Henry Stephen Rolfe - Bandmaster

I've no idea when this photo was taken but I understand that Harry created or at least helped to create a military unit band which later became the Mauritius Police Band. Locals were recruited as there was a shortage of musicians for the band. A Hall of Fame for the Police Band is to be created at the police barracks (or perhaps it already has by now) which may prove useful in shining some light on Harry’s involvement with the band.

12623 Henry Stephen Rolfe - Royal Army Medical Corps

Henry Stephen (Harry) was born on the 18th June 1881 and started school in July 1884; the school register shows him as 'Harry' so I assume this was the name by which he was known at home. According to the school register he left Welford and Wickham Primary School in May 1896. 

By October 1899 Harry was working as a schoolteacher and already serving in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment when he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Harry's army papers show he was 5ft 2½in tall, had grey eyes and light brown hair, a scar on the bridge of his nose and another on the back of his neck and right jaw and was a Unitarian. I'm sure the British Army had no idea how useful their papers would be to family historians! He signed up initially for 7 years but obviously army life suited him and he extended his service.

Harry left the UK for South Africa and the Boer War on the 21st January 1900, returning to England in July 1901. During his time in South Africa he was posted to 6 General Hospital, Naanpoort where he worked for a year and a half including 29 days when he himself was hospitalized with enteric fever. He then spent the remaining years leading up to WW1 serving both in England and Mauritius. On the 23 June 1909, whilst in Mauritius, he married Sarah Violet Mary Brush in St Clement Church  and his first two children Philip Henry and Eileen Muriel were born in Curepipe in the district of Plaines Wilhems. His third child, Mabel Dorothy, was born in Portsmouth on the family's return to the UK. 


At the outbreak of the first world war Harry embarked with the British Expeditionary Force for France and served on the western front until May 1918. In April 1915 he was promoted to Sergeant Major and transferred to number 3 Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul a few miles from Ypres. Here he served as quartermaster and was promoted to honorary lieutenant. It was during this time that Harry was mentioned in dispatches - The London Gazette Second Supplement 2 January 1917.  
                                                        

Entry from Harry's army papers

There is  a very interesting account of life at the clearing station taken from Edith Appleton's diaries here 

Harry returned to England in May 1918 and was discharged after 18 years service.

Henry Stephen Rolfe RAMC

His life after the army is not so well documented and perhaps it will not be possible to uncover too much more about his life. We know that at some point Harry returned to Mauritius as, in 1935, he returned from the island to set up home back in the UK. He and two of his children sailed from Durban on the SS Garth Castle. 

SS Garth Castle

SS Garth Castle was commissioned as a hospital ship for the duration of WW1, which is obviously when this photo was taken. Photo thanks to Martin Edwards  www.roll-of-honour.com

The Garth Castle passenger manifest shows Harry as returning after living in Mauritius to set up permanent home in England. He gives his proposed address as 17 Kent Road, Southsea, Hants and his occupation as Civil Servant.

Extract from Garth Castle passenger manifest

 Was the address he gave that of his brother Alf or was it his own house? Where were his wife and younger daughter? Had they travelled back to the UK earlier? Family memories also suggest that Harry was a bandmaster in Mauritius and that his son Philip died at a fairly young age.  Plenty of questions to be answered and lots of research still to do!
I have found the marriage for Eileen M Rolfe to Frederick H Grattan in Portsmouth in 1935 and what could well be the birth of a child to Eileen and Frederick, a Roma Grattan was born in the Newcastle are in 1938.

Harry died on the 11th of October 1963 at Highlands Hospital, Southgate, London. At the time of his death his address was 61 Brecknock Road, Southgate, London N7. 

Extract from National Probate Register

The Family

As I'm more interested, at the moment, with finding out what happened to my grandfather's brothers and sisters than with going back further and further in time I'll start with a run-down of the family.


Henry Rolfe was born in Shalbourne, Berkshire and married Sarah Bailey on 22 January 1876 in the church of St Lawrence, Hungerford.
They had at least eight children:

1. Alfred b. 1876
2. Agnes May b. 1877
3. *Edith Florence (Flossie) b. 6 Jan 1880
4. *Henry Stephen (Harry) b. 1881
5. *William James b. 12 June 1885
6. Julia b. 1888
7. Philip Lewis (Phil) b. 1891
8. Mabel Alice b. 1899

*Those with an asterisk next to their name I know have descendants alive today. 

Sarah Rolfe, nee Bailey, mother of Alfred, Agnes, Flossie, Harry, William, Julia, Phil and Mabel.

The Rolfe family on the 1891 census are living in four rooms in a house in Wickham village in Berkshire:

Henry Rolfe	Head	35	Sawyer of Timber	Berks Wickham
Sarah	Wife	34		Hungerford
Alfred	Son	14	Sawyer of Timber	Hungerford
Agnes	Dau	13	Kitchen Maid	Wickham
Florence	Dau	11	Scholar	Wickham
Henry	Son	9	Scholar	Wickham
William	Son	5	Scholar	Wickham
Julia	Dau	2	Scholar (stet)	Wickham
Philip	Son	4mo		Wickham

Only Mabel who wasn't born until 1899 is missing from the 1891 census.

I think by 1911 the family had moved to Farnborough in Hampshire but won't know for certain until I can look at the census details.

Now it just remains to be seen if I can find out what happened to them all, where they lived, what they did, if they had any children and are there any unknown relatives somewhere waiting to be discovered? 
At the moment I'm working on the theory that after Henry's death Sarah married a Thomas Shersby in 1926. I know she married again (but I haven't been given a name) and died after a fall down the stairs at her son Alf's home in 1939 in Southsea, Portsmouth.