RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: gene1 on Saturday 18 December 10 14:53 GMT (UK)
-
Need help in tracing an ancestor who I believe may have served in the 17th regiment around 1873.
Can someone point me in the right direction
-
hello gene 1
welcome to rootschat , if you post the name of your rellie plus year of birth and place of birth if you know it we,ll see what we can do for you
trevor
-
The name is James Burgess and his date of birth is supposed to be around 1851.His place of birth is unsure but according to the 1881 census its whitchurch oxon.
I have a hunch it could be a soldier listed in the 1871 census as born in manchester lancashire as there is also a whitchurch there and the transcript in the census could be wrong.I know who he married and where and the names of all his children.I even have his death certificate but can't find his birth.Is it possible to get army records for a soldier in that regiment for the period around 1873
Thanks for your help
-
Army records usually only record age on enlistment - but hopefully including months. They also record parish of birth. Recruits did not have to show a birth certificate so it was down to the man himself to provide the information. At census time they did not line up the men and ask each one for his details. A clerk in the battalion/company office would have used the information from the enlistment papers, or a summary based on them. The army clerk would have then passed it to an officer for signing. If all he knew was Whitchurch, he would have guessed the county. So if the 1881 was compiled by the man himself, I would believe that one.
Was the 1871 census taken in Aldershot?
Ken
-
hi all
i,ve just been looking at the census return ken and theres no place given as to where it was done the first page is headlined as persons who slept or abode in this institution on the night of 2 april1871 then goes straight in to the list of officers and men .
also there are no service records that i can see for a james burgess either for a birth place of lancs or oxon .
ken , my not being up on reg names is there another name for this 17th reg which may give a better lead as to wether there is a record for this jb
trevor
-
Thanks for the help you are giving me.I may have confused you a little so i will try and expand on the facts.
My GG Grandfather married in June 1873 in Chobham surrey and on the day he married they christened their first child who was born in May 1873.The childs birth cert dosent show the father of course but the mother named the boy James Burgess and he took his mothers surname (Harwood).Later in life he swapped his name to James Harwood Burgess.
On the 1881 census they are all shown as living in surbiton in surrey and the fathers birth place is shown as Whitchurch oxon.I have obtained all the birth certs for the Bradfield reg dist for james Burgess which includes Whitchurch but can't tie him to any of those.My theory is that if the transciption is wrong and its whitchurch but not oxon then it could be shropshire or hampshire.My other line of thought is why they married a month after their first child was born.Could he have been in the army somewhere and couldent get home earlier.The James Burgess listed in the 1871 census at the 17th regiment was at the time in Farnham surrey and his birth year seems about right.Sarah harwood was working in Sherfield on Loddon nr basingstoke in the 1871 census.I wondered if i can find him through army records if they exist and of course he is the right person.My only other line of thought was a James Burgess born and living in hants nr Whitchurch and he is shown in the 1871 census as a stone picker.In the 1881 census he isent at home but his brother is in the army on furlough.I wonder if he had been in the army and got leave to marry which if available on record would prove i have the right person.
Thanks again for your help
-
Sorry I have really confused the post.The person is james Burgess and his birth place is shown as Manchester Lancashire.He is shown as born in 1850.The census shows him in Aldershot in the army in the 17th regiment aldershot .
I had no problem finding the records for another ancestor who died at the end of the 1st world war and hoped i would be able to find the records for this guy.
-
hi gene1
the records for ww1 are ordinary service records and as a lot of them were lost by fire in ww2 due to bomb damage to find any is a bonus the records pre ww1 are for service men pensioned off from the army and not just ordinary service records so unless a relative was classed as unfit for further service his record doesn,t exist if i,ve got it right the one exception being the guards who keep there own records if this is not correct i,m sure i will be corrected
trevor
-
I too am looking for a soldier and his family who are on the 1871 census at Aldershot.
His name is James McConville, and Phoebe, and Ada who is 1.
I think he was in Canada and married there came back to England because in 1881 they are in berwick and heis in receipt of army pension, so can someone tell me how can find his army records if any existsplease
Many thanks
-
There was a 833 Private James McConville of the 2nd Battalion, 17th Foot serving in 1861. The battalion was in the process of moving from Shorncliff to Ireland. So if you cannot find him in the 1861 census then he has probably already moved to Ireland.
I cannot find a pension file for him on Findmypast. So you will have to research the muster books in the National Archives. They are not online.
Interesting that his wife was born in Nova Scotia. They moved there from Ireland in December 1861, and again in 1865 with a month in Jamaica in between. She may be from an army family as well. Do you know her maiden name?
Ken
-
Thank you for that info, yes I have found a bit more about his wife now. She was Phoebe L J Baker born Jan 3rd in Brantford, Ontario, to George J Baker who was born in 1820 in Bethnal Green and I think was a carpenter but how/why George went to Canada I have yet to find. So back to Phoebe she married James McConville on September 8th 1864 in Halifax and the next time I can find her is the 1871 census, but I do loose her after 1901 and wonder if he died and she went back to Canada.
It is great how you can piece together someones life from these snippets.
Many thanks