R.A. Pensioner - any suggestions .....

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:45 am

Hi Everyone

I have an ancestor shown on the 1851 census in Greyfriars Parish, Aberdeen. John Gordon aged 59 - his occupation is given as:-

Flaxdresser - R.A. Pensioner

Any suggestions as to what the latter part might mean ?

Thanks lots

Ted

MargaretS · Post by **MargaretS** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:10 pm

Royal Artillery Pensioner?

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:57 pm

MargaretS wrote:Royal Artillery Pensioner?

Near certainly.

PROCAT at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cata ... efault.asp has two who might fit the bill...........

WO 97/1230/138 JOHN GORDON Born TURRIFF, Aberdeenshire Served in Royal Horse Artillery Discharged aged 28 1808-1818 (years of service)

WO 97/1230/139 JOHN GORDON Born ABOYNE, Aberdeenshire Served in Royal Artillery Discharged aged 41 1806-1827

David

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:29 pm

Hi Folks

MargaretS - thanks for your suggestion - I was thinking along those lines (honest).

David - you are an absolute star !!!! - my John Gordon is the one born in Turriff - this is the final piece of a jigsaw I needed to take me back another 3 generations.

Thanks a million

Ted

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:42 pm

Thanks David I didn't know you could do that - very useful tip.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:32 am

Ted wrote:Hi Folks

MargaretS - thanks for your suggestion - I was thinking along those lines (honest).

David - you are an absolute star !!!! - my John Gordon is the one born in Turriff - this is the final piece of a jigsaw I needed to take me back another 3 generations.

Thanks a million

Ted

Ted

Nae prob.

As the saying goes, it's easy when you know how

You've two options open to you. Using the reference above, you can email TNA and ask for a quote for a copy of the papers that this reference leads to. It may take a week/10 days to get a reply. The downside is that this route only gives the papers that the reference leads to. There will probably be lots of other interesting material in other record series, but TNA will not carry out research to locate these.

Instead you will need to visit Kew yourself, or engage the services of a expert military records researcher. I'd be happy to pass on to you details of the researcher that I normally use. Email me if you are interested.

BTW He could have served in some interesting places as that time period includes most of the Peninsular campaign plus Waterloo

David

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:42 am

mallog wrote:Thanks David I didn't know you could do that - very useful tip.

Hi Mallog

TNA have been adding this information to their on-line index for several years. How complete the on-line index is I'm not sure. The soldiers records references are to be found in the WO series.

It's very simple to use, just as long as you realise that the search terms AND and OR must be in capitals.

I normally don't bother to specify the WO series of records, as there's no major time saving.

In this case, because of the many pages of sojers of this name, I refined the search to include a specific time period.

David

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:53 am

That's been helpful, David.
In general I have tended not to bother with Kew ( hope there is not a collective gasp from all you experienced ones) because I know I can't visit it . I have engaged someone in the past to look something up but I wasn't too happy with them - a recommendation is far better. You have drawn my attention to the fact that it is possible in some cases to search for the reference for yourself and send for it.
I don't think there is a day goes by that I don't learn something here. Does that mean you are all very knowledgeable or am I just thick !!! No need to answer that !!!

Thanks again
Mallog