Child Soldiers?

[Dinkydidy]

I have a Chelsea Pensioner's Certificate from June 1838, which shows that the nominee had a total of 37 11/12 years of service when discharged at the age of 43 with the rank of Drum Major.

The transcription of his record shows an attestation age of 18 years for his discharge corps.

Was there a separate attestation for each unit in which they served, and if so, does this mean that he could indeed have originally signed up at the age of five?

[Rena]

I know the Navy took 10 year old boys as midshipmen and have heard of a 10 year old army drummer boy.  Whilst researching an ancestor I came across a 1794 instruction at the outbreak of war that the owner of the estate had to list all the names of men and boys 16 years old and over, so I was surprised when I looked at the online muster roll for the Gordon Highlanders and found a 4ft 1 inch tall nine year old boy was included plus a handful of 11 year old to 15 year old boys

If any reader of this thread is interested here's the link:

http://www.thegordonhighlanders.co.uk/Muster%20Roll%20List.htm

[km1971]

If you post a name it would help.

My guess is that he did not serve for 37 11/12 years but that this was his 'pensionable service'. The difference being bonuses for  'half period' and maybe two years bonus for Waterloo.

Ken

[Dinkydidy]

His name was Daniel Polson, born 1795 in Barony parish, Glasgow. It seems that he was at Waterloo and would have been credited with 2 years service for that, but even so...

If he became a drum major, does that mean he was likely always in the "musical" contingent, and therefore might have been accepted very young? He was only 5 feet 2 1/2 inches tall as an adult, and I have this mental picture of him as almost a musical mascot, in spite of the very active campaigns he was involved in.

This is my first search for a military ancestor, so I am on a steep learning curve.

[ShaunJ]

The Daniel Polson discharge papers on FindMyPast are mixed up with those of a John Porter, with only the final image relating to Daniel Polson. I have reported it.

[youngtug]

At that time the average height was much shorter than today. I have seen somewhere that the average height of Scottish soldiers in the early 18th  century was about 5ft4in/5ft5in. Average of course doe's give a fairly wide range of heights, taking into consideration malnutrition and poor living conditions in some areas of high population. They may have been a little taller on average by the beginning of the 19th century when your man was alive but with more industry and the associated population growth and poverty I wouldn't bet on it.

[Dinkydidy]

The average height is an interesting factor in relation to a report I was reading about one of the Waterloo battles in which Polson fought - it was suggested that the British infantry were unable to see the oncoming French cavalry because they were in a rye crop which they couldn't see over. I didn't realize that rye grew so tall!

Thanks for reporting the mixed up papers Shaun - I have also done so. Having looked at quite a few, I found that virtually all the files in Box 595 are indexed under the name of the alphabetically preceding pensioner. I found parts of Daniel Polson's records under 2 other names, but couldn't find his attestation record, even though some details from it are in the transcription.

[youngtug]

 maybe the information on your other thread could be merged. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=707347.0;topicseen

[km1971]

Near the bottom of John Porter's first page you will see that he received about seven years additional pensionable service for being in the East Indies. Polson could have received a similar benefit. But you need to sort out his service dates. FindMyPast used the original papers to produce their copies. If you complain to the National Archives they may give you access to the microfilm produced by the 'Friends of the Public Record Office'. Here are the details :

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8757272 - which says that he also served with the 69th Foot.

Ken