Thomas Randle elucidated

Further to Victory: for a long time I've had my doubts about one of the standard Topsham claims to fame, that one Thomas Randle (the spelling varies) was quartermaster aboard the HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The story is perpetuated by a gravestone, whose general condition shows it's not 150+ years old, by St Margaret's Church. The National Maritime Museum's maritime memorials record - M4401 - explains that it's a replica of the original, which was broken by a mower.

THOMAS RANDLE
WHO WAS MANY YEARS
IN THE ROYAL NAVY
HAVING SERVED IN SEVERAL SHIPS
AND AS QUARTERMASTER
ON BOARD THE VICTORY
AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR
JAN. 2ND 1851
AGED 78

My doubts came from the discrepancy between the details on the stone, and those in the HMS Victory crew muster roll, available at the official HMS Victory site - here. The Quartermasters are listed, and Randle is not among them. There was a "Thomas Randall" aboard, but he was merely an able seaman.

This discrepancy is resolved by the document ADM 36/15900 in the National Archives (Admiralty: Royal Navy Ships' Musters (Series I). ADM 36. Ship: VICTORY), which contains Randall's full naval service record. It's online in the National Archives Trafalgar Ancestors section - Thomas Randall aged 41 born in Exeter, Devon, England - and here's the relevant section:

HMS Victory

Ship's pay book number: (SB409)
11 May 1803 to 19 May 1803
Rank/rating: Able Seaman
Comments: prest

20 May 1803 to 9 November 1803
Rank/rating: Quartermaster

10 November 1803 to 15 January 1806 (Was at Trafalgar)
Rank/rating: Able Seaman

So he was at Trafalgar, and was a quartermaster aboard the Victory - but not at the same time. For some reason, he'd been demoted to Able Seaman around two years before the battle. This conflation of detail was thoroughly entrenched by the mid-1800s.

DEATHS
January 16, at Topsham, in her 88th year, Mrs. Frances Randal, widow of Mr. Thomas Randal, Quartermaster of H.M.S. Victory at the battle of Trafalgar.
- Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, January 20, 1859

- Ray