Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Helen Fraser:

‘I have a copy service record for my great grandfather Joseph Brady who served with the Royal Artillery from 23 November 1854 until 20 February 1877. His rank at outset was gunner and driver and he was promoted to bombardier. He is stated to be awaiting court martial 26-28 May 1860 and was then reduced to gunner. He was subsequently promoted again and became sergeant by October 1869. He had good conduct badges and a long service medal and gratuity.

Is it possible to find out why his name was listed ??? times in the Regimental Defaulters Book and also why he was court-martialled and reduced in rank during service?

The Army Index 1861 lists him as number 27 (WO10/2591) and service record says number 4932.’

Paul says:

‘I’ve had a look at Joseph’s service record in the Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service Records (WO97) on findmypast.co.uk and in many respects it’s typical of the time; a career soldier who had minor run-ins with authority during the time he was in the army. It’s important to remember too that what survives in WO97 is, for the most part, only a fraction of what would have been in his file once upon a time. Over the years, records have been weeded and weeded again and so what you see now just gives the bare bones of his army service. Had the original papers not been destroyed you would have seen exactly what it was that caused Joseph Brady to be court-martialled.

There’s an excellent book by Alan Ramsay called ‘The Victorian Army At Home’ (Croom Helm, 1977) and I’m going to draw from this in my reply to you. To be court-martialled wasn’t a particularly rare occurrence in Victoria’s Army. Alan Ramsay notes that 18,950 soldiers, or just over nine per cent of the total force, were court-martialled in 1865. This figure reduced consistently over the years but even as late as 1898, close to nine thousand men were court-martialled. It’s probably safe to say that when Joseph had his brush with army authority, he was probably one of 20,000 soldiers or more who came up before his superiors.

A man could be court-martialled for a variety of reasons and Alan Ramsay quotes the following offences:

• Mutiny
• Absent without leave
• Fraudulent enlistment
• Disobedience, insubordination, etc
• Quitting or sleeping on post
• Drunkenness (all kinds)
• Disgraceful conduct
• Making away with equipment
• Other

Of these ‘crimes’, drunkenness was the most common offence, certainly from 1865 until 1880 at least, after which time disobedience and insubordination becomes the main category. Remember too that some crimes that a soldier could be charged with seem trivial today and probably seemed trivial 160 years ago too for that matter. As Alan Ramsay notes, “seven days confinement to barracks for leaving a brush out of a kit display was not uncommon.”

As far as Joseph was concerned, his only punishment appears to have been reduced in rank and within four years he had been promoted to that same rank again and would go on to achieve the rank of sergeant, ultimately receiving the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with gratuity. So as frustrating as it must be to not know the reason behind his court-martial or entries in the regimental defaulters’ book, he was discharged from the army in Secunderabad in 1876 with a character described as very good.’

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The National Army Museum is currently holding a special exhibition until 30 July 2011: Wives and Sweethearts.

The exhibition explores soldiers’ relationships from the 18th century to the present day. You’ll be able to see a fantastic selection of letters, photographs, jewellery and other tokens of love. Click here to find out more about the exhibition

Have you found any army sweethearts in your family tree? Finding your ancestors’ army marriage records couldn’t be easier on findmypast.co.uk. We’ve recently improved our search so now you can look for your ancestors’ marriage records for 1796-2005 in one go. Our search will even match up your ancestors’ marriage records for you, giving you one definite marriage match or a list of possible matches. Try it now!

We’ve found our very own army sweethearts in our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records. Joseph Grandy’s military history sheet shows his wife, Catherine Louisa, as being with his battalion:

Click to enlarge

We can see from this record that Joseph and Catherine married on 16 September 1873 in Dublin. Joseph was posted to India on 21 October 1873, so we can infer that Catherine travelled to India with Joseph, a new wife unwilling to be parted from her husband.

Here is a photograph of Joseph and Catherine from a photographer’s studio in Dublin:

Click to enlarge. Photo courtesy of Paul Blake

We’d love to hear about any army sweethearts you’ve found while researching your past.

Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Auriel Abrahams in Johannesburg, South Africa:

‘I have an ancestor who served in the 72nd regiment of foot. He left the army, was a Chelsea Pensioner and settled in South Africa where he married and died. I have been able to establish that John McKenzie was born in Dingwall, Urguhart, Ross and Cromarty in 1787 via WO97/843/31.

His papers do not give his parents’ names so I am stuck and cannot see from baptism records who his parents were. I also cannot find the muster rolls in the British Archives. I assume the muster rolls will indicate his parents - or is this a will that the soldiers had to complete when they signed up which would indicate their next of kin? Any suggestions as to how I can go further back?’

Paul says:

‘This is probably a case of checking pay books and muster rolls in class WO12 at The National Archives. Use the information contained within the WO97 document to work out when John McKenzie enlisted and then consult the muster rolls and/or pay lists for this man. WO12 is organised by regiment and the date on which his name first appears should give more information about him.

Supplemental evidence about his physical description may appear in WO25, although this series tends to cover records from the first half of the 19th Century only. It was not obligatory for a soldier to make a will when he signed up.’

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Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Gail Quirt in Toronto, Canada:

‘I have hit the proverbial brick wall in finding out about my great-great-grandfather, William Booth. I have a registration certificate from the General Register Office for the birth of his son, Joseph Booth, in Benares, East Indies on 27 January, 1864. I know he was in the British Army in India (since his son was born there) and the family stories have him fighting in the Crimea War.

William must have died around the time Joseph was born, as Joseph ‘is recorded as a child of the marriage of 1403 Lance Corporal Edward Lee and Rosannah Booth, Widow’, but I am unable to find the date and place of his death.

Using findmypast.co.uk’s military records, there are a few William Booths who seem to have been in the Crimea and India at the right times. I have no information on when or where William Booth was born and I’m not sure which of the William Booths is my ancestor. Would you be able to find out which is the right William Booth, and when and where he was born and died?’

Paul says:

‘The excellent www.dnw.co.uk website gives three possibilities for a William Booth who fought during the Indian Mutiny and appears on the Indian Mutiny Medal Roll. These three men, all named William Booth, served with the 34th Foot, the 2nd Dragoon Guards and the 8th Hussars.

Finding a man on the Crimean war medal roll is far more difficult purely because the condition of much of the roll is best described as ’shocking’ and, at worst, ‘unreadable’ or ‘missing’. There is, however, a William Booth with the 8th Hussars (number 1350) who is possibly the same man who later served during the Mutiny.

I thought that he might be a possible candidate until I checked our Chelsea Pensioners records and found that he was discharged from the army (and, therefore, still very much alive) in 1866. Remember too that the Chelsea Pensioners’ data is only for men who were discharged to pensions. If a man was discharged without a pension, or if he died, he won’t be in the Chelsea Pensioners WO97 records.

Later in the year we’ll be releasing records from the WO119 series which is Kilmainham Pensioners’ discharge documents. These are similar to WO97 but only cover the period up until 1821 and so we can rule that out. You may, however, find a death for William Booth in the Indian collection which we’re currently working on with the British Library. Read more about this fantastic project.’

If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!

Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Don McMahon:

‘I am trying to find birth details of my great grandfather born in Ireland, who served in British Army. Details known: Michael McMahon, born approximately 1842. He enlisted in Depot 1st Battalion 9th Regiment of Foot (East Norfolk) on 13 June 1860, in Limerick, Ireland.

I am not able to find details of his enlistment papers. I need to find birth date, parents and place of birth. I hope you can help, many thanks in anticipation.’

Paul says:

‘The 1861 census gives a Michael McMahon aged 20, born at Cork, Ireland. On 7 April 1861 this Michael McMahon was a private soldier, one of 989 soldiers stationed at the Permanent Infantry & North Gate Barracks occupied by the 4th Depot Battalion in Canterbury, Kent. There is nothing on this census return, however, to tie in this man with the 9th Regt of Foot. Of course, it’s worth noting that the Chelsea Pensioners record set is literally just that: men discharged to pension. If Pte McMahon did not receive a pension – for whatever reason – he won’t be in that particular archive.’

If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!

Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Jenny Fitzgerald in London:

‘I really hope you can help me with my query as this has been a mystery for 20 years. I will fill you in with the background, as this is necessary for the questions.

My great grandfather John Ernest Parkinson was born on 8 September 1856 in Ostend, Belgium, to John Parkinson. I have a copy of his birth certificate, written in old Flemish, that I’ve had translated into English. One of the witnesses on the birth certificate was a captain Veynoe domiciled in Dublin, in English Service; the other was a local Inn keeper. Annoyingly, it does not state the occupation of the father.

I searched for any military records of John Parkinson born Pentonville, London in 1832, in the new records on findmypast.co.uk, and found him serving in the Army Hospital Corps from December 1858 until discharged with TB in 1869, during which time he spent eight years in India – a fabulous find. The record showed he died on 1 May 1871 and I now have the death certificate which confirms it is the right person. The census taken just before his death shows him at home with his family.

So, I have a couple of questions: why would John be in Belgium with a heavily pregnant wife in 1856? I suspect he may have been in the army because of the witness, but if he was in the army, why in Belgium?

Also, why did he join the AHC if he had been in another division two years prior? Would he have been conscripted, or joined voluntarily? Thanks for your assistance.’

Paul says:

‘I’ll answer the last question first. He would not have been conscripted but would have joined voluntarily, and it was not uncommon for soldiers to transfer from one regiment to another. You see that a lot, particularly with cavalry regiments as a matter of fact.

I’m not sure why he’d be in Belgium in 1856 but his military papers in WO97 may state whether he had previous army service. If he did not, then he was presumably in Belgium as a civilian.’

If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!

Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Gillian Edgell in Norfolk:

‘Ref: Edwin John Mandeville, born 13 March 1857 at 101 Kent Street (now Tabard Street) Southwark. Parents Hannah and Alfred Mandeville.

I’m wondering if you can help me find or give advice on where I can find any further information on whereabouts of my great great uncle, Edwin John Mandeville, after he left the army in 1895.

On the 1881 census he is listed under the name of Edwin J Manderville , visitor, and his occupation was carpenter. His address was 53 Royal Navy, Salmons Lane, Limehouse. He was staying with his sister, my great grandmother Amelia, and family. I have been searching for years now, trying to find out what happened to him next, but I couldn’t find any further record of him.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when I recently searched for his name in the Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913 and I found a match straight away:

Edwin John Mandeville, age of attestation: 24 years 7 months (I don’t know why he lied about his age, unless you needed to be under 25 to join?)

The attestation date was 3 March 1883, attestation corps: South Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales’ Volunteers), attestation soldier number: 873.

I have looked at the original records - there are nine images. He was discharged after 12 years of service; he was found unfit for further service and his next of kin was given as his older sister Hannah Turner, 25 Arthur Street, Oxford Street, London.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find any further record of him again. I have looked everywhere and found nothing.

I would be very grateful for any input you can give me. Is there, for example, any way of finding out the address where his pension was sent to or when it was stopped paying out? Is there any reason why he would have joint a Northern Regiment, when he lived in London? Any help would be appreciated just so I can finally finish my family tree.’

Paul says:

‘Unfortunately there are no details of the pension award that survive in his papers, but it would have been sent to whatever address he gave to the Pension Board. He was probably awarded a conditional pension of £X in respect of a degree of disablement which was either attributable to, or aggravated by, army service.

This degree of disablement would have been expressed as a percentage, e.g., 20% degree of disablement etc. In all probability, after his first pension award, he would have been called before various subsequent medical boards which would either have continued to make conditional awards or ultimately stopped them.

Interestingly, before he signed up as a career soldier with the South Lancs, he had served with the East Surrey militia and, therefore, it would be worth checking our militia records (WO96) when these go online in 2011.

As for why he joined the South Lancs Regt, he may have been approached by a recruiting sergeant for that regiment and decided to join. Despite the fact that Cardwell’s reforms of 1881 attempted to align the British line infantry along territorial or regional lines, regiments recruited not only in their own counties but also much further afield.

I have a minor study of this for the Border regiment on my Army Service Numbers blog and there’s also related information here.’

