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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Jessie711 on Friday 19 February 16 23:23 GMT (UK)
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Hi everyone! I’m trying to find more information on my great grandfather’s time in the Army. On his death certificate 1911 it states he was an Army pensioner. I’m 95% sure this is him.
From the service record 1760-1915 I have.
Name Thomas Sullivan
Service # 382
Attestation year July 1858
Regiment Lancashire Fusiliers – 20th Foot
Discharge Corps 2ND BN 20TH REG OF FOOT
Discharge Date July 1879
I don’t have the dates but from his service record he did serve abroad in China & Japan 3years 8 months, South Africa 3 years 3 months and Mauritius 1 year 4 months. Would he show on any census records and what documents would show his next of kin?
Thanks for any help
Jessie.
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He will only show in census returns if he was in England or Scotland at the time of the census.
Unfortunately the early service records do not show next of kin, marriages, or the children.
You would need to search the muster books at Kew for more details about him.
Jebber
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Thanks for the reply Jebber.
Do you know if the muster books are available online or is a visit to Kew needed?
Jessie.
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I'm afraid it means a trip to Kew Jessie.
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Hi Jessie
The musters from the late 1860s include details of the married establishment. IE wives who were accepted 'on the strength' and who the army looked after and could follow the battalion overseas. It gives wife's name and the ages of any children in years and months.
You are fortunate in that the main references say they arrived in Aldershot (From Curragh Co Kildare) a month after the census. but he is here - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc%2f1861%2f0431%2f00743a&parentid=gbc%2f1861%2f0002864498&highlights=%22%22
He is unmarried. For the 1871 census they were in Mauritius.
In this period soldiers had to serve two - ten year enlistments to qualify for a pension. He re-engaged for a second ten after nine years. Re-engaged soldiers received one penny a day extra pay. His records says he had four Good Conduct 'badges'. These were worth a penny a day each.
GC badges were chevrons on the lower right arm (until1881)
Service overseas:
= China - 1863 to June 1864
= Japan - to June 1864
= China - to March 1867
= Cape of Good Hope to June 1870 - medical records has a record for Natal.
= Mauritius - arrived back in Ireland in January 1872
Ireland until August 1874, then Preston, Manchester, Aldershot, Portland and Devonport.
His record says his intended residence was Stoke, which is near Devonport. He was a widower in 1881 - http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc%2f1881%2f4314980%2f00727&parentid=gbc%2f1881%2f0010049838&highlights=%22%22
btw...they were the 20th (the East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot in his time. They became the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1881
Ken
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I’m 95% sure this is him
I am wondering if there are records of army pensioners' addresses in the Paymaster General records at TNA. There certainly are some for Royal Navy pensioners from which I was able to track an ancestor's widow's changes of address from the 1880's through to the 1920's.
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Jebber thanks I live on the west coast of the USA so a trip to Kew will have to wait a while.
Ken thanks for the information. My Thomas Sullivan was born in London on 10 Aug 1837. He was married on Aug 20 1881 in Salford, Lancashire and is shown as a bachelor. His parents are Robert Sullivan and Elizabeth Cook. I have him on the 1841, 1851, 1891, 1901, and 1911 census. But not on the 1861, 1871, and 1881 census. On the 1911 census and his death certificate he is shown as an Army Pensioner.
Shaun thanks, it certainly sounds like something worth looking into.
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The 1881 census gives him as a 'Widr'.
His first and final entries in the musters give the best chances of non-military information.
Ken
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Thanks Ken
If I’m looking at the correct 1881 census it gives his birth year as 1835 and birth place as Devonport, Devon.
The service record I’m looking at it gives his birth year as 1837 and birth place as St. Lukes, Middlesex, London.
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You may be right. He is living in a large boarding house so errors can occur. He is a pensioner and living where his discharge hearing says he was to reside.
Ken