solution found to a family mystery that spanned three continents and 40 years.

William McLaren Riley

William McLaren Riley was born at Battle in Sussex in 1879. He was recorded as living with his parents in Hipperholme in 1881 and then in Southport in 1891. When his Father was presumed to go missing, he was aged 16.

Serving in South Africa

From a later Australian Army file, there was a clue that he served in the South African Constabulary during the Boer war. He was enlisted in that organisation between at least 13th October 1900 and 30th May 1902 .

The South African Constabulary was a hard duty where the members had the task of keeping the former Boer provinces of Transvaal and the Orange Free State pacified and under control. The force was led by Major General Robert Baden Powell, later to be known as the founder of the Scouting Movement. There’s no record of the discharge destination of William McLaren Riley after the end of the war.

It seems that he might have stayed in South Africa as a miner until 1910. There was a record of a William Riley, Miner, aged 31 travelling back from Durban to London on the SS Miltiades, a ship that had travelled from Brisbane, Australia picking up passengers in Africa on the way. The ship arrived in London on the 28th October 1910

Why this William Riley is probably the right person is that a William McLaren Riley, 31-year-old Miner from a South African Gold Mine was registered on the 1911 UK Census. William McLaren Riley appears not to have made his fortune as his place of residence in the Census in April 1911 was a Salvation Army Shelter for working men, just near Westminster Abbey in the middle of London.

This seems to be a precarious life compared to his childhood and the fact that he had wealthy relatives that seemingly he did not feel he could call upon. One thing that he may have done was visit his mother who was in a Mental Hospital about 3 miles away from where he was staying at the time of the census.

Moving to Australia and the outbreak of WW1

Three months later, in June 1911, William McLaren Riley was recorded travelling to Brisbane in Australia on a ship called the SS Durham to become a Railway Labourer or Navvy on the Queensland Railways. The voyage seems to have been a disaster with unsanitary conditions and disputes on the gratuity paid at the end of the voyage. He seems to have gone to work for the Railways as a Navvy at the town of Gayndah and was recorded there on the electoral roll for 1913 and 1914.

After William McLaren Riley had been in Australia for three years, the First World War broke out. Seeing itself as an integral part of the British Empire, Australia raised troops to fight alongside the British in Europe and the Middle East. The First Australian Imperial Force (1AIF) left Albany and Fremantle and headed to Egypt in December 1914. The Imperial General Staff sent many Australian troops to fight the Turkish Army at Gallipoli Cove in early 1915. This campaign had, and continues to have, a defining point for the people and history of Australia.

William McLaren Riley, at the age of 36, joined the Australian Army on the terms to serve until the end of the War. He joined in Brisbane on the 28th January 1916. In his enlistment papers he was described as a farm labourer of stocky build and at the height of 5ft 6in.

Service at the front

After basic training, he was attached to the 11th Machine Gun Company. This was a relatively small unit made up of men from Queensland who would have all joined around the same time. He travelled to France via Southampton in England in November 1916 on the HMAT Borda . The unit was at the front in Rouen at the end of March 1917. He was promoted to Corporal at the end of March 1917 and Sergeant in June 1917. As a Sergeant he would have commanded a Machine Gun section of up to four guns. The unit was largely based out of Armentieres and stayed in that sector for the next two years.

This meant that the Company, later attached to the 3rd Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps, was in the middle of the fighting at the Battle of Passchendaele. This was one of bloodiest battles of the entire First World War with an estimated 500,000 casualties. William McLaren Riley not only survived the battle but was promoted to Company Sergeant Major on Christmas Day 1917. He stayed in this position for the rest of the war and was mentioned in despatches in 1918. At the end of war, he received two distinguished citations. He was specifically mentioned in the Commander-in-Chief Douglas Haig’s final war dispatch on 8th July 1919 and was also awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre in early 1920.

