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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: bibbypj on Thursday 13 July 06 10:16 BST (UK)
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Hi
If anyone has access to the Crimea War medal roll could you please do a look up for me for:
James BIBBY (or similar: Bibbe, Bybee etc.)
or any other Bibbys might help me.
Sorry don't know which regiment he might be in.
I have tried to contact Brian Oldham re: his Great Crimean War Index, however me emails are just being returned - are any other contacts for this Index known?
Paul Bibby
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Hi,
I have the medal roll on CD-ROM. It's organised first by regiment, then generally by rank, then (more or less) alphabetically.
But then to complicate the story, there are some supplementary lists. Plus there are the problems of illegibility at times (these are scans from the original rolls, not transcriptions).
What I'm saying (in a round about way) is that I'll gladly do lookups, but don't fancy trying needle-in-a-haystack type searches. It would take forever!
Can you narrow it down at all? Or perhaps tell me where he's from and I'll search a couple of the most likely regiments, ie the county regiment(s). At the very least I can hopefully eliminate a couple for you.
Neil
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Hi Neil
Thanks for your note. I appreciate your comments about "needle in haystack searches". That's what I've been doing!
The only things I have to go on for definite are from the 1881 census where he is living in Hull, Yorkshire and says his birthplace is Croydon, Surrey. He is listed as a Chelsea pensioner but my searches at Kew have failed to locate any pension records for the same reason: no regiment or discharge date (which is how the records are organised at Kew).
Because of his age I think its likely he served in the Crimea (but this is guesswork) as he would have been age 27-30 in 1854-56. Being a pensioner, and not appearing in census 1851-1871 I guess this covered his army time (but again it's guesswork).
At Kew, I searched WO97 for the Surrey/Yorks regiments and I have also had someone search the Crimea Medal Roll for the 19th Regiment (Norths Yorks) without success.
My guess is that the most likely are the Yorkshire, London/South regiments and possibly the Lancashire ones (there are a number of different Bibby families in Lancs, which can be confusing). Also our name is misspelt in many records (Bibbee, Bibbey, Dibby, Bybee being some I've seen).
I would appreciate any you can search for me to eliminate them from my search.
Thanks
Paul
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What do you know?!! I found a possible just browsing, not searching as such:
3048 Pte J. Bibby 39th (Dorsetshire) Regt
Also come across a Pte Henry Bibby, 1st Rifle Brigade and L/Cpl William Bibby, 38th (Staffs) Regt
Will browse a few more later.
Neil
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That sounds interesting - however I have found "other James Bibbys" before which have turned out to be not who I was looking for.
I've not had a lead for the 39th before and it seems a little out of the location I was expecting (i.e. some connection to Hull/Yorkshire.)
I'll keep a note together with my other possibles and would be interested in any more you find. I'll search at Kew next time for some more details.
Many thanks
Paul
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The bottom line of course is that he could well have joined any regiment, regardless of geographical associations. For instance, I recently looked at a chap from the north of Scotland who joined the Hampshire Regt!
Also of course many regiments weren't in the Crimea at all.
Not found any more J. Bibby's in my browsing
There was a Daniel Bibby & George Bibby in the 21st Scots Fusiliers, and a C.Bibby in the 44th Essex.
N
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Thanks for looking. I realise this is a long shot and yes, geography does not dictate which regiment a soldier joins.
I would have expected some connection with Yorkshire though, particularly for a man from Croydon settling in Yorks with a family - I have assumed he was stationed somewhere nearby when discharged. Of course its all guesswork but have to try and narrow it down.
Which regiments did you look at, please, so I can "tick off" these in my search. I am grateful for your time.
Paul
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Neil,
I’m sure I’m not the only one that asks you questions cheekily like this, I seen that you helped Paul Bibby out in hunting a relative of his down in the Crimea War medal Roll, and I would hope if you could do the same for me. I’d be ever so grateful if you could assist me finding a reference on a chap by the name of Edward Ferguson who had fought in the Crimean war. I believe there may be an entry for his name in the national archives WO 13/266 or WO 68/405/4 (and if it helps in any way, his date of birth was January 18th 1829, and he was born and died in Co. Cavan Ireland). He was a receiver of an army pension. Unfortunately I have no information on what regimental unit he was in (but I suspect 4th Battalion, Irish Fusiliers, Royal, formerly Cavan Militia), nor do I have his rank or date of discharge. Scant Information, I know for you to go on, but your feedback, would be much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance, for your time and efforts.What other approaches would you recommend to take in solving this ?.
John Marshal
Hi,
I have the medal roll on CD-ROM. It's organised first by regiment, then generally by rank, then (more or less) alphabetically.
But then to complicate the story, there are some supplementary lists. Plus there are the problems of illegibility at times (these are scans from the original rolls, not transcriptions).
What I'm saying (in a round about way) is that I'll gladly do lookups, but don't fancy trying needle-in-a-haystack type searches. It would take forever!
Can you narrow it down at all? Or perhaps tell me where he's from and I'll search a couple of the most likely regiments, ie the county regiment(s). At the very least I can hopefully eliminate a couple for you.
Neil