James William Alfred Round (1919 - 2018)

Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Birth 1.2 Parents 1.3 Census - 1903 1.4 Marriage 1.5 Children 1.6 Burial 1.7 FamilySearch Facts 2 Sources 2.1 Acknowledgment

Biography

James William Alfred Round was born James William Alfred Riley on 22 February 1919^[1] in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England^[2].

His biological parents were James Riley and Elizabeth Angel^[3].

His adoptive parents were Enoch Round and Hannah Louisa Brown^[3].

Enoch and Hannah

He was known as Jim by most, but to the extended Lynch family he was Jimmy and was often referred to as "Little Jimmy". The reason for this was that there was another Jimmy in the family who was the tallest of the two.

As a young man, Jim enlisted in the Royal Air Force, working as a Flight Engineer. Posted in South Africa, Jim met Elizabeth Alice (Lynch) Round in Durban in March 1944. They were married on 31 March 1944 only a few weeks after they met. ^[4].

It was wartime and after being married for only a few weeks Jim was recalled to his base in the United Kingdom. Betty now ‘belonged’ to the RAF and she was told to return to Kimberley, pack her things and say her goodbyes to family and wait for further instructions. She received notification she would be sailing from Cape Town to the United Kingdom. On arrival in Southampton, Betty caught a train to Birmingham and made her way to Smethwick and to the house she was to call home for some years. Jim’s mother (Hannah Louisa Brown Round) had been notified of her pending arrival. Jim was informed of her arrival by a neighbour who biked out to the camp to let him know Betty had arrived.

For the rest of the war days Betty followed Jim wherever he was posted, living in married accommodation in England and Wales. They returned to Smethwick in 1945, living with Jim’s mother in a large house. Their first child Evelyn Valerie (Round) Barker was born on 10 December 1945.

In 1947 Jim and Betty returned to South Africa where they stayed with Betty's sister Kay and her husband Ernest in Kimberley. This was a short-lived trip as Jim was recalled to the UK as his mother was ill. She survived until 1954. Jim and Betty's second and youngest child Janice Elizabeth (Round) Mason was born on 16 February 1951.

In 1955 the family returned to South Africa, and settled in Florida, Transvaal, where they bought a house just a block away from Kay and Ernest. They stayed there until the mid-seventies.

With his degree in engineering, Jimmy had some interesting employment such as a Gun Smith with Webley and Scott and working with the Diamond Mines in Kimberley.

Jim was an avid darts player and played in the local pub one night every week. Jim and Betty took up dancing and went dancing every week in various halls. They also enjoyed playing cards. On a Saturday night they would visit their niece Joan and her husband Johnny, where Betty 's brother and sister-in-law, Henry and Vera, were living. The six of them would usually play cards until around 11:00 p.m. Eve said, "I remember going with them a couple of times and we all had to sit quietly in another room reading comics." (All meaning Eve, Janice, and Joan and Johnny's young daughters Diann and Merryl). At a given time, we would make tea and ‘supper’. The game was never to be interrupted."

Jim and Betty on Holiday in Greece.

Jimmy always had an adventurous nature and loved travelling. He was quite accident prone - and Eve related the following about a few of his encounters: “I remember a skiing trip in Austria where he decided he could do the slopes without any lessons. No problems, until we heard this voice shouting ‘Hi up I can’t stop’, as he flew past us, down the slope, over the roofs of the cars in the car park to land close to a wall of the main building! Amazingly he wasn’t hurt. He also loved diving into waves in Durban. One time he saw this lovely wave and dived, but the wave had subsided, and he hit his head badly. At one of his ‘retirement’ jobs, he was working in a warehouse and some steel landed on his head, causing tinnitus in his ear”

Eve returned to the UK in 1972 and Janice was employed as an air hostess. Jim and Betty visited Eve in the UK several times and attended her wedding (marriage to Ian Rewi Barker AKA Bill) in London in 1979. Janice was also married in 1979 to Alan Mason. In the 1980’s they sold the Florida house and moved to a smaller place in Berea, preparing for the day that Betty would retire so they could join Janice and family in Australia. Eve and Bill were only a few hours’ plane ride away in New Zealand. In 1987 Jim and Betty packed up for the last time and moved to Australia.

