 During the next thirty years Royce was heavily engaged on the construction of various railway lines in South Africa, as well as some important public buildings.He married Emma Broedelet, the daughter of a Dutch missionary, in May 1882.In 1910, he sold his business interests in South Africa and returned to England, where he fought the January and December 1910 elections as the Conservative Party candidate for the Spalding division of Lincolnshire, but lost to his Liberal opponent.