Service Record of Charles Tilbrook 1850's.

[soulsister]

I'm just wondering if someone can tell me how I go about getting hold of a copy of the Service Record of a Charles Tilbrook from the 1850's. I have found out through internet searches that he died in 1853 in Bermuda.

I'd like to see the service record to see what details are on there but don't know how to get hold of them!

Regards

Emma

[km1971]

Hi Emma

If he was in the army his service record would have been destroyed 20 years after his death. Those that survive can be accessed on the NA catalogue - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp. One you do find served in the RN about the same time.

Again, if he was in the army, he will be in the Muster Books (WO12) but you will need his regiment, and you will have to visit Kew as they are original documents.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step4.htm

Where does the information that he was in the army, and died in Bermuda, come from?

Ken

[soulsister]

The information about his death has come from his service records apparently. I have read online a post on a mailing list from about 10 years ago from a man researching the same man as I am! I have emailed him, but 10 years is quite a long time ago so I'm not holding my breath.

It also says that he was in the 56th Foot and a Colour Sergeant if that makes any sense!

Emma

[km1971]

It also says that he was in the 56th Foot and a Colour Sergeant if that makes any sense!

Hi Emma

It makes sense - his rank was Colour Sergeant and his regiment was the 56th Regiment of Foot. They were nominally called the West Essex then. They were in Bermuda 1852 to 1854. As you have his regiment you can visit Kew and look him up in the Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO12).

Essex Record Office also have some information about their time in Bermuda - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=O38258

Ken

[soulsister]

Many thanks for your help Ken! May be awhile until I get to see those papers then as I haven't left the town in which I live for about 10 years! At least I know where the records are when I get chance to go off and find them! Might contact Essex R/O and see if they can do copies!

Emma

[serendipitysearch]

Hi Emma,
               I am new to Rootschat so I hope I have done this correctly. I have currently reached a bit of an impasse with my own tree so I am researching a family for a friend of mine. One of her ancestors was an Arthur Charles Tilbrook. He was married around 1870 in Salford, Lancashire aged about 23 but I could find no record of a relevant birth in the UK. I started looking for military or consular births abroad and found one who fitted perfectly. It was an Army birth and he was born in Gibralter in 1847 to parents called Charles and Isabella Tilbrook. This is where the agreement with your person comes in. Charles was a Colour Sergeant in the 1st Battalion of the 56th Regiment (as Ken says the West Essex Rifles then). This regiment went to Gibralter between Dec 1846 and Feb 1847. It left Gibralter in May 1851 and sailed to Bermuda on The Resistance. A massive outbreak of Yellow Fever occurred in Sep 1853 and more than 100 of the 500 men in the regiment died there. I do not have his death certificate but I am assuming since this is when and where he died it is likely he was a victim of the Yellow Fever outbreak. I think the victims were buried in St George's Military cemetery there (I am not certain though and there are a lot of cemetries and military installations there). I can find no further trace of Isabella and no UK marriage that makes sense so I am wondering whether, given her name, Isabella may be Spanish and they met on Gibralter where she may have returned. However, I found the son in the 1861 census as a scholar on a military foundation in Chelsea but no mother so maybe Isabella perished also in Bermuda. In Charles I think we are almost certainly looking at one and the same person, so if you think I may have something relevant to your quest please let me know and if you beat me to Kew and find anything relevant in the service record I would most appreciate hearing about it.

Regards,
Steve

[km1971]

Hi Steve

A h*ll of a first post, and probably the longest paragraph I have read this year  In (almost) reverse order, some RMA information is available online, and there are two Tilbrooks listed - http://www.rma-searcher.co.uk/Chelsea/RPDF/RMAPHA/TAF%20to%20TYT.pdf.

If boys were not returned to a parent they normally left on their 14th birthday. Both boys appear to have been enlisted in the 56th Regiment. I take it the birth in Gibraltar was of Charles (jnr)? The entry date into the RMA may be significant, as is the fact they arrived on different dates. The RMA was an orphanage for children who had lost one or both parents.

Regarding Isabella, it is very difficult to prove due to a shortage of evidence, but widows of soldiers often re-married another soldier, especially when abroad. The problem is the army did not record wives names until the 1870s. One exception is when they spent money transporting the widow or children back from the overseas station. This may be recorded in the muster book and pay lists. At least in this case the children did not adopt the surname of any stepfather.

If you need any help following the service of the two boys, read the “~step4” link in my first reply. Emma may already have the father’s service record.

Ken

[serendipitysearch]

Hi Ken,
           Firstly, thank you for replying to my post and with such interesting information and secondly let me say sorry for the length of the paragraph. Once the note exceeds the box, the refresh makes it difficult so I kept it compact which causes problems when you are as verbose as myself. In future I will type off line and paste into the box to avoid the problem!

Yes, the birth in Gibralter was indeed Charles Jnr. and I was aware he also became a soldier from his marriage certificate. What was especially interesting about your reply was the presence of James on the school list. I am sure he will be related if not a brother to Charles and I didn’t know of him although as you say the different admission date is interesting.

 A problem is that as Army they rarely appear on any census list. I had found only one other Tilbrook Army birth abroad for that period, Leveson Tilbrook in Gibralter around 1850. However from his age on that register James must have been born around 1843-44. The regiment was in Britain then and indeed I have now found  a James Tilbrook born in the Dec qtr 1843 at Melton Mowbray.

I also found Army Births abroad for the 56th Regiment that were date consistent with offspring of Charles Snrs children. Interestingly called Isabella J at Curragh in 1870 and Mary A in Poona in 1873. I was sure these weren’t Charles’ children as they were in Manchester so maybe they were James’ children.

Charles Jnr does not appear in any census after his school days in 1861 (I was lucky there since he was discharged to the army only a week after the 1861 census) or with any UK registered death.  I have found a death of a Charles A Tilbrook (his second name was Arthur) as a consular death at Revel between 1886 and 1890. I don’t know where the new Essex Regiment was at this time or if Revel makes sense. I guess some purchased documents will may things clearer.

Thank you again for your response. I wouldn’t have found the Chelsea documents easily otherwise.   

Steve

[km1971]

Hi steve

The 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment (formerly 56th Regt) were in Malta, Cyprus and Egypt between 1886 and 1890. I don't know where Revel is. The 1st Bn were at home.

Regarding editing I use Word and then copy it into the box.

Ken