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TNA army records help please

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  • TNA army records help please

    I have just made a small chip in a very old brickwall in my tree This family are really complex as they and their cousins all intermarry through the generations, but I've been unable to sort out the start of the web because I didn't know the names of the children of the following couple:

    Robert McCreary (1001 different spellings possible!) married my relative Susanna Maynard in 1759 at St Paul's Bedford. I have no idea of his age (she was 21) but in the marriage register he was recorded as a Sergent in His Majesty's 14th Regiment of Foot. I knew from a will that by 1765 they had four sons but their names were not stated!

    Skip forward to 1793 and I've just found what I believe to be Robert's burial! I had already seen a PCC will for a Robert McCrery with occ "gentleman", but as this man was "of Beaminster in Dorset" (my family were Bedfordshire and London) I had thought this will was probably a red-herring and had ignored it for about five years! However, I've just found the burial record in Beaminster to match the will, which states the "gentleman" to be a Lieutenant in the Regiment of Foot

    I've just bought the will. The executors are people from Bedford so that's a hopeful link, but though Robert's wife is alive she isn't given a name and I can't find any further burials in Dorset to help me :( In the will Robert just says he hasn't made provision for her because, as the widow of an officer, she will get a pension!

    At last I have the names of two sons, one of which is a name I'd been hoping for - the other one is "beyond the seas of this Kingdom" which isn't all that helpful!

    Soooo........where would I need to look to find Robert McCreary's army record?

    What family information might I hope to find, if any?

  • #2
    Merry, You have no idea how much I would dearly love to help you out with this one..........after all you have done so much for me in the past. I can find nothing concrete, but probably your only course of action is to write off to the MOD and ask for their help. At least they might be able to tell you if the records actually still exist.
    Sally - Researching amongst others, JOSEPHY; WRIGHTSON; COOPER; GLOVER; DOWNING AND DICKINSON.

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    • #3
      Aaaahhhh, thank you sally

      I'm sure if there's anything it would be at the National Archives, but I'm unsure as to whether there would be a separate record for the one person or if all there would be are regimental records, as the date is perhaps too early for an individual record?

      I don't know whether being an officer would make any difference?

      I've been going squiffy looking for the bloomin' burial for Mrs McCrery, with no luck at all. :(

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      • #4
        14th foot

        14th Regiment of Foot This is of incidental interest Hales place is between the University at Canterbury and the town.

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        • #5
          I suspect there will be an individual record at TNA but presumably not listed online yet.

          Wouldn't it be unusual to go up from Sergeant to Lieutenant, though?
          KiteRunner

          Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
          (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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          • #6
            Originally posted by KiteRunner View Post
            I suspect there will be an individual record at TNA but presumably not listed online yet.

            Wouldn't it be unusual to go up from Sergeant to Lieutenant, though?
            I thought that too and if it hadn't been for the fact that he mentions being an officer in the will I would have thought the vicar had made a mistake when he wrote the burial entry.

            Now I'm wondering if Robert and Susannah did stay together? I've not been able to find any further trace of this couple in Dorset. It was a clause in her father's will that she would only get her inheritance if she didn't stay with her husband! I had romantically imagined they ignored him and lived happily every after, but maybe they did separate and this bit in the will that says "as to my wife I have made no provision for her as she shall be entitled to a pension from Government as an officers widow on proper application being made for that purpose" was some sort of dig that he had bettered himself without her help! lol

            I hope you are right that there could be an individual record - *keeps fingers firmly crossed*


            Another thing, in the will he calls the first son mentioned "my natural son" and the other son "my son". Does that mean the elder one was born outside marriage?

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            • #7
              I must try and find out who the executors from Bedford are :(

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Merry Monty Montgomery View Post
                Another thing, in the will he calls the first son mentioned "my natural son" and the other son "my son". Does that mean the elder one was born outside marriage?
                I have seen the phrase "natural and lawful children" used to mean children born of a marriage, so natural doesn't necessarily mean illegitimate, but if only the first son is described as his natural son it does sound likely that is what he meant.
                KiteRunner

                Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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                • #9
                  It's a pity, then, that none of this family were baptised (as far as I know!) for several generations.

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                  • #10
                    Hi Merry,

                    TNA have Muster and Pay books for most of the Regiments, so you can trace dates, postings – and promotions. Some volumes have “Married establishment” listed at the back with children – no names but ages in years and months. You do have to slog through each volume in the Reading Room, though.

                    Usually, there are also Attestation papers or Discharge papers, which are filed alphabetically for the regiment or group of regiments, and these contain a wealth of detail.

                    Last year, I did some digging on soldiers in the 87th and was amazed at how much info there was.

                    TNA have a current programme to digitise all these records, but unfortunately they say they won’t be available until 2011!

                    Carol

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                    • #11
                      Yes, there could well be an individual record. The worrying thing though is the rise from Sergeant to Lt. The Army List held at TNA would give date of commission (or the London Gazette might - searchable online) which might help.
                      The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
                      Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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                      • #12
                        Thank you Ann and Carol

                        I've just had a look at the Gazette and found the following:

                        4th Dec 1779: Serjeant Robert M'Crery, of 14th Foot, to be Quarter Master.

                        26th Sept 1780: Earl Fauconberg's Regiment of Foot - Quarter Master Robert M'Crery to be Ensign, vice Thomas Napper.

                        22nd June 1782: Earl Fauconberg's Regiment of Foot - James Powel Gent to be Ensign, vice Robert M'Crery.

                        Isn't an ensign a commissioned rank?

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                        • #13
                          Looks as though he did rise up through the ranks then. Good for him -unusual. Yes, Ensign is an officer rank.
                          The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
                          Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by annswabey View Post
                            Looks as though he did rise up through the ranks then. Good for him -unusual. Yes, Ensign is an officer rank.
                            lol Maybe being disowned by his father-in-law was good for him :( Father-in-law left a legacy to Robert's wife, but on the condition that they separated!!

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                            • #15
                              By the way, they aren't digitising officers papers - just "other ranks"
                              The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
                              Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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                              • #16
                                When I looked up the 11th British Militia annual inspection reports c1812 (private papers) - it named the officers but not the men.

                                You're more likely to find references to Officers at that time I believe.



                                Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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                                • #17
                                  The Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe, Sean Bean) although fiction do say that it was rare for a soldier to rise through the ranks to officer. It did happen but not often.

                                  Not part of the men anymore and not a gentleman, those who bought their commissions, they were never really excepted by either side and had to fight their way to the top and prove they were worthy of the position.

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