CSM William McLaren Riley 134

As Company-Sergeant-Major, during the whole of the recent operations on the SOMME this N.C.O. has done valuable work in getting ammunition forward to guns, frequently under very adverse circumstances, and despite heavy enemy fire he has never failed to get through. He has been present with his unit in all operations by this Division in BELGIUM. At MESSINES he took charge of the section after his officer became a casualty and again, near PASSCHENDAELE, he commanded a section for several days. His work at all times was exceptionally good and his courage, coolness under fire, initiative, and disregard for personal danger has been a splendid example to his men, and has kept his command together under the most trying circumstances.

Croix de Guerre Citation

After the war

He would have had the option of being discharged back to the United Kingdom, but obviously saw his future in Australia and arrived back on 29th June 1919. He was released from the army shortly afterwards, giving his address as C/- North Star Hotel in the rural Queensland town of Gayndah, about 250km from Brisbane. In 1923 he was last known to be in an even smaller country town, Imbil. And there the trail is cold until 1929.

On the Electoral Roll for the Northern Territory of Australia, William McLaren Riley was listed as being resident at Maranboy, a mining settlement in the outback. Maranboy was a tin mine that had a dreadful reputation for poor living conditions and a subsistence way of life. William McLaren Riley was there until 1931.

There is no further confirmed trace of William McLaren Riley in Australian official records after this point. However in 1932 there was the notice of the death of a ‘William Riley’ on the road at Cockatoo Springs in the far North West of Western Australia On the death certificate for that William Riley was the information that the deceased was a 52-year-old cook.

This man took bad and died whilst travelling to Wyndham (3 days) (Mr A Martin JP for NT, Const Morey NT and N Finlay Pastoralist were present and buried body) Attorney General advised inquest and post mortem unnecessary.

Death Certificate, William Riley, Died 5th June 1932

The missing money of William McLaren Riley

Why these matters interesting are the extraordinary details that are kept in his Australian Army file. Between 1919 and 1939 there are a fascinating series of letters from trustees and brothers trying to track William McLaren Riley. The reason for this is under the legacies of his grandfathers’ John Riley and John Malcolm McLaren, William McLaren Riley was set to inherit a substantial sum of money.

When William McLaren Riley joined the Australian Army, he put as his next of kin W H Hutton of Bradford. William Hutton was his Mother’s sister’s (Margaret) husband (his uncle) and an executor of his grandmother’s will (Elizabeth Riley). William Hutton died in 1916 and his wife Margaret Hutton took on the responsibilities as Trustee for Elizabeth Riley’s estate and seemingly the interests relating to the estate of John Riley.

In 1919 there was a letter from Margaret Hutton to the Australian Army records division asking for William McLaren Riley’s current address so that she might congratulate him on the awarding of the Belgian Croix de Guerre. The Australian Army had some internal correspondence between regional offices to try and establish his whereabouts, but the only address they had on file for William McLaren Riley was care of the North Star Hotel in Gayndah, Queensland. There was a later note in the file to say that the army had sent his medal certificates to the address but they had not been collected.

In 1921, William McLaren Riley’s brother Percy wrote to Australian Army and set off another chain of internal memos. The medal citations and certificates were sent and collected from the post office in another rural Queensland country town. Then in 1923, Margaret Hutton writes once more to the Australian Army.

22nd August 1923

Dear Sir. In reply to your [….] correspondence about Company Sergeant Major William McLaren Riley 3rd Machine Gun Battalion I am sorry I can give you no information as to his present address. We as executor of late John M McLaren Esq have been advertising for information as have also executors of late John Riley but without result.

Should you later receive information I should be very grateful if you send it to me as several legal affairs are at a stand-still. I believe Mr L Riley and Mr C Hutton Esq are his nearest of kin but he, I understand has no later information than I have. Regretting my inability and yours faithfully

Margaret A Hutton

In 1929, George Marvell Riley, a solicitor from Halifax (and the grandson of William McLaren Riley’s great-uncle), in the UK takes up the case to deal with the will of John Riley. Again there was correspondence between the Australian Army and the lawyers with a slightly odd episode.

