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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Westmeath => Topic started by: sydes2 on Tuesday 27 June 06 00:16 BST (UK)
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Hi,
Does anyone have any information about the Royal Artillery at Althone. My grandfather joined in 1900, and was discharged in 1912 - but I have no other information. Did they stay in Ireland mainly - or go to England/abroad. Any information that would give me a sense of what this meant to him would be great
thanks
Eliana
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Hi,
Don't know if this helps,my grt Grandfather was in The Barracks at Athlone not sure when he went but his son was born there in 1894,and then his daughter was born in 1897 in Newcastle on Tyne Barracks ,but thats all I know about his movements.
Janice.
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hi eliana,
there is some useful information on the link below,
not directly about the artillery but I think you will find it useful in
tracking down any records.
regards.anne
http://www.athlone.ie/AboutAthlone/Genealogy.aspx
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Hi,
Thank you for info,sorry I'm late in replying summer!!!! holidays
Janice.
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no problem janice,hope you got somewhere
out of the rain ;D. happy rellie hunting.
regards,anne
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Would anyone know if Briish servicemen were serving in Ireland as early as 1818? Particulary in the Westmeath area. I have hit a brick wall with my grt. grandfathers research, on his marriage cert. it says of Newtown Westmeath.
also on his tombstone it says of Newtown, County Westmeath. I only have his fathers name (Wiliam) lfrom marriage cert. but of course it does not say where he was from. The surname was Johnston and I have been unable to trace any Johnstons who were in Westmeath at that time, I am now beginning to wonder if in fact his father maybe met an Irish girl and they produced my Grt Grandfather Robert Hardcastle Johnston. What would be the chances that there would still be any service records going back that far.
Thanks
J.
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I have an ancestor stationed at Athlone around 1862 and during a recent visit I got articles about the barracks around that time. One refers to the barracks having troops in 1811. Happy to plough my way through these if anybody wants me to look for anything which might help.
My ancestor in Royal Artillery also served Dublin, Malta, Crimea & Shorncliffe.
Judy,
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Hi Judav,
Would you kindly see if there are any Johnston's listed.
(see my post previous to yours.)
Thanks
Jill
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Hi Jill. Sorry, can't see any Johnston. There are very few names mentioned in the articles. More generally, the following might be of interest:-
The barracks is one of the oldest in Europe, established shortly after the siege of Athlone in 1691. Known as Victoria Barracks in the 19th century it was re-named Custume Barracks in 1922.
In the mid-nineteenth century there was fear in the town that the military barracks would close as troops were being dispatched in such numbers for the Crimea that very few soldiers were left there.
Judy
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My Great great grandparents, Charles Hilton and Catherine Brady were married in Athlone in the 1880s.
She was a local Athlone girl, the daughter of a Dublin couple who had moved there, her husband was an English soldier based there. After they were married they moved to other barracks in other parts of Great Britain (which of course Ireland still was then) including Dublin and ended up in Scarborough.
Your ancestor could easily have been English or Scottish or Welsh and settled there after leaving the army Jill
Eliana- expect any soldiers in Athlone to be stationed there only for a a period of their career, just as now soldiers back then were moved a lot from place to place.
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Jill,
Thank you for this :)
I have been lucky enough to find at the National Archives my grandfather's service record which suggests he only served in Britain for his 7 active years between 1901 and 1907. I am trying to work out the actual regiment, which is not clear from his records, although it is clear it is Artillery. Does anyone have any idea of which regiments were stationed at Athlone in 1901?
My grandfather seems to have travelled a long way to sign up - his mother lived in East Wexford in 1901 and he was born on the West coast. All very strange
regards and thanks
Eliana
PS - young children so not enough time to enjoy my favourite hobby of genealogy, which is why it is a long time between postings!