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We’ve done some digging around in the Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service Records and have found some fascinating characters. As well as providing rich historical detail about our military ancestors, the records reveal some controversial information about some of the soldiers. Read on to find out about three Chelsea Pensioner ‘bad boys’.

John Kray - great great uncle of the Kray twins

John Kray, whose mother was Elizabeth Kray, the great great grandmother of the notorious East End Kray twins, was born in Bethnal Green, London. He was a riveter by trade and on 13 August 1870 at the age of 17 years and 11 months, he joined the 65th Regiment of Foot.

Here is John’s attestation paper:

Click to enlarge

John deserted on 9 February 1879, rejoined 20 August 1879 and was placed in confinement. The District Court Martial tried him and convicted him of desertion. John was sentenced to imprisonment, hard labour and stoppages (of pay) for a month.

We can also build up a picture of what John looked like from the Chelsea Pensioner records. His physical description on attestation was: 5′6″ (he had gained half an inch by the time of discharge), 35-36 inch chest, ‘fair’ complexion, hazel eyes, dark brown hair. John also had a scar on his left buttock:

Click to enlarge

John Kirk - Victoria Cross winner and drunken scallywag

Another colourful character we found in the Chelsea Pensioner records is John Kirk. On 27 January 1846, John joined the British Army at the age of 18 years.

In June 1857, at 29 years old, John rescued a captain and a family of civilians from rebels during the Indian Mutiny. John was awarded the Victoria Cross for this heroic deed.

John didn’t gain any good conduct badges during his Army service, however, and was imprisoned numerous times for his improper behaviour. John was a notorious drunk who was tried and punished 12 times. The reasons for his punishments included ‘being drunk and making an improper reply’, being ‘drunk on the line of march’, being ‘drunk on evening parade’ and also for ‘habitual drunkenness’. John was also punished for going AWOL and for breaking out of barrack cells.

By 8 April 1864, at 34 years old, John was discharged from the army with chronic syphilitic rheumatism having been classified as ‘being totally unfit for further service’. Here you can see his medical report:

Click to enlarge

Matthias Quinton - the insubordinate

Matthias Quinton was born in Limehouse, London and joined the Royal Artillery on 28 October 1889 aged 18 years and seven months. He saw service at home and in Gibraltar and was discharged after three years because of medical unfitness.

This particular Chelsea Pensioner has no less than 154 pages in his record. Among these are details of a trial by Court Martial which resulted in 42 days’ imprisonment because Matthias used ‘insubordinate language to a superior officer’. His record states that ‘when brought before Major W H Smart RA, his commanding officer, and when asked what he had to say in his defence, he replied “Sweet FA” in a highly disrespectful manner’.

Here are Matthias’ court martial sheets:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

These are just three examples of the valuable detail to be found in the vast Chelsea Pensioners records collection. The total number of records currently stands at 1,041,092.

Search our Chelsea Pensioners records to find out what stories they tell about your ancestors.

Check out The National Archives’ podcast about the Chelsea Pensioners records collection featuring military records specialist William Spencer.

I’m findmypast.co.uk’s records development manager and resident genealogy expert. As well as answering your ‘Ask the Expert’ queries, I work with archives, family history societies and other owners of original historical records to digitise these for findmypast.co.uk

Recently I’ve been reviewing our Chelsea Pensioner data so as to understand and think about how we can go about enhancing it.

Stephen Rigden

The Chelsea Pensioner records extend over 150 years - from 1760 to 1913 - and those up to the middle of the 19th century are, in some ways, especially interesting from a data point of view. At that time, spelling of place names had not quite settled and been standardised, at least not the spelling as used within the British Army. In some ways this is inconvenient but in others it provides an intriguing insight into local history.

Many of the soldiers’ places of birth are given and spelt phonetically by the recruits or the recruiting sergeant on the attestation and discharge papers which form the surviving service record.

This week I have been looking at the places of birth of soldiers born in my home county of Kent. This requires some thinking about the local accent and local pronunciation of place names. For instance, ‘Settingbourne’ sometimes appears instead of Sittingbourne (older members of my own family still say ’set’ instead of ’sit’). Similarly, Erith is sometimes spelt ‘Earith’ and ‘Eariff’, which gives a close approximation to the way it is pronounced locally.

