
Good Morning Arranroots,
I will try linking these "Aran-Aaron" up. The John ARAN may be the best bet, as the Royal Scots were stationed at Brecon in 1853,and he is already an enlisted man, he may have transferred to the First of Foot (?).
Could I run this hypothesis by:
John and Jane did meet in Pembrokeshire when he was possibly stationed there in May 1853 with the Royal Scots.
She could have born John(jnr.) in that year or early 1854, and then went on to bear Martha later in the same year (the Battalion sailed from Plymouth 3 March of that year).
Then John (snr.) went to and saw active service in the Crimean War, Ceylon, thence India, the 1st Battalion returning home in 1870, whilst the 2nd Battalion moved to Hong Kong, and saw action in the Second Opium War and returned home in 1861!
Might explain the big gap in the birth of the first two and Annie. (Or Annie could even be Martha's other illegitimate child - as I can find no evidence of Annie's birth certificate, although she states that John Arran, a soldier is her father on her marriage certificate - but maybe that was what she was told, but is not the actual truth!!).
Hope you have a good day, Lynnette.