finding a scottish light dragoon

[km1971]

I presume 2nd Lieutenant means Cornet, being a cavalry regiment.

If you have a look at an Army List you will see that the half-pay lists include both infantry, cavalry ec. So they use the generic '2nd Lieutenant'.

Ken

[queencorgi1]

I too would have thought George would have come from a 'gentry' family (about which I would very much like to know more, of course) but am wondering whether he somehow sunk in the social scale?

Have just looked up some images as suggested. Absolutely fabulous!

[Regorian]

Yes, well, he wore some of those uniforms. As an officer and a gentleman, he would not have lost his social status. His children as children of an officer would have been considered ladies and gentlemen. 

Well worth following up your family history and I wish you every success. He would have worn the blue light dragoon uniform 1780's to 1811, the 1812 to 1815, then all the variations 1816 to 1830, then the scarlet uniform 1830 to 1837 and then back to blue, Must have cost him a fortune.

It's usually officers uniforms that have survived until now. Any chance you have any in a trunk in the attic?   

[queencorgi1]

Well, none of his descendants could remotely have been considered 'ladies and gentlemen', to be honest. Speaking to elderly relatives before I started on this, there was a vague tradition that  there was 'somebody military' in the family! As I said earlier, this is my husband's family, not mine, and I am tracing his father's family through grandfather and grandmother (this is grandmother's family) as a Christmas present. I did his mother's family as a present back in January for her 90th. The excitement there was finding a convict transported to Tasmania, which means that our children have convicts on both sides as my great-grandfather was on the last shipment to Melbourne in 1847.

Love the uniforms and going to include some pictures in the Christmas package!

Still would be very grateful if anyone can help me identify George further on a family basis -- apart from being, presumably, Scottish, as that's where his son was born (location unknown) I have nothing. Also any more info about his military career (if there is any -- Ken has done a splendid job).

[km1971]

During these wars many commissions were given away 'without purchase'.

Once he was on half pay he would only be receiving a few shillings a day. So not enough to allow his children a life of leisure.

Ken

[queencorgi1]

So he might not have come from a moneyed background, then?

Thank you for all your comments, Ken, much appreciated.

[ShaunJ]

There are online trees on Ancestry with photographs, including one of a plaque in Lexton VIC which states his date of birth as 25 January 1795, in Birmingham. Parents Richard Creswick Watson and Rebekah Hanson.

And see http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Watson-6040

[queencorgi1]

While this looks brilliant, I have a problem -- the original marriage certificate in Radford, Nottingham, with him named as father and, more significantly, signing as a witness, is dated 7 August 1859 -- when this Lt George Watson was very clearly in Australia!

[ShaunJ]

Now there's a puzzle. Can you be sure that the George Watson who signed as a witness was the father?