Leonard James was born on 10 March 1896 (birth certificate number 1896/14360) in Te Kopuru in the northern Kaipara region.

On 30 December 1903 in Aoroa, aged 7 years and 10 months, Leonard dies – the verdict of Jury was “accidentally drowned”, he was buried on 3 January 1904 at Oturei Native Cemetery (51 Te Tuhi Road), Northern Wairoa, Kaipara (Death Certificate number 1904/590).

The Auckland Star reported the following on 5 January 1904 it reads;

“At Aoroa a child named Lawrence Stanaway, aged nine years, went bathing by himself after dinner on December 30, and he is now missing. It is conjectured that the child must have been drowned, because his clothes were found on the bank and footprints were seen in the mud, but although the locality was dragged the body was not found.”

Aucland Star 5 January 1904.