His parents’ names and ‘of London’ are given in the Branscombe register at the bpt of his twin sons in 1812.124 Commander at death321 When six of his children were bapt at Sidmouth Old Dissenting Meeting House 24 Aug 1815, they were described as ‘Six Children of John Yule Esqr of the R.N. and Elizabeth his wife of the Parish of Branscombe, Devon’172
From YULE FAMILY NEWSLETTER No 24 p.1:
John YULE was born around 1775. He joined the British Navy in 1793 and served until 1840. John was placed on the General Service Medal Roll in 1840. This was at the time of the Napoleonic Wars which were against France and Spain.
From 1793 until 1797 he was on the HMS Benbow as a Master. John was present at the retreat of Cornwallis. (The Trafalgar Roll, by Col. R.H. Mackenzie; Naval Inst. Press)
During 1797, he was made a lieutenant. This promotion would have given him his own sleeping quarters in an area with other officers, although his space would have been quite small. John would have had his own food supplies and meals would have been cooked for him by either the wardroom servants or his own personal servant. He most probably paid a treasurer who would have been the officer's caterer and in charge of their eating area or mess. There would have been an enclosure on the ship for livestock so they could have fresh meat, eggs and milk.
In 1798 he was promoted to the first Lieutenant of the HMS Alexander during the skirmishes and the blockade of the Nile River off the coast of Egypt. In this position he would have served as the president of the mess and presided over the meals. Mealtimes were the only chance the officers would be together. In the Battle of the Nile only four ships survived and over 5,000 men died or were lost at sea.
By 1805, he was one of the Lieutenants on the HMS Victory. This promotion would have given John his own tiny sleeping cabin. The mess hall, where he would have his meals and any recreation activities, would have been a large room under the admiral's cabin. He would have been responsible for one work area such as the signaling or the gunnery detachments. Later in the year he was promoted to the commander of the ship. He would have had responsibility for the complete running of the ship.
The HMS Victory was classified as a flagship so would have had an admiral in charge. The admiral over John was Lord Horatio Nelson. However Nelson would not have had much to do with the day to day operations. The actual running of the ship would have been the responsibility of the captain, John Yule, and his team of lieutenants along with a crew of 850 men.
On 21 October 1805, the British Fleet commanded by Admiral Nelson met the combined fleet of the French and the Spanish Navies off the coast of Spain. During the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson was hit during a shower of musket and pistol fire from the guns of the French ship Redoutable and died a few hour later. His body was returned to London and he laid in state in the Great Hall of the Greenwich Royal Hospital. On January 9,1806 there was a four hour state funeral and burial at St. Paul's Cathedral. John YULE carried the banneroll of lineage during the funeral.
John retired in 1835 and received a Greenwich Hospital Pension. He must have been injured in active service to be given this pension. The hospital at Greenwich was founded by William and Mary and was designed by Christopher Wren. It was built for the use of those sailors injured in active service. When a sailor was injured, he applied for a 'hurt certificate' which entitled him to a pension or admittance to the hospital. In 1873, the building was made into a training college for officers of the Royal Navy.
‘John YULE died on the 10th January 1840. The cause of death was apoplexy. He was living at the Squire Terrace in the parish of St. Andrews, Plymouth, Devon. His death certificate does not give any family information.
We believe that John married Rebecca Jane FRYAR b. 1808 Exeter, Devon, daughter of William FRYAR. On 22 January 1844, Rebecca Jane YULE, widow, married Henry MAYNE a widower, in the Parish Church of St. David's in Exeter, Devon. He was the son of William MAYNE and a Quarter Master for the 49th Regiment of foot.
Rebecca is on the 1881 census for Whistones Parish, Worcestershire as a widow.
Rebecca Jane FRYAR YULE MAYNE died in 1884.’322
Plymouth, St. Andrews Parish Deaths:
4 January 1840, John YULE aged 65, Commander R.N. Squire Terrace.321 ‘John Yule ob Jany 1841 at 64’ in 1869 pedigree10,80
Obit in Gentleman’s’ Magazine Feb 1840323
‘Barnells, shown on old maps as "Barnwell" or "Barnhill", was built from an original farmhouse in 1830 by Captain Yule or Ewell, into whose arms, it is said, Nelson fell, at the Battle of Trafalgar. A famous contemporary engraving of this scene on board the "Victory" does indeed show the captain, but depicts him standing to one side, not propping up the Admiral. However, Captain Ewell did take part in Nelson's funeral cortege, in which he carried a scroll inscribed with the great man's family tree, which was interred with his body. During Captain Ewell's ownership, Barnells was known as "Trafalgar Cottage". After his death, his portrait and sword were acquired by the Ford family.
The house reverted to its original name of `Barnells' when John Tucker, the lace dealer, bought it in 1845. In 1851 he built an extension as large as the house itself. The ground floor of the new wing was occupied by workrooms where the lace was designed, the patterns were marked out, or `pricked off' and, with the thread, were given out to the cottage workers. The building included a bleaching room, some accommodation for supervisors and a small general shop where, according to custom, the workers received some of their earnings in the form of goods. This wing demolished in the 1920s. At his death in 1877, John Tucker left about £50,000 and was considered a wealthy man by local standards.’ 247