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I have recently been to the National Archives where I tracked down the miliary service record of my 3g grandfather, John Imray.  I knew from his death entry and from a number of census listings that he was a Chelsea Pensioner and, apart from his army sevice, he lived near Banchory, Kincardinshire in the North East of Scotland.

I was surprised, therefore, to find out that he was enlisted into and spent his military service with the 29th Regiment of Foot which later became the Worcestershire Regiment.  Can anyone throw some light on why the 29th of Foot would have been recruiting in the North East of Scotland in 1812?

Details of his service are as follows:

Enlisted into 29th Regiment of Foot , aged 21, on 27 April 1812 at Aberdeen.

Service:  Spain (1 year), Gibralter (?) (4 months), North America (11 months), France (3 years, 5 months).  Remainder of service in England and Ireland.

Discharged at his own request in Ireland on 23 July/14 Aug 1833. 

Total length of service - 21 years, 110 days.

He was born around 1792 and died in 1863.

He received no promotion, ending his military career as he began, as a private soldier.  Was this common at that time?

Could anyone help me with some details of the sergeant in this picture?

I think he is either RA or RE.  The picture mount has the name of the photographer printed on it as:
J Porter
6 Schoolhill
Aberdeen

I think that it was taken in the WW1 period.

It has been in my family for as long as I can remember but  my research so far has not come up with anyone who corresponds to this chap.

All,

Thanks again for all you expert sleuthing - I've certainly now got many more leads than I had.

I managed to find Andrew Crichton's death entry on SP which threw up a couple of interesting snippets:

He died in a fire in the Market Building in Aberdeen on 29 Apr 1882 - so far I've not managed to find any archive info on the fire.

On his death entry his father is given as James Crichton, farm overseer and mother as Catherine Cooper.  However, there is an RCE which gives his mother as Catherine Cobban.  So that knocks out my theory of her maiden name being Connon (see earlier reply).

Elaine,

Thanks again.  I haven't got an exact copy of the family bible page but my cousin may well have mistaken Jane for Ian if the handwriting is faded or otherwise difficult to read.

mnj

I wonder if anyone can help me to trace some information about the CRICHTON branch of my family, about which I have had very little luck in finding birth, marriage, death or census information (mostly using SP).  A cousin of mine has provided a terrific start point with information from a family bible but I now seem to have reached a dead end.

The information I have is as follows:

Parents – Andrew CRICHTON and Elizabeth DAWSON

Children:
James Brodie Spottiswood CRICHTON  b. 18 Feb 1842 in Turriff
Elizabeth Craigie CRICHTON  b. 6 Mar 1844 in Turriff
Mary Dawson CRICHTON  b. 5 Mar 1846 in Aberdeen, Alton (?) parish
?? Loban CRICHTON  b. 18 Nov 1849 in Aberdeen, Alton (?) parish
Barbara Dawson CRICHTON  b. 1 Mar 1852 in Aberdeen, Alton (?) parish
Ian CRICHTON  b. 19 Jan 1855 in Aberdeen, Alton (?) parish

All of the above is from the family bible but no corroborating evidence on record so far.  I’m not sure about the location or existence of Alton parish

Elizabeth Craigie CRICHTON married William BANNERMAN (a landed proprietor from Ceylon) at 13 Chapel Street, Aberdeen, in 1860 and sailed for Ceylon a year later.  I have traced this marriage entry on SP.

Barbara Dawson CRICHTON (my great grandmother) married John IMRAY at Jessiefield, Newhills parish on 17 Nov 1871.  She died on 27 Nov 1926 at Morningfield Hospital, Aberdeen (usual residence 7 Chapel Street, Aberdeen).  I have traced both these occurrences on SP.

Any clues, snippets or pointers would be very gratefully received.