User:Storye book/editing/Sandbox 13

Pearce came from a Southampton family. His paternal grandfather was Chatham-born officer of the Royal Navy Robert Pearce, and Sarah née Seward, both of Southampton.

Their son, and the father of Richard Aslatt Pearce, was Richard Seward Pearce, a solicitor and town clerk of Southampton, who married Frances Aslatt in 1854 at South Stoneham. Frances Aslatt was the daughter of John Aslatt, liveried coach manufacturer of Above Bar, later high sheriff of Southampton 1845–1846,  and his wife Hester Martha Colson.

Pearce was born in Portswood on 9 January 1855, one of four siblings of which three were deaf. Two of his siblings were artist Walter Seward Pearce, and Fanny Pearce, all three described as "deaf and dumb from birth" in the 1881 Census. His single hearing sibling was solicitor Arthur William Pearce, who was mayor of Southampton 1917–1918.