William Morfill

[covbob]

I am looking for information with regard to William Morfill who was born circa 1772, died 1841 aged 69.  He joined the West Kent Milicia in 1790 aged 20, serving 39 years, discharged May 1824.  Unfortunately I am unable to ascertain where he was born.

I wonder if anyone can assist me in finding out his history before he joined the army.  I live in Coventry and I am related to William Morfill on my mother's side.  I am unable to drive so therefore find it difficult to visit the Local History Centre.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards

Covbob

[BettyofKent]

Hi Covbob, welcome to Rootschat

I've looked through all the records I have for Kent, (although they don't cover the whole county) & the only references I can find for the name MORFILL is in Maidstone.
There's nothing for a William Morfill, but my records for Maidstone are not complete.
It's a shame I can't be more help, but at least it's a possible clue as to where he came from.
Someone on here might have better access to Maidstone records.

Betty

[covbob]

Dear Betty

Many thanks for your quick response which is much appreciated.  Maybe someone else will point me in the right direction.

Once again, thanks for your response.

Covbob

[spongebob]

Hi Covbob

Sounds like he had a very long career with the Militia - what records from them do you have? Hopefully they will have retained somewhere records of his joining etc, maybe in the PRO - what details of the Militia do you have, if any - name of the Regiment, unit etc?

Matt

[covbob]

Hi Matt

Many thanks for your quick response.  I have William Morfill's discharge papers which I obtained from the National Archives.  Unfortunately, there was no information on his Parish, his town or his county, all stated as unknown.  The information I have is:- Regiment The West Kent Militia and from what I understand these were the forerunners of the Territorial's in so much as if the regular army were away fighting, the Militia would take over their duties.

Many thanks for your reply and I'm hoping someone can come up with his history prior to him joining the regiment in 1790 when he was around 20 years of age.

Once again, thanks for your reply.

Regards

Covbob

[spongebob]

Have you contacted the Centre for Kentish Studies? According to the National Archives, they might have a copy of this book;

Bonhote, J. Historical records of the West Kent Militia. London: Husdon & Kearns, 1909. xxxii, 490 p., illus.

It's out there on the market, but seems to be rare and very expensive!

Not sure if you've seen this book, but it might have some background or even detail on the time he was in the militia.

[spongebob]

Guess you've seen this already - quite an interesting history, involved in both Napoleonic and Crimean wars - I guess your man would have been manning the South Kent coast and Martello towers during the late 1790's early 1800's in preparation for the expected French invasion.

Do you have any records of where he served, any battle honours or medals?

[spongebob]

Another interesting snippet from the Bury and Norwich post newspaper archive, your relative would probably have been part of this;

October 16th 1793
On Friday next the West Kent Militia will march from Harwich for their winter quarters in this town (Bury) and Melford and Sudbury.

May 14th 1794
The West Kent Militia, quartered at Bury, Sudbury and Melford, marched to Botesdale on their way to camp at Gorleston. Their baggage waggon received an aquisition of several smart girls of this town of Bury and one servant maid much afraid of being distanced that she wanted the banns called which was not practible, they appropriated her wages to purchase a special licence. The above are a regiment of fine men and it is thought they have left in the town many tokens of their gallant conduct which will be taken care of at parish expence.

http://www.foxearth.org.uk/1792-1794BuryNorwichPost.html

Apologies if you have seen all of this already, but it's quite interesting. I think my Dad is quite knowledgable on the old Kent regiments also - will have to ask him.

[covbob]

Hi Matt

Thanks again for your interesting information it has given me food for thought.

Kindest regard
Covbob