Hi Brian,
Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I don't have Louis Herbert's birth certificate, he died in 1966 according to NAAIRS. His younger sister Dorothy Phyllis was my grand-mother, she married Robert Nelson Stannard.
Herbert and Elizabeth Saunders died in KwaZulu Natal and are buried in Vryheid, South Africa, him in 1923, she in 1954... I've seen their graves. Elizabeth Saunders' death record lists her as having been born in 1884, which makes her about 13 when Louis Herbert Saunders was born in 1897, which is young even for the time, unless the date on her death record is wrong! Am currently waiting for my folks next visit so that they can bring the photo my dad took - then I'll have more information than I have now. My dad is also going to bring his mother's birthday book, and whatever else he has, which will give me names, etc to compare to for all the Herbert Saunders listings I've found so far! I THINK Herbert Saunders may have been an engineer of some description, there are 'family stories' about bridges he built here in Pietermaritzburg, but I've never been able to find out more about them, or him...no useful records on him in NAAIRS applying for extra labour, etc the way there are for my Stannard ancestor!
The Saunders side has been the most difficult to trace so far, as my father is very sketchy on his mother's parents origins, etc. It was far easier to trace the Stannard side with similarly sketchy information as it is a less common name!
How did you find Louis Herbert in the 1901 census, I'm pretty sure I looked, but couldn't find any of the Saunders family, but I might have been looking for Rose and Stannard at the time also :-) Do you have a listing for him or his family for the 1901 census by any chance?
Thanks for the feedback, if I find that they are in any way relevant to the Saunders you're building a database of, I'll definitely let you know!
Regards,
Patricia