Joseph Royle

Biography

Royle was Scottish, born in 1732 in an unknown location in Great Britain. It is not known when he immigrated to the American colonies. Royle likely lived in the same colonial Williamsburg house as his employer, the Virginia Gazette publisher William Hunter, as a co-tenant. This property, known as the "Ravenscroft site" consisting of two half-acre lots, is located at the corner of Nicholson and Botetourt Streets in colonial Williamsburg. This is at the east end of colonial Williamsburg, a block away from Duke of Gloucester Street, where the Williamsburg printing office and post office are located.

Royle was a journeyman who apprenticed under Virginia's "public printer" ("printer to the public") William Hunter. He became the foreman in the print shop around 1758 when he was 26 years old. Upon the death of Hunter in 1761, Royle took over the position as Virginia's "public printer" – a prestigious job of producing all legal public documents and forms. He was the "public printer" through the Assembly of June 1765. His salary started in 1761 at £350 per year and increased to £375 in 1764. Royle also took over Hunter's position as the publisher of the Virginia Gazette and enlarged it to demy size (10" x 15 1/2"). He also became then the postmaster of the Williamsburg post office, Hunter's previous position. Royle followed Ben Franklin's model as a typical colonial printer and postmaster.

Upon the death of Hunter Royle also inherited the remainder of a 25-year lease on the Ravenscroft property, some nine years. He eventually bought the property in 1763 and owned it until his death in 1766. The Ravenscroft lots, part of Royle's estate, were held in trust for Royle's son, William. William was only two years old when Royle died in 1766.

Royle was the brother-in-law to the prior tenant on the lease, John Holt. Holt, one time Mayor of Colonial Williamsburg, had started the 25-year lease in 1745. Royle became Holt's brother-in-law when he married William Hunter's sister, Roseanna. Roseanna was the younger sister of Holt's wife, Elizabeth. Royle was given the sum of £1000 by William Hunter in his will, on condition that he would continue the Williamsburg printing business for the joint interest of Hunter's infant son William Jr and himself. Royle died in 1766 before his nephew (William Hunter Jr.) became of age.

Household

Royle and his wife Roseanna lived with their sons, William and Hunter, at the Ravenscroft property. It is likely that William Hunter Jr, the infant son of William Hunter (d.1761), lived with them also. There were additionally in the household at least five slaves. There were two Negro men (Matt and Aberdeen) and three Negro females. One of the females was a mulatto 16-year-old girl (Jenny) who was a runaway.

There may have been other slaves in the household. The Bruton Parish Church register for births provides names of other slaves belonging to Royle:

In each of these cases above the mother and son were recorded as slaves belonging to Royle.

Runaway slaves

Royle had his problems with runaway slaves, typical of others in the colonies. Besides an advertisement for his runaway slave "Jenny", Royle put an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette on 2 May 1765 for a £5 reward for the return of his slave called "George Fisher". George was an apprentice bookbinder. He was described in the advertisement as "very thick, stoops much, and has a down look; he is a little pock-pitted, has a scar on one of his temples, is much addicted to liquor, very talkative when drunk and remarkably stupid." The amount of £5 for the 25-year-old slave was a large sum at the time. The reward was large because this slave was a skilled journeyman much needed in Royle's printing shop.

Newspaper controversy

Royle refused to print the controversial debates happening in the General Assembly of the House of Burgesses of the early 1760s in his Virginia Gazette. Royle followed closely the philosophies of Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of colonial Virginia. This compliance to Fauquier's philosophies did not go well with many of Royle's customers or with their representatives in the House of Burgesses. Royle refused to publish copies of the Stamp Act Resolves in 1765 when ordered by the House of Burgesses, following Fauquier's philosophies. Royle's Virginia Gazette also refused to print the Virginia Resolves of 1765 (related to the Stamp Act). This decision caused some of the more liberal Virginians to intervene in the situation, deciding that the colony needed a new printer and a more open newspaper. Up until that time, Royle's Virginia Gazette, which was seen as a voice controlled by the English government, was the only newspaper. Some unknown Virginias recruited William Rind, co-publisher of Annapolis, Maryland's Maryland Gazette to come to Williamsburg to set up a competing newspaper, free from English control. (While this recruitment of a new printer is often credited to Thomas Jefferson, it was not possible for him to have taken this action.)

In 1759 the Williamsburg printing office, with Royle as foreman, began printing pamphlets on the Two Penny Act. Rev. John Camm could not get his pamphlet printed by Royle in the Virginia Gazette because he objected to its inflammatory "Satyrical Touches upon the Late Assembly." Royle's yearly pay came from the House of Burgesses of Virginia, so he did not want to print anything that would upset them. Royle returned Camm's pamphlet saying,

"if it should Displease, would be taken as ill by this Assembly, as if pointed directly at them; I am far from saying it would give them Offence, nay, I think otherwise; however as there is a Possibility in the Case, it will be most prudent in me not to risk forfeiting their Good-will upon such an Issue, as I cannot but own myself a Dependent upon the House of Burgesses, and the Public in general. I therefore return you your Pamphlet".

However, Royle did print a reply to Camm's pamphlet by House of Burgesses member Richard Bland. Thomas Jefferson and others saw this as a slanted point of view since Royle would not print any attacks on the House of Burgesses, which inspired a competing outlet – a second "Virginia Gazette" newspaper. Some Virginians brought in a "patriot" influence to have an open press voice. Jefferson's words on this were:

"we had but one press, and that having the whole business of the government, and no competitor for public favor, nothing disagreeable to the governor could be got into it. We procured Rind to come from Maryland to publish a free paper."

Jefferson and other colonists had hoped that Rind's press would give an opposing view to Royle's, which they thought leaned too much toward the royal governor. A 1766 Virginia Gazette newspaper article describes from a "Man of Principle" that during the time Royle printed the newspaper, it was not known as a free press giving all viewpoints. This "Man of Principle" alleged the governor censored the newspaper.

Works

Printed page samples of Royle's publications:

Some additional publications credited to Hunter:

Death and will

Royle died January 26, 1766. He directed in his will that in the event his sons (William and Hunter), the heirs of his estate proved to be childless, the estate funds should be used to create a children's school to be called "Royle's Free School". He wanted the school to employ a teacher of good character, who would be paid £50 per year. This teacher should have the capability of teaching English, arithmetic and mathematics. The school-house was to be built on any part of lots 266 and 267, a section of land inherited by his son William.