17th August 1929

[…] Unfortunately, your said letter to me of 26th June last was, in the first place, directed by you to Halifax in Canada, instead of Halifax, England, as you will see by my enclosed envelope.

George Marvell Riley

There were further attempts to locate William McLaren Riley by his brother Percy in the 1930s, in fact right up until 1939. An advert was placed in The Bulletin, a major national magazine looking for heirs. Percy Riley took a case to the Court of Chancery in 1940, and as with his father, William McLaren Riley was declared dead as of the 28th August 1923.

The story of a life

Looking at the correspondence, this seems like Lawrence Riley, now in Montreal, was aware of the search for his brother. He may also have received his inheritance from his two grandparents. Percy Riley seems to have been the main instigator in prompting the legal searches for William McLaren Riley.

It’s difficult to infer the motivations of individuals based on dry administrative records, but it seems like a sad life for William McLaren Riley. He obviously was competent, winning medals in the Boer War and then in the First World War. An individual isn’t appointed a Company Sergeant Major without being a trusted, skilled, and reliable person. But the episodes when he was down on his luck in London in 1911, then working as a railway navvy in difficult conditions in Queensland and then living in a mining community in outback Australia which was hot and dusty and suffered a lack of fresh water.

We don’t know why he never got in touch with his family after the First World War. He could have had a comfortable life with access to the funds that were waiting for him. In speculating, it’s possible his view of family was influenced by what happened when he was growing up. An ill mother and a runaway father. He would have had to grow up fast. If he was the William Riley that died in the North of Western Australia in 1932 then he deserved more than a lonely death on an outback road.

Jeanie Riley

Jeanie Riley was the second child, and only daughter of Joe and Elizabeth Riley. Like her brother William McLaren, she was born in Battle in Sussex when her father was Landlord of The George Inn. She was recorded as living with the family in Hipperholme in 1881. From at least 1891 she was living with her grandparents, John Malcolm and Jeanie McLaren, firstly in Bradford and then in 1901 in Leamington Spa. In June 1901, Jeanie Riley was a bridesmaid for her cousin Jeanie Hutton at her wedding in Bradford. The newspaper report describes the Bridesmaids as looking quite elegant.

In 1906, Jeanie Riley’s grandmother died. At this point, Jeanie seems to have suffered a first mental health crisis which is later recorded in her medical notes. She seems to have continued to live with her grandfather in Leamington Spa in 1911. On the census she was described as the Housekeeper for John Malcolm Riley, with a further 2 servants in residence.

However in 1913, there seems to have been a change in her condition and she was admitted as a private patient to the Royal Crichton Institution, a mental asylum in Scotland.

The Royal Crichton Institute was considered a model of its type in the care of patients with Mental Health illnesses. It was set in spacious grounds and had a highly trained, full complement of staff with a mission to care for the patients and not control them.

On her admission form, it states that was resident in Glasgow rather than in Leamington Spa in England which is where she normally lived. What is known is that one of her aunts, Jeanie Buchanan (nee Mclaren), lived in Glasgow at the time and Jeanie Riley may have been staying with her. One of the details in her notes as well indicates that she was, or had been at some point, engaged to be married.

The case notes for her treatment tell a sorry tale. She was 32 at the time of her admission. Her disposition was noted as being fond of sports and games, but also that she was distressed at her life living with her Grandfather. The case history also talks of some of the symptoms that she was suffering, delusions and hallucinations. She was also prone to conspiracy theories and could create imaginary scenarios. The case book doesn't really describe any treatments or therapies that she received, but just that her symptons didn't improve.

At the start of the record, it states her family history, with both parents being attributed as alcoholics and particularly her father was a 'ne're-do-well'. In a later addendum to the file, it lists her brothers, William, Lawrence and Percy, and that they were all far removed from her life in Scotland.

