Soldier 40th Foot Regiment 1825 Tasmania

[treesearcher]

I am reasonably sure that my anccestor, William Broad, arrived in Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) as part of the 40th foot regiment. How would I go about establishing whether he was one of their soldiers? He remained in Australia.

[Andcarred]

Hi,

This website might help

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~garter1/40thfoot.htm

Andcarred

[km1971]

His papers do not appear to have survived - those that have are on the NA catalogue (for men discharged before the end of 1854).

You will however find him in the muster books in Kew, starting with the one for 1825 for the 40th, and working forwards and backwards. But you will have to visit Kew or use a researcher.

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

Ken

[treesearcher]

Thankyou both for your suggestions. The Rootsweb link is very interesting.
Ken, when you say 'his records haven't survived', does that mean that they don't exist for the 40th Foot for that era, or that there is no William Broad listed? In other words, could I be 'barking up the wrong tree' regarding his having been in the 40th Foot?
Cheers,
Jane

[km1971]

Hi Jane

There is no William Broad listed who served with the 40th Foot. You can search yourself - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp

Enter his name in the first box, and WO in the bottom box. If a man died in service they would routinely destroy his record 20 years later. There has also been almost 190 years worth of culling by civil servants to save space. Those that survive are mainly a few pages of discharge summary. You will get the parish of birth and age, but nothing about wives and children. The musters at least tell you the town and forts he served in, so you can then look for parish records.

If you are any good with speadsheets you can download a search for just 40th into a CSV file. The dates given are the dates served. You may find other men who served with him.  You at least will get an idea of where the men came from.

Ken

[treesearcher]

Thanks for your assistance, Ken.
I've learnt a lot more about how to do searches - and I will pursue the muster lists as well.
Jane