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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: hanoverbill on Monday 20 February 12 16:03 GMT (UK)
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I know from papers passed down from family members that my ancestor Nathaniel Bate served with the 66th. Regiment of Foot, in the British Garrison guarding Napoleon on St. Helena. I am not sure of his arrival date, or what ship he arrived on, and I have been unable to obtain any lists of members of the Garrison. I was wondering if anyone would have any suggestions on how I could follow up on this research. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
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Hi Hanover Bill,
Welcome to RootsChat. The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire (Salisbury) Museum hold records for the 66th Regiment of Foot and they are situated in the beautiful Cathederal Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2EX.
Curator: Lt Col D.G. Chilton
Tel: 01722 414536
Email: curator@thewardrobe.org.uk
Website: www.thewardrobe.org.uk
Victor
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To complicate matters a wee bit, both battalions of the 66th were on St Helena
2nd battalion arrived first, sailing from the Isle of Wight in Jan 1815
1st battalion embarked from Calcutta in March 1817, arriving on St Helena in July of that year.
A week or two later the 2nd Bn was absorbed into the 1st as the army was cut back.
So the answer to your question re ships and so on is it depends whether he arrived as part of 2nd Bn or 1st Bn. What else do you know about his movements, if anything.
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Victor Harvey & Neil 1821;
Thanks so much for your quick response to my question regarding my ancestor Nathaniel Bate. Unfortunately I don't know a whole lot about his time leading up to deployment to St. Helenas. I do know that he went to RMA Chelsea and was discharged in 1812 at the age of 14. After that my next information is the St. Helena Garrison. After St. Helena he went on to serve in Canada, and I do have quite a bit of information on that part of his interesting life. I really would like to fill some details about his time on St. Helena.
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Dear Hanover Bill
If you follow up the above link to the Regimental Museum Website www.thewardrobe.org.uk and there under research go to the timeline and then search the relevant dates for the 66th Regiment it will give you a picture of the Regiments movements which might assist. The time line you will be looking at comes from the Digest of service which does have some gaps but is nevertheless a good source. The Grenadiers of the 66th Regiment together with those of the 20th Regiment carried Napoleon to his first resting place when he died. If your relation was in the 1st/66th he would have taken part in the campaign against the Gurkhas prior to going to St Helena to join the 2nd/66th who themselves had some hard times in the Peninsula War.
Hope that helps
Maiwand