From Newgate Gaol to the Royal Navy – Samuel Royal of Antigua

By John D Ellis

Samuel Royal was born on the Island of Antigua c.1770-1772. A sailor by occupation, he was living in London when he was admitted to Newgate Gaol in July 1794 charged with “stealing seven guineas, the monies of Pierre Antoin, in the dwelling house of Thomas Sunnocks”. On admittance to Newgate he was 24 years of age (22 years was given in one entry), 5 feet 9” tall and described a both a “Black sailor” and “a Black Antigua sailor”.

Samuel Royal was not the only ‘man of colour’ admitted to Newgate Gaol during this period. Three individuals were admitted in 1793:

Cudjoe and Joe, both sailors born in Africa and described as “Black”, were admitted in September 1793 charged with ‘Murder on the High Seas’. Alongside two White sailors, they were accused of the murder of Robert Milligan the Chief Mate of the ship ‘Lovely Lass’ of Bristol. The ‘Lovely Lass’ was a slave ship. There is a chance that Cudjoe and Joe were enslaved men who fought back and killed a captor, but also a chance that they were employed as slavers, more research is needed to reveal the truth.^[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovely_Lass_(1788_ship) Joe died at Newgate, whilst Cudjoe and his two White co-accused were tried by the Admiralty Sessions – their fate remains unknown.

In November 1793 Lewis Henry was admitted to Newgate charged, alongside one White co-accused, with assaulting Samuel Belchamber on the highway (specifically under the Piazzas at Covent Garden) and robbing him. On admittance he was 25 years of age with a tawney complexion, black hair and eyes. A valet by occupation, he had been born in the East Indies. Both Lewis Henry and his co-accused stood trial at the Old Bailey in December 1793 and were found Not Guilty.

Samuel Royal was tried at the Old Bailey in September 1794. The transcript of the trial is reproduced below, with only minor corrections:

Pierre Antoin: I know the prisoner. I had no thought that the prisoner would go to my trunk. I lost seven guineas at Ratcliffe Highway, at the trunk maker’s house, Mr. Sunnock’s, about four weeks ago. I bought a pair of new shoes and put them in the trunk that I lost at the trunk maker’s, and I put seven guineas in a bit of paper in the shoes in the trunk, and I took the trunk along with me.

Q: Did you lodge at the trunk maker’s? A: No.

Q: How came you to lock the money up at the trunk maker’s? A: I left the money at the trunk maker’s, because the trunk maker’s house was very near the house where I thought to move. The trunk maker did not know that I had left the money in the trunk. I had just bought the trunk, and left it at the trunk maker’s. the trunk maker gave me leave.

Q: When did you miss your money? A: In an hour after I left the money at the house.

Q: Did you come back again to examine the trunk? A: Yes.

Mr Alby: Did you suppose that your money was very safe when you left it at the trunk maker’s? A: Yes.

Q: Why did you return immediately almost to examine whether it was safe or not? A: Because the landlord where I live desired me to bring the trunk to his house and said it would be very safe there.

Court: Where, to the new or old lodgings? Did you look into your trunk, and miss the money? A: Yes; I went back to the shop, and the people of the house told me that the man at the bar had been to the trunk, and opened the trunk, and took something out.

Q: And that led you to look? A: Yes.

Q: You knew the prisoner before? A: Yes, I knew him a few days before. I happened to meet him, and he was my interpreter to many places where I went, and as I had the money in my pocket, he advised me to put the money in the trunk, as it was safer.

Q: Did he see you put it in? A: Yes, he was present, but I did what I could to put the money in the trunk without being seen by the prisoner, but I don’t know whether the prisoner see me or not.

Q: Why did you wish to conceal it, when you were doing what the prisoner desired you to do? A: Because I would not let anybody know that I had money.

Q: Did the prisoner know how much money you had? A: No.

Q: Was the money only missing, or the money and shoes? A: No, only the money.

Mr Alby: Had you a watch in the trunk also? A: Yes.

Q: Where did you get this money? A: The captain that I came with, gave me fifteen guineas, and fifteen shillings.

Q: Were there not twelve guineas in the trunk? A: Yes.

Q: Were not there twelve guineas wrapped up in the same parcel? A: Yes.

Q: And only seven were taken? A: Yes.

Thomas Sunnocks: I am a trunk maker. I live at Ratcliffe Highway. I know the prisoner, Samuel Royal. I have nothing to say of the robbery myself. My apprentice is here and will relate the story. This man and the prisoner bought the trunk at our house. On Friday I took the prisoner into custody myself, and only found a crown on him.

Q: How long after the trunk was bought was this? A: The trunk was bought on Friday, and these people asked to leave it till Saturday, they were in and out two or three times.

Q: How soon after the money was missing did you take the prisoner into custody? A: Not more than an hour and a half.

Court: Were you present when the trunk was sold? A: No.

George Berry: I am fifteen the 19th of next December; an oath is to speak the truth.

Q: Who will be angry with you if you don’t speak the truth? A: The Lord. I live with Mr. Sunnocks. I am servant to him.

Q: Do you know Pierre Antoin, that stands there, and the prisoner at the bar? A: Yes, by seeing them coming to the shop; they came together when he bought the trunk.

Q: Do you know what day it was? A: I do not.

Q: Who paid for it? A: I don’t know who paid for it.

Q: Who bought it? A: I don’t know which of them bought it, they were both together.

