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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: nigelvz on Thursday 11 September 14 00:39 BST (UK)
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hi
I'm looking for information on the "Waterloo Men" who appear in most accounts of the early years of celebrations of the battle of Waterloo in Durham City, which involved processions of boats on the river Wear and which developed into the first Durham Regatta in 1834. We’ve managed to find at least two veterans who served at Waterloo and subsequently lived, and died, in Durham:
Tho(ma)s Laidler, born in Durham, who served in 3rd Battalion Artilllery, was a Chelsea Pensioner and died 12 July 1854 aged 77
and
Thomas Simpson, who served in 23rd Regiment of Foot - His Majesty’s 23rd Regiment, Royal Welch Fuzeleers/Welsh Fusileers, born in Kidderminster 1897 and died in Durham in 1877 aged 81
We are interested in finding the names of Waterloo, and Peninsular, veterans who came from Durham so that we trace their descendants and invite them to the 2015 Durham Regatta to celebrate the bicentenary of their ancestors’ service.
We know that the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry), the forerunners of the DLI, fought as part of Wellington’s army throughout the Peninsular campaign, but were not present at the Battle of Waterloo, having been posted to Ireland in 1814. However, it is likely that local men, like Thomas Laidler, did serve at the battle and survive to attend the “substantial supper, and a plentiful supply of strong ale and punch” given by Captain Chipchase, himself a veteran of the Peninsular, “to every private and non-commissioned officer in Durham and its vicinity, who fought under the illustrious Wellington in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo.” Interestingly, “forty-three of these brave fellows assembled around the festive board”. The regatta still has a clause in its constitution promising free ale to anyone who can prove that they served at Waterloo and we wish to deliver on that promise, at least to their descendants.
Nigel van Zwanenberg, Chairman, Durham Regatta)
http://www.durham-regatta.org.uk/
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Hi and welcome to rootschat ;D
These websites may help you
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/men-of-the-battle-of-waterloo
http://www.waterloo200.org/
It would also be worth contacting the local records office as all their records will be there and the archivists would be best placed to help http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/home.aspx and the other place would be Durham University as they do lots of genealogy including student research projects, transcribing etc , also have lots of records in their library it could be a great research project for them https://www.dur.ac.uk/ ( http://familyrecords.dur.ac.uk/ )
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Hi Nigel - Part 1
You should forget the DLI angle. Other than the name they did not have much of a link with Durham until 1873 when they started with a Depot there. There are only two men born in Durham (city) in 1815 in the 68th Foot, in the pension file.
The key series in the National Archives used to be called series WO97. This included men discharged to pension. Luckily the Friends of the PRO/NA created an index for men discharged before 1854, which allows a search for their place of birth; and this is still available on line WO97 is now only available on Findmypast, but I do not believe you can search by place of birth.
Ken
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Hi Nigel - part 2
I exceed the maximum message size
I have produced this, which is a list of men born in Durham (city), serving in other regiemnts in 1815. They went on to be discharged to pension:
THOMAS ROBSON 29th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 51. 1791-1815
FENWICK ELLSBERRY 29th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42. 1812-1835
GEORGE WILSON 53rd Foot Regiment; Militia; Fencibles Discharged aged 44. 1794-1817
JOHN CHARLTON 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 20. 1812-1815
JOHN FAIREST 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37. 1804-1824
JOHN FERGUSON 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 29. 1803-1815
HENRY WHARTON 43rd Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43. 1808-1833
ROBERT WILKINSON East India Company; 34th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 32. 1814-1829
ROBERT CARR 36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 30. 1806-1819
RALPH DAVIDSON 1st Foot Guards Discharged aged 34. 1803-1816
GEORGE HODGSON 10th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37. 1805-1822
WILLIAM DAWSON 44th Foot Regiment; Royal Newfoundland Veterans Discharged aged 38. 1813-1836
ISAAC MEVIN 15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43. 1808-1836
JOSEPH HUDSON 15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42. 1799-1823
THOMAS STOREY 15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42. 1809-1818
