Richard Hood 1819 • Inveresk, Midlothian, Scotland?

[Garthkh]

Thanks for all the replies.  I've been in hospital for a while and will get to read through all these when I've recovered a bit more.  Thanks again for the help
Garth

[Garthkh]

All the comments have been most useful.  Thank you

[BushInn1746]

Using a date calculator, 68 years and 42 days before 2 October 1887 is 21 August 1819.

What evidence did the compiler of the Ancestry tree have to make them think that Richard was born in Inveresk?

I don't have any access to birth certificates etc

You have exactly the same access as everyone else, via Scotland's People www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, but as this is long before the start of civil registration in 1855, there isn't a birth certificate to look for. At best there could only be a baptism record.

I see that he is described as a pensioner. At that time, this usually means that he was in receipt of an Army or Navy pension, so I suggest looking for military records.

There is a record of Richard Hood, born in the parish of Gladsmuir, who enlisted at Edinburgh, aged 18, on 15 September 1835. He served in the East Indies and South Africa, and was discharged as unfit for further service at Grahamstown, Cape of Good Hope, on 26 May 1857.

Following on from the reference to Scotland and Grahamstown (not checked if any connection to Richard Hood ) :-

Dumfries & Galloway Standard, 28th December 1881

On the 16th November, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Grahamstown, South Africa, by the Rev. John A. Chalmers, William Rogerson of Dunnenrigg, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, now residing in Bethlehem, Orange Free State, South Africa, to Mary, youngest daughter of the late Mr A. Hood of Grahamstown.