6th Regiment of Foot

[collin]

Hello
        I sent for a death certificate from Oldham for James Collin who died 1846 aged 56 and was
surprised to learn he was an out pensioner of the Chelsea Hospital formerley of the 6th Regiment of Foot, which was a Warwickshire Regiment.
 I had a look at the National Archives site and he is there as James Collins born Oldham
with a reference number WO97/278/73.   I would like to know how to go about getting his
service record as I have never done this and find the NA site confusing, I wrote off for my grandads years ago and they just posted the details back.
  Thank you  Regards Glyn

[km1971]

Hi Glyn

The early county affiliations of army regiments was not very strong, as most regiments did not have a permanent depot until the 1860s or later. So I would not be put off by the discrepancy between Warwickshire and Oldham. They would have been known as the “6th”, “6th Foot” or “6th Regiment”.

The reference starting WO97 is the microfilm that contains his record. You should contact the NA using the information here - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordcopying/

I believe they only charge about 40p per page. And it should not be too expensive, as the amount of information they kept was a lot less than 50 years later. You will get his age (in years and months) on enlistment, former occupation and place of birth. But not much in the way of family history information. as wives and children had no standing then.

You should ask for A3 copies rather than A4, as some records can be hard to read.

His records will only give the general areas they served in – Home, India, Canada etc. To get the actual towns you need to look in the Muster and Pay Lists (in WO12), which give month-by-month where each man was, so you can check this against known places of birth for his children. WO12 are original documents and you or your researcher will have to visit Kew. If his papers don’t say where he enlisted you can check to see where the recruiting Sergeants were at the time. But this is for the future.

Another useful link - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step4.htm

Ken

[pharmakon]

Follow the instructions in Shop Online

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordcopying/default.aspx?source=ddmenu_shop3

The reference number to quote is WO 97/278 (the final number is not relevant for this purpose) plus the man's name and any other necessary identification.

[collin]

Hi
    Thank you both for the information, I will have a go and see what turns up, I dont think
there was any family as the death was registered by his sister and there was no family
in the 1841 census.  Thanks again Glyn

[collin]

Hi Again
 I had a go at filling in the form but it said there was a problem either an invalid reference or the documents are unavailable for copying so I have asked what other options are there or is it a dead end. I did find that the 6th were recruiting in lancashire in 1806 so that explains how he
got to be in there. Thanks Again   Glyn

[pharmakon]

Have you double checked the reference?

Leaving out the space is a common mistake

WO 97/278 ie  WO[space]97/278

[collin]

Hi
   I had another go at it and it said that I was successful so now I am waiting for the estimate
  coming through (within 10 days)  Thanks Glyn

[madmaz13]

Hi Collin

I was interested by your post, as I am looking for a relative called James Collins.

All I know about him is he was born circa 1790/5, was a soldier, a chelsea pensioner, had a daughter called Helen, who was born in East India and married a woman called Ann Grant from Montrose in Scotland.

Is there any chance in a million it's the same man?

I would really appreciate any help as I am totally stuck at present.

Many thanks
M   

[gortonboy]

HI,,RE JAMES COLLIN/COLLINS

James Collins b c1792 joined the 6th foot at manchester age 16...he was born in Oldham and was a weaver by trade.
he enlisted on the 8 nov 1808,,,served as a boy soldier till 1810,,then was a private till 1836.
He served in Portugal for 6 months,Spain 2 years,France 3 years,Cape of good hope 4 years,America 1 year  and India for 11 years.
He was discharged in 1836 after 32 years service,