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Help with TNA? *sobs copiously*

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  • Janet
    replied
    Merry,

    They are NOT all listed on the TNA site. I have been to Kew TNA and researched my army pensioner who joined the army in 1851 and went through the Crimea War and on to the Indian Mutiny and Mauritius as well as Ireland. He married in Ireland and had one child there. I have been through all the musters and found out his entire army career at TNA. I have his Crimea Medal Awards and his pension details and he is NOT listed on the TNA site.

    What is very important for researching soldiers pre about 1860 is to know the regiment in which they served. Pre a certain date and certainly back in the 1700's you will need to know the regiment before going any further. I have wasted much time at TNA looking for early 1800 soldiers not knowing the regiment, and it was a fruitless task. You can often get marriage/baptism details, which will usually give you the regiment, by looking at the Regimental Indexes on Findmypast. These Indexes go back to the late 1700's.

    Have you tried researching the Militia Lists? These Militia Lists were more important back in the 1700's where every ablebodied man in the country age 18 to 45 had to join and serve. Some counties do their own lists and many have survived. I have a book of Militia Lists for Northamptonshire 1777 and this has been very helpful to me for finding many people. TNA also have Militia Lists and these are worth researching, as often men went into the army having served in the Militia first. Can you get your man into a famous battle eg The Battle of Waterloo which was 1815, and possibly a bit late for you but maybe try googling for battles in the 1770's and see what comes up and see if you can find any info that way.

    As a matter of interest, it took my OH and myself two whole days at Kew to research the whole of my army person's career and that included researching all the musters. These are a bit tricky to start with as you find yourself searching the whole regiment but then you start to realise that the regiment split into detachments which went to various parts of the world. I found my man in Ireland so I stayed with that battallion until he set sail for Farnborough. He was mentioned in most of the musters. I collected 15 A4 sheets of army minutiae which was wonderful. It included his pay increases, when he had children, their exact ages to the day and so much more. The Crimean War History was really fascinating.

    You could also download a leaflet from TNA catalogue on army in the 1700's/early 1800's and that will give you many tips on where to go next. There are many army leaflets so make sure you download the one that is suitable for you.

    If the work took my OH and myself two days then one researcher could take up to 3/4 days to do the work, and would charge a lot for two to three days at about £20 per hour! Would you be sure he would have done the work properly, as I know the Musters can be tedious.

    Janet
    Last edited by Janet; 28-12-07, 11:18.

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  • Harrys mum
    replied
    Merry....................you could always get my new best friend, Kevin, to have a look.

    He found my missing William............and is very cheap.

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  • Snowdrops in Bloom
    replied
    Merry I shouldn't worry about not finding his papers listed on the search engine too much.

    Out of interest, I just went to TNA catalogue and searched for my great granddads's papers and I KNOW they are held at Kew, I've been down there and searched them out myself - copies of which I have in my hand (well - not literally) and I cannot get them listed on their search engine.

    It may be if someone's going they could do a manual search for you - because they are alphabetical they are VERY Easy to find (in person that is!!!).

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  • Mary from Italy
    replied
    For example, I've just put "Smith" in, and just searched WO97, and there were over 2400!
    Thanks, Ann - I'd already tried that, but got no hits at all.

    You need to go to "search the Catalogue", then put the name into the box which says "word or phrase". Don't put anything in the date boxes, then put WO97 in the "Department or series code" box.
    Ah, that's what I was doing wrong, thanks. I was searching from here:

    Search the archives | Search the archives

    which I thought was a global search for the whole National Archives site.
    Last edited by Mary from Italy; 27-12-07, 23:28.

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  • Merry Monty Montgomery
    replied
    I'd better see the original record stating his regiment before I start then!

    Wouldn't it be awful if he turned out to be in the 4th or 17th foot and I had searched the 14th!!!!

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  • annswabey
    replied
    It's quite a long job for anyone, to go through muster rolls!!!

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  • Merry Monty Montgomery
    replied
    Thanks for that ......

    I think I'd have to get someone more experienced than me to sort it out......I'd probably need to be there for days!

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  • annswabey
    replied
    Yes, that's all you need to know. You wouldn't be able to get the info online, though. It would mean going there, or getting someone to go for you.

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  • Merry Monty Montgomery
    replied
    They might need a special book for his misdemeanours! lol

    I know he was in the 14th Regiment of Foot in 1778. Would that be enough?

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  • annswabey
    replied
    Even if his service record hasn't survived, he will be mentioned in other records, such as muster rolls, which will tell you where he was serving over his whole Army career, and will give details of any misdemeanours, promotions etc. You would have to know which regiment he was in, though.

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  • Merry Monty Montgomery
    replied
    Hmmmmmm.....looks as if his service record hasn't survived then :(

    Thanks all for your help.

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  • annswabey
    replied
    You can't search WO97 without a name - there has to be something in that box. For example, I've just put "Smith" in, and just searched WO97, and there were over 2400! You need to go to "search the Catalogue", then put the name into the box which says "word or phrase". Don't put anything in the date boxes, then put WO97 in the "Department or series code" box. Hope this helps!

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  • Mary from Italy
    replied
    I couldn't find anything that way, so I tried searching for WO97 with no name, and only 15 hits came up. Am I doing something wrong?

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  • annswabey
    replied
    All surviving service papers for those discharged 1760-1854 are indexed by name on the National Archives Catalogue. You need to put his name into the search and search reference WO97

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  • Help with TNA? *sobs copiously*

    I am trying to discover for which time frames the TNA hold individuals army service documents?

    I have someone on my tree who was in the army in 1758 and also in 1778, so presumably for the time in between also. I would like to get his army record, but am guessing he came out of the service too early for his record to show in "The Catalogue" under Dept Code WO? All I could find to tell me what is held under that ref was this:

    WO War Office (including service records and regimental war diaries), 1568-1996

    Which isn't much help at all!!
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