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thanks valmai3, - your 2018 mail and this week's were already a good help.

Piecing it together, I get the following:

Movements of the 58th Regiment of Foot (Rutlandshire) -1828-1859

In Ceylon, India from 1828 to 1839 (after taking part in Peninsular War)

To England (Portsmouth/Gosport) June 1839

To Glasgow from Gosport in July 1840 -so a year in Gosport, but where?     (And in February 8 1840 Naval and Military Gazette the 58th were rumoured to go off to Cork on “The Jupiter”, i.e. Fermoy Barracks, where some soldiers of the regiment were in 1834, while the rest were in Ceylon. The Jupiter was much delayed returning with the 61st from Ceylon, and in March had to go into Cork b/c strong east wind in Channel. Then refit. -they did not go to Cork)

Still in Scotland 1841 (Glasgow and Edinburgh), but also in Richmond Barracks, Dublin. (Recruiting in Scotland or pre-1845 stirrings? )

Still in Dublin July 1842 (cf birth in officer’s family)

To New South Wales, Australia, in July 1843 (gradually, some soldiers as guards on 19 convict ships 1843-45)

On to New Zealand from Sydney in March-April 1845, (ships North Star, Slains Castle) Bay of Islands, North Island, Auckland. Flagstaff Wars. (some back and forth Sydney-NZ)

Back from New Zealand in March 1859 (started out in November 1858), many, over 300 men, discharged in NZ.

The 58th today is the 3rd battaillon 'Steelbacks' of the Royal Anglian Regiment with HQ in Bury St. Edmonds - so I might ask if the museum there has further details :-)

How usual was it for a regiment to be split up for several years?. Its major-general Grant actually died in 1841 en route from Glasgow to Dublin, at Tontine Inn

I wonder if anyone has advice on how to find out exactly where the 58th regiment of foot was, in the interval between coming back from Ceylon in 1839, and going out to New South Wales in 1843?

They are said to be waiting in Gosport for transport to Cork, in Feb 1840. But then they are sailed from Gosport to Glasgow to replace the 78th (?) Reg, in July 1840.

Are they then in Glasgow until shipped out to Australia and later NZ?

And is anyone able to point to which barracks they were in at Gosport? They are in Forton Barracks there in 1836 (when they are also in Ceylon, so perhaps that is just a small group or people from its Depot?) But they are not there in 1840 according to the website on Forton Barracks.

But as you can see I am very interested in the regiments exact location, particularly in the first half of 1840. (it is a girl meets boy(Ensign) affair :-) 

Thank you, an interesting possibility - (and I learned a new occupation, not every smith is a blacksmith..) 

The Liverpool link was just a verbal comment by an old relation, when many years ago I first came across this English connection. I should have enquired.

But several of the children of the only son the couple had, Master Engineer Samuel Hikins, were born in Lancashire, so that speaks for a connection. Though it seems no one has been named after Benjamin, Catharine or Edward.

May I also ask, in this forum, about the adress given for Joseph Hikin, circa 1800: Lambeth Street. There is Lambeth Road, of Bedlam and later War Museum fame, and there is Lambeth High Street, more or less leading up to the Arch-bishop's palace. But no Lambeth Street? 

And if a couple are living in Lambeth, but choose St. Marys at Whitechapel for the christening, - seemingly not their parish church, - could that be because of grandparents in Aldgate, for instance?   

Hi Shaun,  ( & Co )

Thank you very much for your help. I was puzzled by the 1800 birth year, and had to check his gravestone, in the Navy Cemetery not far away. It has 1801, as I remembered, but the date is sure enough: 20 March. So either he had a good reason to make himself a year younger, or one of the sources is wrong.

But a bigger problem is the bride's Christian name Rachel. She could have Harriet as another, preferred name, of course. And 1822 is a very good year, since the first child is in June 1823. Also Emma's mother having Bill as her maiden name kind of settles it.:-) Isn't Bill a fairly uncommon surname, btw? (Apart from Buffalo Bill)

So it sounds very right, and I am very glad to have found Samuel's parents names, perhaps enabling me to go further. What helpful people you are,-Rosie and Cathy included here - I am quite overwhelmed. If I can be of help in finding your Viking ancestors, don't hesitate. OK, the censuses only start in 1787, and the church records often just before 1700. But still.

The witnesses at Christchurch, Newgate, are both named Bill. Would it be normal for the bride's parents to be witnesses, or is it more likely to be siblings? Any pointers on how to find her parents would be welcome. I have her photo, but not her place of birth.

So the Hikins most likely are both Londoners at that time, family tradition had Liverpool, but perhaps that might be further back, or during training as engineer.

Thanks again for your fast and useful help   

Greetings to everyone,

I am in Copenhagen, looking at my wife's ancestors. Two are giving me a problem. Engineer Samuel Hikins from -I believe - Liverpool and his wife Harriet from Central London (Sct. Pancras). He was a naval engineer and they came to Denmark at some point to help the aspiring Danish ship-building industry. I believe he was born in Liverpool 20 March 1801, she on Aug 20, 1803, both in England as I presume, and I think they married in South London. Their several children stayed mostly in England, and had a number of descendents, as did one daughter who married a Dane and lived in Copenhagen. The parents both died in 1877, buried in Copenhagen.

While I know my way around in a Danish genealogical context, I have no experience with UK possibilities. Somehow I like to avoid the commercial machinery which is overwhelming us, so I am trying this way.

All the best - and thank you for any help finding parents and marriage-date for these two people - very likeable by all accounts and members of the English Church in Copenhagen. :-)

Clemens S.Ostergaard
Copenhagen