Chelsea Pensioner and a wee help.....

[Tracey]

I too have come across an alleged Chelsea Pensioner in my ancestry, a Robert Stewart, born in Ceres (Fife) in 1782. This individual shows up, aged 69, in the 1851 Census and his "Rank, Profession or Occupation" is given as "Tailor, Chelsea Pensioner".
Now, I followed the advice in the preceding post but there are no Robert Stewarts listed - at least none that were born in Fife.
Am I doing something wrong in my searching? Or is it possible that the 1851 Census itself is just plain wrong? Alan Stewart

Hi Alan
There are 58 hits for Robert Stewart and most of them from Scotland. I dare say once you do find his true birth place he will be one of these unless yours is one of the "unknown" birthplace.

[Tracey]

Hello,
I had a look at the military history on the National Archive site but kept getting lost in various documents with loads of abbreviations !! plus - with a name like Robert Bruce I kept being offered nobility -not the farm worker he was.
Hope someone can help.
emmess

Emmess

Go to search the Catalogue then put Robert Bruce in the word or phrase box then where it says dept series or code type WO. This is where you need to look, Good luck

[emmess]

Tracey -thanks for answering-unfortunately no luck there as yet .Will keep looking 'cos there was an error on part of the site.
emmess

[Tracey]

Hi Emmess

Do keep trying as there are only 16 hits for Robert Bruce and if i remember correctly there are only 4 (ish) that are of no use .

Hope you find what you are looking for

[DavidWW]

If he was a gunner or bombardier (the rank equivalent to private in the foot regiments) then he was Royal Artillery, who didn't have regiments as such, but were grouped into batteries all belonging to the Royal Regiment of Artillery (either the RHA, RFA, or RGA, - "Horse", - "Field", and "Garrison" from 1899 to 1924).

See http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/art-eng-sig/RA.htm

David

[emmess]

David and Tracey
Thanks a lot for help-the R.A. site looks interesting-who knows where this might lead !
emmess

[mean_genie]

Hello,
Does anyone know how to find what branch of the army would be stationed at Shorncliffe army camp in 1871? On the 1871 Kent census a Robert Bruce 36yrs born Scotland was classed as a gunner in District Camp 1 but I can’t find what regiment he was in. On his page there are bombardiers and trumpeters if that is relevant.
I am hoping to connect this Robert as my ancestor who reappeared in 1881 Inch census as a 46yr old Pensioner, after being missing in 1861 and1871.
According to a Folkestone web site Shorncliffe camp was a holding camp for servicemen going abroad.
I had a look at the military history on the National Archive site but kept getting lost in various documents with loads of abbreviations !! plus - with a name like Robert Bruce I kept being offered nobility -not the farm worker he was.
Hope someone can help.
emmess

Hi Emmess

I know this is a long time after your post, but just in case you haven't resolved your problem, this might help.

The Research Guide on The National Archives site that you want can be found using this link

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cata ... afletID=14

It's called 'British Army: Soldiers' Discharge Papers, 1760-1913'

The actual records for the period you need to search haven't been filmed, fiched, scanned or copied in any way - you have to order a box full of documents and go through them. If you can't go there yourself you can get a researcher to do this for you. It's a pretty straightforward search to do so shouldn't cost too much. You can find a list of researchers on the same site

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/irlist/

The discharge papers themselves should include his parish of birth, and next of kin.

Hope this helps. One of my ancestors was stationed at Shornecliffe in 1871 (3rd Regt of Foot), which is why your post caught my eye.