Q: Did you see who locked the trunk up? A: I did not, when they first bought it.

Q: How long did they stay in your house, after having bought it? A: They did not stay any long time. Afterwards they bought some things, and put them in. I did not know what it was, it was tied up in a handkerchief.

Q: Did they go away together? A: Yes.

Q: When did they come the next time? A: It was the next day, they came with the shoes, both of them.

Q: who put the shoes in? A: I don’t know. They opened the trunk. I saw Pierre Antoin open the trunk.

Q: Did you see him put anything in them? A: No, I did not, but he had a pair of shoes in his hand when he came in.

Q: Did you see him have the shoes in his hand when he went away? A: No, he did not take anything away with him.

Q: You did not see him lock the trunk? A: No, I did not. After he had gone, sometime after, the other man came alone, and opened the trunk alone. He was a long time before he got it open, and when he got it open, he took a paper out, and took something out of the paper, and put the paper in again. It was a good time before he could get the key out. He could not get the key out till the apprentice came and took it out for him. When he got it out, he put it in his pocket, and went away. He was in a very great hurry.

Mr Alby: Have you spoke to anybody about this business before you came to court? A: No.

Q: You have not spoke to your master about it, nor your master to you? A: No, only at the justice’s, no farther than to tell me to mind what I said, that he said at the justice’s.

Q: Did not be desire you to be very particular and exact in what you said in the court, since you were at the justice’s? A: Yes.

Q: And he repeated to you of course what you were to say? A: No, he did not.

Q: You told your master the circumstance exactly, I suppose? A: No, I never told him of it.

Q: Not speak to your master about it? Do such transactions often take place in your shop? A: I have not long been in it.

Q: Did your master desire you to say in the court that he never spoke to you about it? A: No, he never said anything to me about it.

Q: There are a great number of black men in the neighbourhood of Wapping? A: A great many.

Q: And they are always going backward and forward of course, and I suppose you cannot judge of the particular persons of the black men, as you can of white men, they have all got black noses, and it is more difficult to swear to black men than to white men? A: Yes, but I know that is the man.

Court: Have you any doubt that that is the man that came to your shop? A: Yes, that is the man, I am sure of it.

Thomas Gates: I am a publican. The money was left in my hand by a black man. He was not in my presence two minutes. He left me five pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence.

Q: Where do you keep a public house? A: Cannon-street, St. George’s in the East, near Ratcliffe Highway. I do not recollect the prisoner at all. The black man left that parcel with me, to take care of, while he called again. It was the 16th of August, between the hours of six and eight in the evening.

Q: Did he call again? A: Never, I never see him afterwards.

Prosecutor: This is the paper the money was in, and the money is certainly mine, because that man had no money of his own. I had given him half a guinea the day before like this.

William Grundy: I am an apprentice to Mr Sunnock. I know the prisoner at the bar. I know him to be the person that came with this man to buy the trunk. It was on a Saturday last month, about the 16^th. The prosecutor locked it, and took the key with him, and paid for it. They came and brought some clothes two or three hours after and put them in. They brought it about eleven o’clock. They brought the shoes about four o’clock.

Q: Who locked the shoes up? A: The prosecutor. He pulled a parcel out of his pocket, and put it in the shoes, and he took the key; about half an hour after the prisoner came with two keys. As my mistress told me. I did not see him. I was called to take the key out of the trunk, and I took the key out.

Q: Was this the same key that you sold with the trunk? A: I did not take any notice about that. I don’t think it could be the same key. When I got it out, he went away.

Mr Alby: These locks are not of the very best manufactory of course? A: Some sort are.

Q: How long is it since you and your master, and the little boy, has had any conversation about this business? A: None at all, since we were at the justice’s.

Q: You have spoken to your master now and then on the business? A: No, not a word.

Q: Do you remember anything of this kind in your shop before? A: Yes, some time back a similar thing happened in our shop.

Court: What day did they buy the trunk? A: I believe it was the day before they bought the trunk.

Samuel Royal was found Guilty, sentenced to death and returned to Newgate to await execution. In December 1794 the death sentence was respited, briefly being commuted to transportation for life and then service in the Royal Navy in April 1795. He was one of eleven inmates who “received his Majesty’s pardon, on condition of entering and continuing to serve in the Royal Navy, until duly discharged therefrom. They were severally delivered on board the tender of the Tower, as per the receipt of John Howarth, Esq; Regulating Captain there”.

Samuel Royal does not appear amongst the list of Royal Navy ratings who served at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. However, a Samuel Royal was admitted as an out-pensioner by Greenwich Hospital in May 1820. Thereafter, his fate remains unknown.^[2]Sources: TNA ADM6/268. TNA HO26/3 and HO26/4. TNA HO77/2. TNA PCOM2/180. findmypast.co.uk www.oldbaileyonline.org www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors For Cudjoe and Joe see: TNA HO26/3, … Continue reading

 

Sources: TNA ADM6/268. TNA HO26/3 and HO26/4. TNA HO77/2. TNA PCOM2/180. findmypast.co.uk www.oldbaileyonline.org www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors

For Cudjoe and Joe see: TNA HO26/3, HO26/4, HO26/56 and PCOM2/178. findmypast.co.uk www.oldbaileyonline.org

For Lewis Henry see: TNA HO26/3. findmypast.co.uk www.oldbaileyonline.org