GEORGE CARR 15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 27. 1809-1821
ROBERT HUDSON 87th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34. 1807-1817
WILLIAM GRANGER 24th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43. 1791-1815
THOMAS NEWTON 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 40. 1803-1825
GEORGE BAINBRIDGE 65th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 40. 1798-1823
GEORGE GREGG 68th Foot Regiment; Fencibles Discharged aged 42. 1794-1819
EDWARD GIBBONS 31st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34. 1805-1819
ANTHONY YATES 36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 41. 1805-1827
ROBERT HERBERT 3rd Foot Guards Discharged aged 36. 1805-1816
SAMUEL MANN 14th Foot Regiment; Norfolk Militia Discharged aged 42. 1803-1826
JOHN MALLEN 10th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34. 1807-1822
ABRAHAM BARNETT. . 25th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 31. Kilmainham Reference: B366. 1806-1819
WILLIAM DUNCAN 86th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 45. 1793-1815
CHARLES GOLIGHTLY 84th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 28. 1811-1815
JAMES WOODS 32nd Foot Regiment; Royal Artillery Discharged aged 34. 1809-1826
WILLIAM MCDONALD 36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34. 1805-1819
WILLIAM CLOSE. . 16th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 41. Kilmainham Reference: A11364. 1799-1816
ANTHONY TROTTER 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37. 1804-1822
JOHN HERBERT 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 29. 1807-1815
THOMAS MATHEWS 8th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 36. 1804-1822
GEORGE DOBSON 7th Foot Regiment; Yorkshire Militia Discharged aged 38. 1803-1821
THOMAS BARRINGTON 1st Foot Guards Discharged aged 44. 1808-1825
THOMAS BRAMER 79th Foot Regiment; Caithness Legion Fencible Cavalry Discharged aged 34. 1798-1816
THOMAS CLEMINSON 68th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 35. 1808-1825
WILLIAM FOTHERGILL 65th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 24. 1811-1820
JOHN MADDISON 95th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 39. 1799-1818
THOMAS EYRE 36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37. 1809-1827
WILLIAM LIDDELL alias WILLIAM LIDDLE 3rd Foot Guards Discharged aged 30. 1812-1821
RALPH HERBERT 61st Foot Regiment; Fencibles Discharged aged 41. 1799-1825
JOHN FRENCH 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 33. 1802-1817
GEORGE DODGSON 16th Foot Regiment; 37th Foot Regiment; 3rd Royal Veteran Battalion; 8th West India Foot; 62nd Foot Regiment; 64th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 50. 1806-1821
JOSEPH DAVIDSON 15th Foot Regiment; 1st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 39. 1799-1821
JOHN COOPER 10th Foot Regiment; 8th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 53 Years of enlistment and discharge are unknown.
CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON 11th Dragoons; 87th Foot Regiment; 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34. 1801-1817
THOMAS STORY. . 15th Foot Regiment; 16th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 40. Kilmainham Reference: A10585. 1799-1816
MARK HALL 52nd Foot Regiment; 7th Foot Regiment; 9th Royal Veteran Battalion; 3rd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 49. 1799-1816
RICHARD AYRE 67th Foot Regiment; 40th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 50. 1797-1820
THOMAS BAINBRIDGE 68th Foot Regiment; 2nd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 28 after 7 years 8 months of service Covering dates give year of enlistment to year of discharge. Residence or place where pension paid stated in document. 1807-1816
GEORGE MILLER 82nd Foot Regiment; 3rd Garrison Battalion Discharged aged 29. 1805-1815
CHARLES WINTER 56th Foot Regiment; 5th Royal Veteran Battalion; 57th Foot Regiment; 4th Royal Veteran Battalion; 2nd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 50 after 17 years 5 months of service Covering dates give year of enlistment to year of discharge. Residence or place where pension paid stated in document. 1798-1816
The first task is to remove those men without service in a regiment at Waterloo. The list on part 1 gives the regiments present
I suggest you get a moderator to put this in the Armed Forces section, and also put a link in the Durham section. You are looking for volunteers who can find military records online after the initial cull. 'Waterloo' men initially received a half-penny extra pension and this should be recorded on their papers. Later on this was changed to two years additional pensionable service.
Ken
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Hi Nigel - Part 3
Waterloo men who survived to be discharged to pension is the easy one.
Men killed at Waterloo; or discharged without a pension; or serving in the Peninsular will requiring extensive research at the National Archives. Although for the last group, you may find some who served in the peninsular, but not at Waterloo.
