Summary
Personal Information
Voyage
Transportation
Robert Ardley was transported on the Royal Admiral, departing 1st Jul 1830 and arriving 8th Nov 1830 with 194 passengers.
The Royal Admiral was built at Lynn in 1828. Convicts were transported to New South Wales on the Royal Admiral in 1830, 1833, 1835 and to Van Diemen's Land in 1842. 1833 - Ship; Royal Admiral. Commenced fitting as a Convict Transport at Deptford on the 29 March. Surgeon Superintendent [Andrew Henderson] joined on the 3rd April. Guard embarked on the 13th. Sailed on the 17th and anchored in Kingston Barbour near Dublin on the 9th May. 220 convicts embarked on the 16 May 1833 and the ship sailed from Dublin Bay for Sydney on the 4th June and arrived there on the 20 October. Originally embarked with 221 convicts, 5 Died at sea, 1 was Relanded. 11 sick on shore, The convicts were described as 220 such wretchedly debilitated creatures ... Refer to the surgeons journal for full details
Royal Admiral (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 89, Class and Piece Number HO11/7, Page Number 424 |
| Source Description | This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
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Convict Notes
Absconded. Ardley Robert, No. 30-2041, Royal Admiral, 19, Labourer, Essex, 5 feet 2½, hazel eyes, brown hair, ruddy much pock-pitted and freckled complexion, 2 small scars over left eye, from Mr. G. Mosman. NSW Govt Gazette, 5 Dec 1832. The following article was published over a hundred years later. THE PRISONER WHO WANTED A CHANGE To a youth who was just out of his 'teens (he is described in the official records as 'much freckled’) the green fields of England must have been very attractive in the Australian summer of 1832. The young man, who came from Essex, ran away from Paterson's Plains because he was tired of penal servitude, and a stolid official, who wrote an atrocious hand, sat down to compile a report about it. What a wealth of tragedy is wrapped up in the simple phrase. "Illegally at large." written by the magistrate, on November 20. 1832, above his account to the authorities In Sydney of two young men. aged 20 and 21, who had decided to risk an uncertain fugitive existence to the daily grind at Paterson Plains. One can only guess at the names of the young men which appear from the scribbled records, to be George Bayley and Robert Ardley. One came out on the ship Mermaid (the only touch of romance in the whole grim record) and the other on the Royal Admiral. One came from Staffordshire and the other from Essex. The younger man was slender, and 'much freckled' of face, and his eyes were grey. The Newcastle Sun, 29 May 1939. It seems that Robert was caught again after his escape, as several years later, he gained a Ticket of Leave. NSW Convict Index. Robert Ardley, per Royal Admiral, 1830, Ticket of Leave, No 37/402. District, Williams River; Tried Essex QS.
10th, Robert Ardley and Wm. Ardley, (by J. Brewster and N.C. Bamardiston, Esqrs.) charged with stealing three asses, the property of James Tweed, Henry Blinker, and James Eley, of Moulton, Suffolk. Essex Herald, 16 Feb 1830. Robert Arley and William Ardley, two boys, brothers, were convicted upon three indictments, charging them with stealing donkeys from different owners at Moulton, Suffolk.  The prisoners were stopped at Coggeshall, near which place they resided, with the donkeys in their possession, and upon enquiry they turned out to be stolen. Upon the first conviction they were each sentenced to seven years’ transportation; the same sentence awarded upon the second; for the third, the Court they should not inflict any sentence. Essex Herald, 23 Feb 1830.  Robert Ardley, for stealing several asses from Moulton, in Suffolk ; and William Davis, for poaching upon the grounds of T. G. Bramston, Esq. at Ruxwell, and assaulting William King and his assistants, at the time of his apprehension—Ardleigh and Davis were put on board the Leviathan, at Portsmouth; Essex Herald, 2 March 1830. Leviathan Hulk Records. HO-9-8_6 page 11/54. Received from Chelmsford 26 Feb 1830. Robert Ardley, age 17, Stg two asses, Tried 12 Jan 1830, Chelmsford, 14 years, To NSW 26 June 1830, R. Admiral. Wm Davis, age 26, armed at night… game? Tried 12 Jan 1830, Chelmsford, 7 years, To NSW 26 June 1830, R. Admiral.