On one occasion it appears aspirated (if that is the right word), as ‘Hereif’. This is a common fate of Kentish places beginning with a vowel and, therefore, tempting the local to add a leading H. For example, occasionally Eltham can become ‘Heltham’, Eynsford becomes ‘Hainsford’, Eythorne is ‘Haythorne’, Ide Hill is rendered as ‘Hide Hill’, Iwade metamorphoses into ‘Highwade’, Ulcombe becomes ‘Hulcombe’, etc.

The reverse process also occurs, where a required initial H is dropped: Hadlow becomes ‘Adlow’, Halstead becomes ‘Alstead’, Harbledown turns into ‘Arbledown’, Headcorn becomes the delightful ‘Edcorn’ and so on. These are not transcription errors but bona fide reflections of what is written in the original papers.

Sometimes the spelling can tell you how a place was (and often is still) pronounced. For example, there are a number of villages in Kent called Boughton. The ‘ough’ combination of letters in English can be pronounced in a variety of different ways - think of ‘bough’ (of a tree) ‘cough’, ‘though’, ‘nought’ and so on. Here in Kent, however, this place name is always pronounced as it is sometimes spelt in the Chelsea Pensioners, as ‘Borton’. We know this as the qualifier can be present: ‘Borton Aluph’ instead of Boughton Aluph, or ‘Borton Mallet’ instead of Boughton Malherbe.

Kentish pronunciation also has a tendency to run letters together and not trouble to pronounce some letters or syllables. Thus we get ‘Harrisham’ instead of Harrietsham, ‘Harcus’ instead of Hawkhurst, ‘Lamhurst’ instead of Lamberhurst, and ‘Trosley’ instead of Trottiscliffe. Other places have changed over time. Today’s Molash usually appears in Chelsea Pensioners records as ‘Moldash’, while in the older records Faversham is often shown as ‘Feversham’.

Understanding this sort of variation in spelling and departure from received pronunciation - and especially the adding or subtraction of an H at the start of a word - can be helpful when researching your family history as of course it applies equally to personal names just as to place names.

Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Angela Dalby in Gillingham, Kent:

‘My ancestor by marriage, Edward Dalby, was born on 14 June 1839 in St. Mildred’s, Canterbury, Kent and he joined the Metropolitan police in 1873. His police records state that previous to this he was in the 7th Hussars for seven years and 313 days and the Kent County Constabulary for three years and 147 days. I can find a date of 5 January 1868 for him joining the local police constabulary so the seven years army record must be between 1859-1867?

The puzzle is that I can find no army records of service for him in the recently published Chelsea Pensioners records, unlike his father, another Edward Dalby. This Edward was born in Uppingham, Rutland 1766 and was in the army for 28 years. I have the full set of records for him. The family disappear from Canterbury in the 1861 census including Edward’s mother Elizabeth (born in Ireland in 1820), his brother Joseph born in St. Mildred’s in 1846 and also Edward senior.

Were the 7th Hussars based out of this country or am I looking in the wrong index lists? Any help would be much appreciated.’

Stephen says:

‘The 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars were indeed out of England during the period 1859 to 1867 – they were on active service in British India from 1858 and did not return to England until 1871. The fact that Edward Dalby, your ancestor by marriage, joined the Kent police in January 1868 suggests either that he had enlisted for seven years and that those seven years were completed while in India in or before 1867 (probably in fact a year or two before 1865), or that he had left the regiment in India early due to injury or ill-health.

In any event, the records contained within The National Archives’ series WO97 relate to servicemen who were pensioned out of the army, irrespective of whether they were serving in the British Isles or overseas. We have now completed the publication of these Chelsea Pensioner records, which cover over one million men. This record series contains the majority of surviving records for pensioned soldiers but by no means all.

As you may know, findmypast.co.uk is currently in the process of digitising the WO96 Militia service records but we are also planning to publish in 2011 some other smaller TNA datasets which relate to Chelsea Pensioners or their equivalents. It is, therefore, worth keeping an eye open for the new datasets as they are released and re-checking the website regularly.’

If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!