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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Dublin => Topic started by: noelreilly on Thursday 23 May 13 10:48 BST (UK)
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Can somebody help please. while looking for info on my grandfather James Sheridan, I came across his daughters birth certificate of 1922 the named him as E4 Soldier. I have looked in every irish military site there is, and he can not be found.
He was a labourer in 1920, and there was no European war at the time, so he joined up for a reason.
The british army has no prefix like E4 in their ranks. But the americans do. it means specialist corporal.
Would this suggest he was an `Irregular` Anti treaty Republican ?
I can not find anything on him at all.
Can somebody suggest the best way of finding out......please.
I believe he was born in 1900, and lived in Coombe St Dublin South.
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Not sure that an Anti-Treaty 'irregular' would risk incriminating himself by putting soldier on a cert...
The other force in existence at the time would have been the new Free State Army.
What's the exact date of the birth cert ?
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Thanks for the reply. I am very sorry to say that I have had a look at the birth certificate, and found a different date to what I was told. She was born 30 September 1924.
Surely the civil war had ended by then ? So what could E4 soldier mean ?
I will attempt to add the picture of the certificate as an attachment.
Thanks again.
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Occupation is 'Ex Soldier'
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full certs are not allowed - just small section are permitted to help with deciphering etc, so the full cert has been replaced with extracts
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Civil war ended about May 1923.
If your James was in the Free State Army from when it formed the he might appear on the Army census of Nov 1922 - see : Army Census (http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-archives-irish-army-census-records)
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No, I have looked. I have looked on that census and every site I can find. seems strange that he`s a soldier...with no record whatsoever.
Thanks anyway.
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I dont think all of that Army census is available or online so there could be more soldiers. If he served in the Free State army you can try contacting the Military Archives (http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/offline-collections) to visit in person, or try to arrange a search for possible service records, but I hear there is quite a long backlog..
note : Personnel files for officers and enlisted since 1922 are available to next of kin only - you have to provide proof of relationship, e.g. certs etc
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Could he be an ex-soldier of the British Army then?
H
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Thankyou so much. I shall look into that. I am visiting Dublin in three weeks, I see if someone will see me.
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well as far as im aware, he was born in Dublin. this may not be the case. he was married in Dublin in 1920. but I shall look into british army archives also.
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Hiya Noel,
the problem that you MIGHT be up against is the time frame
James may not have been in the army for long -
most of the online military records are 1914 - 1920
Then there is the 1922 military census
So, it's possible that James military time 'fell' between these two points where most of the records are.
Do you have his marriage cert to get his father's name and occupation ?
Are you trying to work out his family tree or just his military records ?
Tara
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hi. I suppose it is for family tree purposes. but he is the only member of my family that I know nothing about. if indeed it says ex soldier.. then his career was brief. he was not a soldier in 1920, it says labourer on his wedding cert. and he was an ex by 1924 0n his daughters birth cert.
his father Patrick Sheridan was an electrician.
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Hi Noel,
The time frame you are talking about it would have been the British Army one way or the other as we were still under British Rule.
I can't see a Patrick Sheridan Electrician on the 1911 Irish Census - although his profession could have changed between 1911 and 1920 when his son got married.
Tara
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you said in your post that you came across his daughters birth certificate with you being a grandchild i presume its your mothers cert ,was there any siblings born around the same time that you could cross reference with for the above details, is there any possability that its the wrong cert for someone of the same name.
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at family search.org . irish prison registers there is a james sheridan in mountjoy address given as in the army.arrested for being drunk. while i realise you said he may have been born 1900 he would be only 15 in 1915 the time of his arrest. but at least you know there is a soldier of that name.
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Have looked online and there are numerous James Sheridans who received medals and were members of British Army, Irish named units.
I wouldn't assume that in 1920 he may have not been in the army as in 1920 given what was occurring people would have avoided mentioning what they had previously been in for both expediency and survival.