4th Hussars - troopship Serapia

[Hunter1]

Hi

Does anyone have access to, or know if I can get internet access to, the passenger list for the troopship Serapia which took the 4th Hussars to India (Meerut) on 15 October 1867? I think that my great grandfather Private Frederick Smith, gt grandmother Emma (formerly Gilligan) and possibly a child, James William who I have found as being born in Ireland (Hillsbrough) on 13 Dec 1867 but also on a subsequent census as born Newcastle upon Tyne.

Frederick and Emma had a baby born in Meerut (Susanna b 1870/71) who died in Canterbury in March 1872 on their return and it would be wonderful to find any information about them in India and the passenger list for their return too. I've only recently discovered this bit of my family history (Frederick died at some point after leaving the Hussars having moved to Wales, and Emma either married or moved in with someone called James Brown and we always believed him to be our great grandfather).

Thanks for any pointers - I live in the North of England so a visit to Kew isn't possible at the moment. I've contacted the Queens Royal Hussars HQ in London but not had any luck with getting any info from them, or from Easbourne Museum.

Hunter

[John Young]

Hunter,

I'd hazard a guess and say it is the H.M.T. Serapis that you're looking for.  The ship's log is at the National Archives reference ADM53/9601.

Have you tried the regimental Pay & Muster Rolls of the 4th (Queen's Own) Hussars, also at the National Archives, for that period?

Isandlwana

[km1971]

Hi Hunter

As you say the main force embarked for India in October 1867. But how was James William born in Hillsborough two months later, when the regiment would still have been at sea?

From the information you give, do you have his service record? If not Findmypast will be putting surviving records online by 2011. They at least should tell you when he embarked for India. Time at sea counted as 'overseas'.

You may be unlucky in that the muster books only started to record wives and (the ages of) children sometime in the 1870s. As the 4th Hussars stayed in India until 1879 I take it he was back in Canterbury in 1872 to be discharged. So he may have just missed appearing in the married roll in the musters.

I don't believe troopships had passenger lists, as the regiment would have taken daily or twice daily roll calls to see if anyone had fallen overboard. And these have not been kept. Only the muster books remain.

Ken

[JKissane]

Hi Hunter

As you say the main force embarked for India in October 1867. But how was James William born in Hillsborough two months later, when the regiment would still have been at sea?

From the information you give, do you have his service record? If not Findmypast will be putting surviving records online by 2011. They at least should tell you when he embarked for India. Time at sea counted as 'overseas'.

You may be unlucky in that the muster books only started to record wives and (the ages of) children sometime in the 1870s. As the 4th Hussars stayed in India until 1879 I take it he was back in Canterbury in 1872 to be discharged. So he may have just missed appearing in the married roll in the musters.

I don't believe troopships had passenger lists, as the regiment would have taken daily or twice daily roll calls to see if anyone had fallen overboard. And these have not been kept. Only the muster books remain.

Ken

I, too am searching for information on someone who mustered out to India with a young wife from Mortenhampstead in October 1867 with the 4th Royal Hussars.  The couple, William and Ellen McIntosh apparently were married in October just before leaving and had a daughter while in Meerut.  We know what became of the daughter and Ellen, but William is something of a mystery.  Anyone have ideas?