Jeanie was resident in the hospital for 23 years until her death on 30th January 1936. Her death register states that she had suffered a cerebral apoplexy, a stroke, for 24 days untl her death. She was 55 years old.

With the perspective of hindsight, we can read a lot into past events that may have shaped her life. Being raised in a chaotic and fragile household, as the only girl would have been difficult. Even living with her grandparents since she was 11 and separated from her brothers would have lessened the family ties. Her status as daughter, guest or housekeeper as registered on the 1911 Census would seem to indicate a continued state of uncertainty. It's perhaps no wonder that a reading of her case history portrays a woman that never settled and was always on the edge.

Norman Riley

Norman was the youngest of the children and was born at Clayton near Bradford in 1888. He was on the census in 1891 as being with his parents in Southport. The next record of him was from the 1901 census where he was aged 12 and boarding with a family in the Southport area. The head of the household, Frederick Barber, was described as a Church of England Temperance Society Police Court Missionary and Lay Preacher. There were three other children in the house, the children of Mr & Mrs Barber and a domestic servant in residence too. It’s not possible at present to know the exact circumstances why he ended up as a boarder with this family and not with one of his uncles, aunts or grandparents. However with his father’s disappearance and his mother’s illness and his elder brother’s emigrations, perhaps this was the best place for him to be.

What we know next was that Norman was sent to The National Memorial Boys’ Home, just outside of London, later in 1901. His brother Percy was already a pupil of the school in 1901. This institution was founded in 1885 in honour of the famous British General Gordon of Khartoum. This was run like a military school with a General-Commandant in charge and Sergeants-instructors organising lessons. The Home had a Scottish character with the boy’s dressing in Highland dress and a bagpipe band. Norman trained as a musician at the home and, three years later, he enlisted in the 1st Battalion, the Black Watch (The Royal Highlanders) Regiment as a Band Boy. He would have been 14 or 15 at this point.

He would have transitioned from a musician to a general soldier over the course of the next ten years. He served with the Highland Light Infantry and then joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders by 1910. At the beginning of the First World War in 1914 the Regiment was posted to France. It appears that Norman didn’t arrive at the front until 18th January 1915. From the regimental records, there was an outbreak of measles at the Inverness Depot at the time, that may have impacted on the later arrival in France.

At the front line

Over the next 18 months the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders fought in several engagements across Northern France and Belgium. On 1st July 1916, the allied British and French Armies launched an offensive across the length of the Somme valley. The German and British armies built trenches and fortifications around the town of Albert Across the summer the rain had been steadily falling and the whole area was a quagmire. Norman Riley’s unit was tasked with facing the Germans around Contalmaison and Fricourt.

On the 11th July 1916 the battalion was in the front line in the trenches west of Contalmaison near the Crucifix Trench facing strong German resistance including machine guns firing from the Shelter Wood.

Map of the Battle of Contalmaison, June 1916

Death and remembrance

According to the Regimental diary for the day, the Battalion was made to retreat 350 yards from the Crucifix trench to the Sunken Road near the Lozenge Wood. These words cover the fact that around 500-600 men had to move across open ground under heavy enemy fire. During this action Norman Riley and six of his comrades lost their lives.

Only one body of the 7 comrades was recovered. Norman Riley is commemorated on the Allied War Memorial at Thiepval and the Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle.

His effects were left to his brothers William, Lawrence and Percy.

Percival Malcolm Riley

The fourth child of Joe and Elizabeth Riley was Percival (Percy or Malcolm) who was born in Tottenham in 1884. He’s listed on the census return as living with Joe and Helen in Southport on the 1891 census. He would have been an early teenager when the family imploded.

Percy also attended The National Memorial Boys’ Home; he would have been a few years older than his brother. In the 1911 he was listed as a domestic groom living in a boarding house in the Surrey town of Farnham. We don’t know why he was living there, but it was not far from his school and he may have got a job in the district when he left.

