Where would a man in Worcestershire sign up to join the army in the 1890s?

[KitHannay]

Hi all,

My great-great-grandmother's husband was in the army and I'm trying to find his records. He was born on 15 January 1875 in Lady Pool Lane, King's Norton, Worcestershire, England. His name was William Edwards Houghton (although this is the only record of him with this name - he seems to have gone by William Henry Houghton). His father was George Houghton but he died before William was born. Because of this, his mother Harriet remarried quite quickly to a man named John Welch. (On William's marriage cert later he said that his father was 'John Houghton').

When William married in Glasgow in December 1895, his occupation was 'Private, 84th Royal Artillery.' By 1898, he was in the 66th Royal Artillery and by 1899 he was a driver in the 66th. Can anyone tell me where he would have signed up for the army? Or the work of this group or where I could find his records without knowing his number or where/how/when he died?

Thanks!

[mckha489]

Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942  Is on FindMyPast
But I can’t see him
I got all excited about an H. Houghton driver in the Royal Field Artillery in the Boer War, but he was born 1866 in Liverpool

[jim1]

Although Lady Pool Lane is in Worcs. it's only about a mile from B'ham.
There would have been recruiting offices there for various Regts.
Similarly had he been in Glasgow.
I'm assuming he was in the 84th. Battery RFA who were also in the Boer War.
Do you know where he was in 1901?

[KitHannay]

Oh that's interesting that he was so near Birmingham. I'm not familiar with the geography of the UK at all. I cannot find him anywhere in 1901 which is why I assume he was abroad. His wife was recorded in Glasgow as a 'wife of a soldier' rather than widow, so I assume he was still alive. She had a child by another man in Northern Ireland in about 1905 and there was never any mention of William again (she remarried in 1923). So I assume he died sometime between 1901-04 but I suppose he could have just deserted/separated from her

[jim1]

As they were in Ireland in 1905 he may have been posted there
& as she left it a long time before re-marrying may be because he died closer to that date.
Have you tried to find him in 1911 & 21?

[KitHannay]

Well you see, I have found his wife and two children in the 1901 Census in Glasgow. After this, there is absolutely no record of those two children ever again - not in a census, a death or marriage. Nothing. I can't find any of them in 1911. There were a lot of William Houghtons and it's hard to narrow him down.

His wife had her son in 1905 and in 1908 the kid was lifted and put in an orphanage. In 1918 she left her address in the orphanage (she was living in Glasgow). In 1921 she's living with a new man who she claimed was her husband (but they actually got married two years later in 1923). No mention ever again of William Houghton. I've always assumed he died between 1901-04 and that because of that the family sort of fell apart - but I have nothin to prove this