Hi Jackie,
I have been doing some research on Anthony Royal as he is my GGGG Grandfather. What an interesting character he seems to be. As you can see in the Census, he is a Greenwich Pensioner. I have searched to find out if he was Merchant or Royal Navy and I have found him. He was listed as Thomas Reed onboard HMS Spartiate at the battle of Trafalgar. He is also was known as Anthony Royale who was born in 'North Yarmouth'. His rank was that of Boatswains Mate, which as I understand is an Non Commissioned Officer. His job would have been to keep the ship working and the men in line. A hard man not to be messed with! I have still to find out why he had two names - very intrigueing! HMS Spartiate was lucky to not have many casualties - only three, however together with HMS Taurus they captured the Spanish ship 'The Neptuno'. The Captain was given the 'Union Jack' from the Spartiate as a reward. This sole surviving Union Jack was recently sold at Auction for around £350,000 to an American. If only I had the money!
His first son 'Robert Richard Royal' was a very bad character. He was tried for the murder of Harriet Chandler, but due to early policing methods was aquitted. Samuel Yarman was found guilty and was hung. 30,000 people came to the hanging. It is very clear that Robert Royal killed the shopkeeper and was a known theif and generally bad man. His father 'Anthony' is mentioned as gathering support by other Yarmouth traders to 'lean' on officials. It paints a picture that our Royal family were not to be messed with. The story of the murder is beautifully written in Maurice Morson's book 'Mayhem and Murder in Norfolk'.
Luckily I descend from James John Royal, Anthony's 4th son
