Royal Irish Rifles

[Carole B]

My GGgrandfather Frederick William Edmed (b. 1863) was in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles according to his marriage certificate.

He was married in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1886  when his regiment was stationed there. He was then posted to Egypt with his Canadian wife and they had two children in 1889 and 1891 , the first in Alessandria and the second in Cairo. They then must have been posted to Malta where their third child was born.

The marriage certificate of their daughter  (1911) shows that he (GGgf) was by now an 'army pensioner'.

This is the last place I have found any notification of him....and I am hoping to find how to go about obtaining his service record and any proof of when and where he died. I do subscribe to Ancestry.com but despite hours of looking I can't find much on pre- WW1 military service at all. Can anyone help - please?

[km1971]

Hi Carole
What was the date of the birth in Malta? He would have enlisted for 12 years so his first term probably came to an end about 1895. If the birth in Malta was after this date there is a good chance he was in the army at the time of the Boer War, as the second term would have been for six years. Have you found him in the 1901 UK census?

Men actually enlisted in the regiment rather than the battalion so he could have been transferred to the 1st battalion at some stage, or even the Depot. I have a few Army Lists for 1880-84 so I can see when the 2nd battalion moved to Nova Scotia.

Regarding finding his papers, if they survive they will be in WO97 in Kew. They are original documents so you will have to visit, or employ a researcher. They are split into two groups for this period. Men discharged before 1899, and men discharged 1900 to 1913. It would take at most an hour to check both of these.

If you Google the regiment you should find if they were involved in any campaigns in Egypt/Sudan in the 1890s. If so you could look in the medal rolls.  These are on microfilm in WO100 in Kew. If you cannot visit you can have copies sent to your nearest LDS History Centre I believe.

Finally you can try my favourite, the Muster and Pay Books (WO12/16), again original documents in Kew. These are monthly roll-calls (musters) and quarterly payment details. The surviving books – they are like school registers – do start to run out in the late 1880s, but if the books covering him survive they will give everything you can get in his papers, apart from medical boards and details of any medals.  But you will find out when he joined, where he was month by month – the papers will just say ‘Home’ or ‘Nova Scotia’ or ‘Egypt’, while the Musters give the town. Also, when he married, when he was sick, etc. The payment section will tell you his promotions and demotions, his daily pay, any loss of pay for drunkenness etc.

If you can find the books covering his discharge it may tell you where he intended to reside, as he was probably given a travel warrant.

Ken

[Carole B]

Hello Ken.
Thank you so much for your speedy response to my queries.

Frederick William Edmed 1st   b. 1863 – Bandsman in 2nd Batt. Royal Irish Rifles.  Married in Halifax, NS  16th February 1886.
FW Edmed 2nd  b. 1889 -
M.E.Edmed       b.1891
Claude Edmed   b. 1895 MALTA. I don’t have the exact date I’m afraid.


*************************************************************
Edmed family in 1901 census at:
RG13/443 Page 10


Information removed due to copyright violation. See http://www.rootschat.com/forum/copyright.php for more details

RootsChat must deal with any breach of copyright by its members.

For some time the team of Copyright Editors has been removing breaches of copyright and sending detailed personal messages to the member that had posted the information.  Due to the volume of posts and members this is now impractical.  Messages in breach will simply be deleted and this notice posted.  We apologise for any inconvenience caused but are sure you will appreciate the importance of this issue.


As far as visiting Kew or an FHC, unfortunately this is impossible now. I live permanently in northern Italy and for health reasons am no longer able to travel back to the UK. So I have to do all my research, and ordering, ‘on line’; and I will admit that even though I look at the National Archives, I try to give the impression that I understand my way around, but in all honesty I just can’t seem to find a darned thing. I can find the references (like J77 or WO97) then I’m totally lost – I can’t seem to go any further. Perhaps I’m not supposed to – I don’t know.

You said in your reply:
“Regarding finding his papers, if they survive they will be in WO97 in Kew. They are original documents so you will have to visit, or employ a researcher.”
How could I go about that – and would you have any idea how expensive it might be?  I think that could be an option/solution for me considering my situation. What do you think?

Regards
Carole

[km1971]

Hi Carole

If you get a copy of a FH magazine such as Family Tree Magazine (new one out today) there will be 15-20 researchers advertising themselves to search in Kew. Searching in a box in Series WO97 will take about 20 minutes, say one hour for them to film the papers if they find them, and send them to you. I would ask a few for a quote.

See also this answer - http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,270841.0.html

BTW Kew is closing for 3 weeks starting this weekend.

Ken