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Hi Jill,don't know if this is any help, but I do know for a fact that there were Johnston in Co Westmeath as I've got a Bridget Johnston on my family lists.I've typed in a search at IFHF & they have a record of 192 births,95 marriages,50 deaths for Johnston in Co Westmeath.Griffiths Valuation listed 48 names for Johnston in Westmeath & I notice that there are two listed for the parish Newtown Westmeath -Fineas Johnston,tenant of house & garden,townland is Ballykilmore,place name Tyrellspass.Then other one is William Johnston, he is a landlord,townland Ballykilmore & place name is also Ballykilmore.Hope this may give you some leads,Regards Nipy
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Hi Nipy Thanks so much for your reply, just when you think there is nothing more to find, something like your reply appears, that is what is so exciting about this game!! I am very interested in the William Johnston you mention you are obviously more skilled at these searches than I am. Could you advise me how I would find out more detail about William like dates etc. to establish iF this might be the one. Anything you can do to throw some light on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks
jilly :-\ :-\
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My Great great grandparents, Charles Hilton and Catherine Brady were married in Athlone in the 1880s.
She was a local Athlone girl, the daughter of a Dublin couple who had moved there, her husband was an English soldier based there. After they were married they moved to other barracks in other parts of Great Britain (which of course Ireland still was then) including Dublin and ended up in Scarborough.
Your ancestor could easily have been English or Scottish or Welsh and settled there after leaving the army Jill
Eliana- expect any soldiers in Athlone to be stationed there only for a a period of their career, just as now soldiers back then were moved a lot from place to place.
Great Britain is the large island and Ireland is the little island ... together they formed the United Kingdom.
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I'm sorry Jilly if I've raised your hopes,I'm not so good at finding info -hit or miss thats me,but I always try & keep my eyes peeled for folks as people do for me (that's the great thing about this site ah!)The only thing I can give you to play with is - there are 3 William Johnston marriages record with IFHF for Westmeath the dates are 1836,1840,1896 But none of them are for the area of Newton (which is a shame)Looked at G/V again & there are 2 more William Johnston's listed for Westmeath both are tenants one parish Castllelost,townland Farthingstown,place name is also Farthingstown,the other one is Bridge street Mullingar.Jilly I'm not going to make a rude joke about the name of the last townland.Regards Nipy
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Hi should have said the above post had the copy of William Johnston landlord on it,Cheers Nipy
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Thanks very much Nipy, did'nt quite get the joke, perhaps you mean miss out the 'h' !!
My grt grndfather Robert (William's son) was born Newtown Westmeath 1818 seems a bit long to leave it until they decided to get married, but not impossible as Robert was married 10 years after his three sons were born.!!!
I suppose next move is to try a marriage cert, but too early I think what I really need of course is a birth cert or registration for Robert or at least some evidence,. as at this stage I ony have Westmeath Ireland on his death certificate and on his tomb stone.William's employment on Robert's marriage cert simply says Steward. All very frustrating, would'nt it be nice to have a team working for us like on 'Who do you think you are'
Thanks again
jilly
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I wouldn't think IFHI would have a parish record for much before 1800's (madding I know)there won't be a marriage cert for William maybe if you are very lucky you may find a parish record some where (not good odds) but Robert there maybe a church record for his baptism was he RC or Church of Ireland .Also I wonder what type of Steward William may have been do you think that may mean an estate manager or something like that ?There was quite a few large estates /big houses in Co Westmeath .Yes be lovely to have the resources for someone to do all the look ups & point us in the right direction but I think then we'd lose that buzz when you find something.I'll keep a look out for you & let you know if I see any thing that maybe of any interest,Happy hunting - Nipy
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This also interests me! My g-grandfather's marriage certificate listed him as living at the Athlone army barracks in 1901 and stated that he was a driver for the 9th battery, Royal Field Artillery. His name was Ernest Mills and he married Agnes Kennedy on May 25, 1901 in Athlone. I know that he ended up going to South Africa to fight in the Boer War.
I would love to know how I could find out more about him - were the army barracks included in the 1901 census? Is there a way of finding his army record?
Kim Rumball
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