RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Wiltshire => Topic started by: Rachatfalcon on Wednesday 12 October 11 00:01 BST (UK)
-
Hi folks
Can anyone tell me about Ramsbury between about 1795 and 1803 - particularly with regard to military matters. I have an ancestor born there, Charles Washington, b 1797. Although his mother was from Ramsbury, his older brother was born in Buckinghamshire, so I can't really tell what the family were doing in Ramsbury. His father, George Washington, b 1775, was in the army (although I have no details :'( ) so I wondered if that would have been the reason they were there?
Thanks in advance if anyone knows anything or can point me in a useful direction...
Regards
Rachel
-
I cannot help you with why George was in Ramsbury but I have found a marriage for a George Washington in the Ramsbury PR which might possibly be your George.
7 Feb 1795 George Washington. Out of Parish. By Banns. Sarah Langfield. Spinster of Ramsbury Parish. George is now of Wyke Regis, Dorset. Private in Bucks Militia.
West.
-
Thanks for that. George was one of the little mysteries in the family, & Rachel & I have had some discussions about him.
His father said to a court in 1820 or so that he'd become a soldier & died in Ireland, & that he'd died before an event which it was possible to date to 1803.
It seemed very likely that he was the George who married at Ramsbury, husband of the widow Sarah Washington who remarried in Buckinghamshire 1800, & father of the Charles Washington who kept appearing in Buckinghamshire censuses with a vague or unknown place of birth - but without the information you've kindly supplied from the PRs, it wasn't certain.
I reckon that now it's as sure as it can be. It's unlikely that there was more than one George Washington in the Bucks Militia in 1795, & everything else fits.
PS. I'm descended from one of George's brothers. Four were in the army, Charles transferred from the militia 1799, William private in the 3rd Bn, 14th foot at Waterloo, Thomas in the militia from 1803, army 1807-1827: got a bullet in the left thigh at the battle of Corunna (1809), & served 9 years ;in the east'. Discharge signed & sealed at Meerut. He seems to have had a wife & at least one child who died in India.
A nephew joined the army, & fought in the first Afghan war, later emigrating to New Zealand under a free passage scheme for old soldiers.