Mr Robert William Norman Leyson was born in Kensington, London, England1 on 31 March 1887 and was later baptised on 6 November that year.
He was the son of Robert Thomas Leyson (b. 1846), a well-known solicitor, and Jessie Gertrude Richards (b. 1854), both natives of Glamorganshire, Wales who had married in Swansea in 1876.
One of seven children, his siblings were: Jessie Gladys (1877-1962), Ethel Gwendreth (1879-1940), Helen Mary (1880-1970), Esther Kate (1881-1969), Emma Maude (1884-1966) and Leyson Thomas (b. 1891).
He appeared on the 1891 census living at Westbrook in Swansea, the family having returned to Wales only in recent years. The family had moved by the time of the 1901 census and were listed as living at Bloomfield in Sketty, Glamorganshire; Robert was not present at the address, and his whereabouts are unknown though it was likely he was at school during this period. When he reappeared on the 1911 census, he was boarding at 64 Eaton Terrace, St Georges, London and was described, like his father, as a solicitor. However, most other records describe him as an engineer, specifically a mining engineer.
Robert was inducted into the Cambrian Lodge of the Masonic Order on 16 January 1912; his profession was listed as an engineer. Just shy of three months later, he boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number 29566, which cost £10 10s) with the intention of joining his brother Leyson in New York, possibly to accompany him to a mining enterprise in British Columbia. He was originally booked to travel aboard another ship, but his passage was transferred to the Titanic due to the coal strikes.
Robert Leyson lost his life in the sinking and his body was later recovered by the MacKay Bennett and buried at sea on 24 April 1912:
NO. 108 — MALE — ESTIMATED AGE 25 — HAIR, DARK
CLOTHING — Green and brown mixture suit; white striped shirt; black boots.
EFFECTS — "Leyson" on keys; glasses; fountain pen; pipe cleaner; nickel watch; charm; gold tie clip; pocketbook; R. W. N. I., on silver case; £4 in case; 1s. 4d. in pocketbook.
SECOND CLASS
NAME—R. W. N. LEYSON
His estate was not settled until 29 May 1943, but by then, his effects were listed as nil. He is memorialised on a plaque at St Catwg’s Church, Cadoxton:
A DEARLY BELOVED SON AND BROTHER
ROBERT WILLIAM NORMAN LEYSON
BORN 31st MARCH 1887.
One of those left to drown in the catastrophe
of the White Star steamship Titanic
which foundered in the Atlantic
with a loss of 1603 lives
15th April 1912.
To a most affectionate and generous disposition
he added integrity and industry and was so
BELOVED BY ALL
His parents both spent their last days living in London at Talgarth Mansions, Kensington. His father- then one of the oldest practising solicitors in the UK-died on 4 February 1937, and his mother on 17 November 1942.
His last known surviving sibling was his elder sister Helen "Nellie", who died in Conway, Caernarvonshire, in 1970, aged 90.
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