Royal Artillery at Athlone

[LouiseB31]

My Great great grandparents, Charles Hilton and Catherine Brady were married in Athlone in the 1880s.

She was a local Athlone girl, the daughter of a Dublin couple who had moved there, her husband was an English soldier based there. After they were married they moved to other barracks in other parts of Great Britain (which of course Ireland still was then) including Dublin and ended up in Scarborough.

Your ancestor could easily have been English or Scottish or Welsh and settled there after leaving the army Jill

Eliana- expect any soldiers in Athlone to be stationed there only for a a period of their career, just as now soldiers back then were moved a lot from place to place.

[sydes2]

Jill,

Thank you for this 

I have been lucky enough to find at the National Archives my grandfather's service record which suggests he only served in Britain for his 7 active years between 1901 and 1907. I am trying to work out the actual regiment, which is not clear from his records, although it is clear it is Artillery. Does anyone have any idea of which regiments were stationed at Athlone in 1901?

My grandfather seems to have travelled a long way to sign up - his mother lived in East Wexford in 1901 and he was born on the West coast. All very strange

regards and thanks
Eliana

PS - young children so not enough time to enjoy my favourite hobby of genealogy, which is why it is a long time between postings!

[Notinpastyet]

Hi Jill,don't know if this is any help, but I do know for a fact that there were Johnston in Co Westmeath as I've got a Bridget Johnston on my family lists.I've typed in a search at IFHF & they have a record of 192 births,95 marriages,50 deaths for Johnston in Co Westmeath.Griffiths Valuation listed 48 names for Johnston in Westmeath & I notice that there are two listed for the parish Newtown Westmeath -Fineas Johnston,tenant of house & garden,townland is Ballykilmore,place name Tyrellspass.Then other one is William Johnston, he is a landlord,townland Ballykilmore & place name is also Ballykilmore.Hope this may give you some leads,Regards Nipy

[jilly43]

Hi Nipy  Thanks so much for your reply, just when you think there is nothing more to find, something like your reply appears, that is what is so exciting about this game!!  I am very interested in the William Johnston you mention you are obviously more skilled at these searches than I am.  Could you advise me how I would find out more detail about William like dates etc. to establish iF this might be the one.   Anything you can do to throw some light on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks
jilly

[Christopher]

My Great great grandparents, Charles Hilton and Catherine Brady were married in Athlone in the 1880s.

She was a local Athlone girl, the daughter of a Dublin couple who had moved there, her husband was an English soldier based there. After they were married they moved to other barracks in other parts of Great Britain (which of course Ireland still was then) including Dublin and ended up in Scarborough.

Your ancestor could easily have been English or Scottish or Welsh and settled there after leaving the army Jill

Eliana- expect any soldiers in Athlone to be stationed there only for a a period of their career, just as now soldiers back then were moved a lot from place to place.

Great Britain is the large island and Ireland is the little island ... together they formed the United Kingdom.

[Notinpastyet]

I'm sorry Jilly if I've raised your hopes,I'm not so good at finding info -hit or miss thats me,but I always try & keep my eyes peeled for folks as people do for me (that's the great thing about this site ah!)The only thing I can give you to play with is - there are 3 William Johnston marriages record with IFHF for Westmeath the dates  are 1836,1840,1896 But none of them are for the area of Newton (which is a shame)Looked at G/V again & there are 2 more William Johnston's listed for Westmeath both are tenants one parish Castllelost,townland Farthingstown,place name is also Farthingstown,the other one is Bridge street Mullingar.Jilly I'm not going to make a rude joke about the name of the last townland.Regards Nipy

[Notinpastyet]

Hi should have said the above post had the copy of William Johnston landlord on it,Cheers Nipy

[jilly43]

Thanks very much Nipy,  did'nt quite get the joke, perhaps you mean miss out the 'h' !!       

My grt grndfather Robert  (William's son) was born Newtown Westmeath 1818 seems a bit long to leave it until they decided to get married, but not impossible as Robert was married 10 years after his three sons were born.!!!

I suppose next move is to try a marriage cert, but too early I think what I really need of course is a birth cert or registration for Robert or at least some evidence,. as at this stage I ony have  Westmeath Ireland on his death certificate and on his tomb stone.William's employment on Robert's marriage cert simply says Steward.   All very frustrating, would'nt it be nice to have a team working for us like on 'Who do you think you are'

Thanks again
jilly

[Notinpastyet]

I wouldn't think IFHI would have a parish record for much before 1800's (madding I know)there won't be a marriage cert for William maybe if you are very lucky you may find a parish record some where (not good odds) but Robert  there maybe a church record  for his baptism  was he RC or Church of Ireland .Also I wonder what type of Steward William may have been do you think that may mean an  estate  manager or something  like that ?There was quite a few large estates /big houses in Co Westmeath .Yes  be lovely to have the resources for someone to do all the look ups & point us in the right direction but I think then we'd lose that buzz when you find something.I'll keep a look out for you & let you know if I see any thing that maybe of any interest,Happy hunting - Nipy