Research help at Kew Gardens PRO

[LeonardRileyIII]

Carole,
    After reading your last message I did a Google search on Chelsea Pensioners Discharge List and found
several sites. Gave a lot of general information about who would be on the list, anyone who received a
pension. Some people were eligible after only 12 years of service. Others earlier if retired due to injury. Yet James Henry Porter probably wouldn't be on the list even though he served almost 21 years, because
of his unfavorable conduct. It stated that since they did not have photography they had to give a good physical description of the individual to avoid fraud. Also said where as census data only includes one line
of data about a person these files often contained 4 to 6 pages of data.
  On another site I was able to actually search for people by name either by date of birth or date of retirement. I found about six James Porters born between 1815 and 1825. Did a census check of those
and found they also appeared in 1871 and 1881 census and some were coal miners, etc. or  had children
that did not match our James born 1841/43. Just for kicks also checked those who retired. Believe there
were something like 124 entries over a much longer period of time. Again nothing popped out.
    If the Chelsea list includes James Henry Porter even though he did not draw a pension, would there
still be records at the Kew PRO? Would these show where he was born and or stationed? Maria O'Brien
found an article which gave a good description of the 56th Regiment -Foot Soldiers. It appears they went
to India during a massacre shortly after James Henry Porter enlisted, around 30 JUN 1859. Believe they
deployed 1860. Why would they take a schoolmaster? Did the army take dependents with them when they deployed.  When I was assigned to Bangkok, Thailand 1968-70 I did take my wife and kids with me
and our three children attended the International School of Bangkok (ISB). Best education they ever
received. Bill

[maggbill]

Hi Bill,

Sorry to intrude on your post but you say
"On another site I was able to actually search for people by name either by date of birth or date of retirement" 
Could you possibly tell me which site you used?  I have struggled with the Kew website, and wonder if there is another which could help me find pension records for a couple of my soldier ancestors. 
Cheers

Maggs

[LeonardRileyIII]

Good morning Maggs,
   No intrusion at all!  The more input the better.  In Google search engine I typed in "Chelsea Pensioners' service" and ended up with numerous listings. One was "Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760 to 1913. Another was "United Kingdom, Chelsea Pensioners' Service Records, 1760"  The first site just gives a history of the Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records. Site was updated 17 NOV 2014. It tells what information was kept but you can not search names on this site.
   The second site that I listed enables you to access at least their index. Search Collection - Deceased Ancestor's Name  and you can search by "birth" or by "pension". This search gives date and place of birth. According to  the first site, since pictures were not then available the records gave a physical description of the pensioner and 4 to 6 pages of data. A person could receive a pension after 12 years of service or even earlier if separated due to an injury. Unfortunately in the case I am searching the individual completed 20  years of service but was separated "because services were no longer needed" and also had
a undesirable conduct entry so was never given a pension. Can't win them all. Good Luck.  Bill

[LeonardRileyIII]

Dear Maggs,
   I just received the following note from Maria O'Brien who lives in Dublin:

I located the Chelsea Pensioners record on findmypast.co.uk. Of course I had to purchase it but was really good value as you pay less than 10e for unlimted use of UK records for one month. And you can do one month at a time with no obligation to continue paying it.
   I went to the site but did not see the Chelsea list, only place to search for Military Records. If you wish,
you can write to Maria at:  ^(*) . Bill

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[andycand]

Hi Bill

Could I suggest that you remove the email address for Maria. 

The Record Set you are looking for on Findmypast is British Army Service Records 1760-1915 which includes records often referred to as Chelsea Pension records. As far as I'm aware Findmypast (a subscription site) is the only site that has the actual surviving Service Records for this period

Andy

[LeonardRileyIII]

Andy,  I tried to delete Maria's address in the message above. Could not do it so sent a message to the moderator, asking that he/she remove Maria's address. Believe I ran in to this problem about a year ago
when corresponding with Kevin Meade of Ireland. He suggested an alternate means of communicating. Bill

[andycand]

Hi Bill

You should be able to modify your post for up to 24 hours. The modify button is to the top right hand side of your post.

Findmypast.co.uk has a subscription offer at the moment You can subscribe for 1 GBP for a month, this will give you access to all the Service Records on their site. Just make sure that once you have subscribed you untick the auto-renew.

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/november-offer

The link below has information about researching records for a British Soldier up to 1913.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/britisharmysoldierupto1913.htm

Andy

[LeonardRileyIII]

Andy,  Thank you for the information. Will try to delete Maria's address. But this doesn't solve Maggs problem. Maria did subscribe to the Findmypast.co.uk web page and immediately found what we were
looking for. I am sure she could help Maggs if the two could get together. I will forward these messages
to Maria. Bill


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[andycand]

Hi Bill

You need to be careful, Findmypast Terms and Conditions state what a subscriber can or can't do, and lookups for someone else was not allowed.

The subscription link I sent was for you, generally once The National Archives (at Kew) have entered into an arrangement with a commercial site to digitize records and put them online you can't access the originals, someone going to Kew and looking up Chelsea Pensioner records will just use one of their computers to access the commercial site.

Andy