Maidstone Barracks 1841

[chafox]

 I have been looking for a family called Johnson, and one of their members,  Alfred Johnson,  a year before his marriage to Elizabeth Saxby, a Kent girl, is absent from the census for 1841, as far as I can see, except for one entry that might possibly be him. And that is the Alfred Johnson, private, at Maidstone Barracks, in 1841. The barracks seem to include Lancers, judging by the designation of the officers, but it isn't clear which Lancers are there, as officers from several Lancers troops are mentioned.

Elizabeth was in East Peckham  at the time, with her family, and also  Alfred's parents, and they were married in the Malling registration district, in the June Qtr of 1842.

my question is, if anyone knows what the troop was which was stationed there in the census date of 1841?

Terry

[grandarog]

Hi Terry,
            Probably all the Numbered ones the Officers are attributed to. Maidstone Barracks was a large establishment. In 1850  the 3rd ,9th,and 14th Bengal Lancers were  there, as well as the 10th and 15 Hussars.
            You may get more specific info if you post this to the Military Board there are experts on there who will be able to help you a lot more than me.
                                                        Good Luck, Rog

[chafox]

Thanks Rog,

I think what I'll do is go down to Kew in the next couple of weeks. It's best I go direct to  the boxes of soldier's records,  for the name Johnson, and see if I can get information on the Alfred Johnson there in 1841, to prove whether he was the member of the family I was looking for. I have a list of other stuff to look up there.

Terry

[Diffie]

Hello,  How did you go in finding out answers to your questions on your visit to Kent? I probably need to make a similar visit (I live in Australia, so not sure when), to see if I can find the details of Edward Devitt, born in Ireland, who was aged 14 and listed as a private in the Maidstone Barracks on the day of the census in 1841and as coming from Ireland.  There's a chance he's my great, great grandfather who we know very litte about.  It's interesting that all of the 14 year olds (one or two on each page) had a x next to their entry. I wonder what that means?

[t mo]

hi and welcome to rootschat
i,ve just looked in the pension records for your edward devitt and although there are 3by that name 1 is born 1795 and the other 2 are born 1884 and 1885 , and apart from those who made it to pension the ordinary records were destroyed by the relevant regts approx 20 yrs after a soldier left the regt , your best hope is if someone knows about  maidstone barracks and the regimental history .
a trick i,ve tried before and just now is when you get the census record detail come up if the site you are looking at from has across the top previous and next page try working back to the beginning as sometimes it will tell you what regt the names are for as in most cases the enumerators used the books that the administrators of the army had of everyone in a particular regt unfortunately in this instance there is mention of 3/4 different regt,s
hope this makes some sort of sense
trevor

[grandarog]

I assume you may have this already ,but no never mind if you have,

1851 Census
  Piece: 2225 Folio: 127 Page: 75
Visiting :-
Bengall Street, Manchester
DEVITT, Edward Visitor Unmarried 24 Scavenger Manchester,

His Marriage:=

Edward Devitt Married Ellen Poland Jan Feb Mar Qtr 1862 Manchester Lancs 8D 375.


1871 Census
RG10 piece 4041 folio 86 page 30 ',
Living at :-
Worsley Street, Manchester .Lancashire
DEVITT, Edward .Head. 45 .Porter. Ireland .
DEVITT, Ellen .Wife .50.Cotton Weaver. Ireland

[Diffie]

Thank you for responding so quickly, Rog and Trev.  I've taken your suggestions on board and will factor them in to the continuing search for our Edward.   The first record we have of him that we are sure of is Edward Patrick Deveitt (misspelt) wife Ann in the 1871 census, son John Edward (my great grandfather) and daughter Margaret--they lived in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne Northumberland.  John Edward and his mother Ann migrated to South Australia in the late 1870's--we are not sure what happened to both Edward and Margaret!  Thanks again,  Bev