In 1916, like his brothers, he joined the Army. He was in the 1st Battalion, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. This was a Regiment who traditionally recruited in the area around Stirling, near the clan homelands of the McLaren family. After a period of training, he joined the Battalion in the British Expeditionary Force that went to Salonica in Greece. This was one of the most unknown stories of the 1st World War. The British were looking to face the Bulgarian army before it went into Serbia. This was a hot and dusty campaign in the foothills of Macedonia. The supply lines were difficult and fresh food and water were a luxury.

‘This place is getting quite unbearable. The heat is intense. There is no shade all day. The flies are appalling and swarm everywhere. There is a good deal of illness going about. Water is very scarce and it is fatal to drink any which has not been properly treated. This becomes particularly hard on a long march where you must have water to replace perspiration. We all take 5 grains of quinine daily as malaria is very bad in these parts. We practise hill climbing, the hills are steep and covered with prickly scrub. Food consists chiefly of bully beef of which we are heartily sick. I am very busy making a road down the mountainside, a very difficult job . The Bulgars are about 5 miles in the valley and our guns shell them daily. We watch it all from our position.’

An officer of the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Percy's time on the Salonica front during the Great War was brief and marked by illness. Arriving in Salonica on August 17th, 1916, he joined B company of the 1st Battalion just three days later, on August 20th. However, less than a month into his service, on September 11th, he was admitted to the 84th Field Ambulance suffering from Pyrexia or fever. His condition required escalating levels of care, leading to transfers first to the 21st Sanitary Hospital on September 13th, then the Hospital Ship Herefordshire on September 19th, and finally a move overseas to St Andrews Hospital in Malta on September 23rd. After nearly two months of treatment in Malta, Percy was invalided back to the UK on November 16th, 1916.He was repatriated back to London on a hospital ship, with others evacuated from the front and was transferred to University College Hospital. He was discharged from the Army and placed in the Royal Defence Corps, a unit for sick or unfit soldiers. He saw out the rest of the war as a messenger in the War Office.

Marriage Certificate, Farnham, 16 October 1920

By 1920 he had moved back to Farnham and he married Edith Hofvander, the daughter of a Swedish Immigrant tailor. On his marriage certificate he crossed out the ‘Percival’ and called himself ‘Malcolm.’ He also names his father as ‘Joseph’ and says his father’s occupation was as a Surveyor.

Edith and Percy lived in the Farnham district after his marriage. He may have been in low paying jobs after the war. We know that in 1939 he was listed in the pre-World War Two citizen registration that he was listed as a retired Gardener and Edith was a caretaker. He seems to have spent much of the next twenty years settling the legal affairs of his family. Firstly in managing his brother Norman’s affairs, then his Father, Mother and Sister’s affairs across the 1920s. He would have been in receipt of various bequests from all these estates that would have supplemented his war pension and other income sources. In 1937 Percy made one last attempt to find the whereabouts of his brother William. He wrote to the Australian Army again.

From Percy M Riley, 18 Stokes Hill Estate, East Street, Farnham Surrey, England

7th April 1937

Dear Sir

I am the Brother of Warrant Officer William McLaren Riley, who according to authorities cashed his war gratuity in August 1923, and was awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre and Australian authorities cannot say whether delivery was actually effected.

Can you please tell me if his medal was actually delivered and where as my Brother cannot be found, therefore there may be of advantage to me. Since 1923 I have been trying to find my Brother. Can you assist me in any way, it is very urgent I that should find him.

Trusting you may assist me by an early reply.

I am yours truly,

Brother, Percy M Riley

In 1940, Percy worked with the family solicitors from Halifax and his brother William McLaren was declared to have died in Australia in 1923 to close the affairs of John Riley, their grandfather.

Percival Riley died in 1958. Edith Riley (nee Hofvander) lived until 1978 in the house she shared with Percy. They had no children and her effects were left to the children of relatives.

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