Ken
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many thanks for your replies and the fantastic list from Ken - this makes the task so much more likely to be successful - I'll follow your suggestions about the Armed Forces and Durham areas of the site. No worries with those who died at the battle or in the Peninsular as they won't have been around at the regatta. The ones who did attend must have been pretty hardy as they had to survive for another 19 years.
Iluleah - will contact the University and the family research section -most of us involved in the project are alumni and/or former staff
best wishes
nigel
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Durham Uni are fantastic as far as their FH research goes and best wishes with your regatta ;D
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Re your post of 11 September 2014, are you interested in veterans of Waterloo who were probably in Durham (county) in 1834 but not on your lists of names?
Jon andrews
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Re your post of 11 September 2014, are you interested in veterans of Waterloo who were probably in Durham (county) in 1834 but not on your lists of names?
Jon andrews
hi Jon
yes we'd be very interested - it wouldn't be that surprising if some of the relatively local ones made it into the City for the Waterloo celebration and the Regatta that year
best wishes
nigel vz
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Thanks for reply to my post yesterday. I have an ancestor, Andrew Knox, who fought at Waterloo as a private with the 32nd Regiment of Foot, receiving a "musquet ball through the right leg" [source Cert of Discharge] and later a Waterloo medal [source W Medal Roll]
He first joined the Durham Fencibles in 1798 then transferred to the 32nd regiment in 1801 He took part in the seizure of the Danish fleet in 1807[source -musters], and spent most of the years 1808 - 1814 in Portugal and Spain [source musters] for which he was awarded the Peninsula Medal with 8 bars [official doc]. He was discharged in 1821.
He was born at Ivyston near Lanchester in 1777 and can be found in the 1841 census at Hetton-le Hole with the family of Jonathan Williams, in 1851 at Kelloe with the family of James Charlton and in 1861 at Cassop with the family of Thomas Lowry. The latter was the second husband of his wife Mary. Her first husband had been Thomas Knox, grandson of Andrew's brother (from whom I am descended). Andrew's siblings seem to have remained in Durham.
This does not prove Andrew was in Durham for the regatta in 1834 but it makes it highly likely that he was in the county and not far from the city. He died at Cassop in 1864 at age 86 [Register of deaths].
Andrew married whilst a serving soldier but sadly his wife died in January 1810 one month after he had returned from detached duty in Spain.
If you have information particularly regarding the "missing years" from 1821 to 1841 I would be grateful if you could pass it on. I have more detail of Andrew's career in the army if of interest to you.
Andrew was one of about 45 men who "volunteered to line" with 32nd i.e transferred to regular regiment from the Durham Fencibles in 1801. This was in advance of the disbandment of the Fencibles soon afterwards. Not all these men would have been from Durham, not all would have fought at Waterloo and not all of thosewho did would have been alive in 1834. Other DF men transferred to other regiments. I am writing this in case you see any mileage in following up the DF connection.
Regards
Jon
jon andrews
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Hello
I am descended from Andrew's brother Anthony. He also at some point was a soldier according to the baptism details of daughter Grace Knox. He became a carter later. I have been unable to find out what regiment he was attached to although it would seem likely to have been The Durham Fencibles. I understand this to have been more of a Territorial Regiment in the 1st instant, as Andrew became I think a regular soldier after serving in Ireland. I have a service record for him. I know he married but could you give me a few more details on how you know the finer points about this marriage? It sounds very sad. I have his wife as Isabella Nicholson, but that is a good guess from parish records as much as anything else. Brother Anthony married Mary Pearson, they had a good family, and one of the sons Andrew married Mary Sarah Young, she is also known as just Mary in some records. Andrew died in 1852 and Mary married William Mole. Andrew and Mary Sarah or Sarah Mary had a son Joseph Knox who married Mabel Ritson. Joseph died about 1895. Mabel then remarried to a George Ward. Mabel and Joseph Knox had 4 children, Thomas Henry Knox being one of them. He was sometimes known as Thomas Henry Ward when his mother remarried. He married Isabella Henry and one of their sons was Thomas Henry Knox my late father. Just to give you a brief idea of how we connect. I am very proud of having an ancestor who served at Waterloo. Apparently he was a Sargent at one time, but for one reason or another was demoted. Kind regards Jenny