50th Wedding Anniversary

Their marriage lasted over 50 years, until Betty ’s death in on 5 July 1996. After Betty ’s death, Jim continued to travel over to New Zealand yearly, visiting Auckland, North and Bay of Islands, Coromandel, Napier and Wellington over the years.

In his late eighties, Jimmy moved into a retirement village in Sydney, close to Janice where he lived until his death in on 27 February 2018 just a few days after his 99th birthday and almost 22 years after Betty died.

He lived to see all his grandchildren ( Rowan Elizabeth Mason, Brigitte Kathleen Mason and Sean Alan Mason.) grow up and marry and met 4 of his great grandchildren (Mia, Max, Archie and Hunter). He really enjoyed their visits always having loved children. His 5th grandchild, Albee, was born 2 months after Jim's death.

Birth

Date: 22 February 1919^[1]

^[2]

Name:	James W A Riley
Event Type:	Birth Registration
Event Place:	Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England
Registration Quarter:	Jan-Feb-Mar
County:	Worcestershire
Registration Year:	1919
Registration District:	Kings Norton
Mother's Maiden Name:	Angel
Volume:	6D
Affiliate Line Number:	30

Parents

Biological Parents: James Riley and Elizabeth Angel^[3]

Adoptive Parents: Enoch Round, Hannah Louisa Brown

Census - 1903

Name: James W A Round^[5]

Gender: Male

Marital status: Single

Birth Date: 22 Feb 1919

Residence Year: 1939

Address: 52

Residence Place: Smethwick, Staffordshire, England

Occupation: Fitter 2 E Engineer R ?? Technicial

Schedule Number: 157

Sub Schedule Number: 3

Enumeration District: OMBV

Registration district: 371 B. 1.

Household Members:

Name

Enoch Round

Hannah L Round

James W A Round

Marriage

Date: 31 March 1944^[4]

^[6]

Name:	James W A Riley
Event Type:	Birth Registration
Event Place:	Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England
Registration Quarter:	Jan-Feb-Mar
County:	Worcestershire
Registration Year:	1919
Registration District:	Kings Norton
Mother's Maiden Name:	Angel
Volume:	6D
Affiliate Line Number:	30

Children

1. Evelyn (Round) Barker
2. Janice Round

Burial

^[7]

Event Type:	Burial
Event Place:	Mona Vale, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia
Cemetery:	Mona Vale Cemetery
Name:	James William Alfred Round
Death Date:	27 Feb 2018
Photograph Included:	N

FamilySearch Facts

• Fact: Adopted By Enoch Round and Hannah Louisa Brown

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Added By Merryl Hunkin; 20 January 2017
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} *"England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2F1L-9XS : 1 October 2014), James W A Riley, 1919; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com... England and Wales Birth Registration Index 1837-2008
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Source: Evelyn (Round) Barker
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Source:Evelyn (Round) Barker
5. ↑ ::Source Citation: The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/5253J. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?qh=ZPLHRF6em5E1cu8Cwz9fzQ%3d%3d&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=james+william+arthur&gsfn_x=0&gsln=round&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1919&catbucket=rstp&MSAV=0&uidh=bs3&gss=angs-g&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=32374669&dbid=61596&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1&hovR=1
6. ↑ *"England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2F1L-9XS : 1 October 2014), James W A Riley, 1919; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com..."United Kingdom, British Armed Forces and Overseas Vital Records, 1761-2005", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68FL-5ZLC : 2 September 2021), James W A Round, 1944. England and Wales Birth Registration Index 1837-2008
7. ↑ * "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:69ZW-GXW2 : 18 December 2020), James William Alfred Round, ; Burial, Mona Vale, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia, Mona Vale Cemetery; citing record ID 217639182, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

Acknowledgment

---

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 31 July 2021, 04:54), entry for James William Alfred Round (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LVSM-Q55 ); contributed by various users.

• Evelyn (Round) Barker who wrote the biography for her father
• WikiTree profile Round-297 Added By Merryl Hunkin; 18 August 2015