People Australia

Egbert Leonard (Bert or Leonard) Royals (1888- about 1921) labourer, IWW activist

Birth: 1888 at South Melbourne, Victoria, son of native-born James John Royals (1862-1936), an Australian Labor Party pioneer, Catholic and sometime Councillor for Glenelg, and Catherine, née Hourihan (1862-1914), born in Ireland. Marriage: 27 March 1912 at St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Kensington, South Australia, to native-born Hilda Burwood Stanford, later Petroff (1888-1946). They had one daughter and one son. Death: about 1921, details unknown. 

• Grew up in Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia. A delinquent, young Leonard spent time in a reformatory for petty crime.
• He was an Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) activist and organiser in Adelaide, in 1913-1914.
• Published letters on labour issues in the Adelaide Advertiser and other papers during 1913-1914.
• Leaving his family in Adelaide, he moved to Melbourne to join the local Industrial Workers of the World when it was established in January 1915.
• Wrote for Direct Action 1914-1915. May have ceased writing in response to increased arrests or adopted an alias.
• Was in Gippsland in eastern Victoria in 1916 and worked as an itinerant labourer at various farms in the district and later in the Wimmera district in the western part of Victoria; Possibly promoted the IWW amongst fellow workers.
• Participated in a 'Six O'clock Closing Meeting' in Longwarry in the Gippsland district (Vic) in August 1916 and was arrested for disloyalty for not standing for the National Anthem and for stating that the King should go to the front, and fought with policemen. Charges were dismissed.
• Last known public contribution to the press was in August 1917. His widow remarried on 21 January 1922.

Sources
Frank Cain, The Wobblies at War: A History of the IWW and the Great War in Australia; Argus, August 16; National Archives: Series MP16/1/0 Item 1916/1239; Personal letters; Electoral Roll Victoria.