Does "RA" indicate Royal Artillery?

[Gene-ee-us]

Hi,
I would be grateful if someone could tell me whether my James Coubrough, "No. 8 Coy, 5th Batn., R.A." was in the Royal Artillery, and where I might be able to find out more about his service. The unit name is from his son Mathew's baptism paper, dated 4 March 1854, at St. John, New Brunswick (Canada). Is there anyplace on-line where I could find out more about this unit and when it was in Canada (specifically Nova Scotia/New Brunswick)?

Thanks.
Gene-ee-us

[km1971]

Yes, RA is the Royal Artillery. Coy = company, and Batn = Battalion.

The Army Lists of this period are very poor about giving details of location of RA units. There were probably 4 or 5 battalions in modern-day eastern Canada - Canada, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Upper Canada and Newfoundland according to the 1850 Army List. "Canada" may have been the HQ for the other four.

I would try google, or try www.firepower.org.uk, the website of the RA Museum.

Here is a link to researching in Kew - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step4.htm

They are all original documents so you will have to visit Kew, or employ a researcher. If you do not find his papers (WO97) you will almost certainly find him in the Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO12), but searching these will be time-consuming. The two important Musters are those for his enlistment and his discharge, as they often record FH information, such as age, place of birth and occupation; or you at least find out where he enlisted.

The Musters tell you where each man was on the 1st of each month. So they are even better than his papers at giving location. They will give you the actual town/fort he was at. While his papers will just say Canada (etc).

Ken

[Gene-ee-us]

Hi Ken,
Thanks a lot. I had a look at both the sites you mentioned. I guess I will have to hire someone to go to look at Kew, as a visit there is out of the question for the forseeable future. I know he was out of the army by 1856 because he was working as an "under keeper" at the Northwest Arm Penitentiary at Halifax that spring, but I don't think he was in long enough to get a pension of any sort. I don't know when he joined, but he was only 25 in 1856.
Gene-ee-us

[margaretd777]

How do you know he wasn't in long?

There is a James Coubrough in the 1861 cencus as being in the Artillery.

[Gene-ee-us]

Hello Margaretd777,

I don't really know how long he was in the army, but since he was only just turned 25 when he was listed as a prison guard in 1856 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I assume hadn't been in more than about 10 years. He was definitely not in the army any more by 1861, when he was working on the lake boats on Lake Huron.

Where was the James living that you found in 1861? James is the second most common name in the Coubrough tribe, and there are several who might have been of an age to be in the army. Are you a Coubrough, or connected to one?

Happy hunting,
Geneeeus

[StevieSteve]

Hi Ken,
I guess I will have to hire someone to go to look at Kew, as a visit there is out of the question for the forseeable future.

Or you could ask if any kind, handsome chap on Rootschat might be at Kew early September?

though

searching these will be time-consuming.

is a little daunting.

Who knows though, eh?

[Gene-ee-us]

Hello StevieSteve,

Would some handsome helpful chap be going to Kew in September? And if he was, might he be willing to look up James Coubrough in the RA muster rolls? I know he was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Sept 1851, because he was married there Sept 23, and he was in St. John, New Brunswick, in Jan/Feb 1854 because his son Matthew was christened there. The last notice I had before that was the 1841 census, when he was 10, a tearer in a calico printing factory in Thornliebank, Renfrewshire.

Happy hunting,
Geneeeus

[StevieSteve]

Hello StevieSteve,

Would some handsome helpful chap be going to Kew in September?

Well, I don't know any of those but I am, so I'll have a try 

[Gene-ee-us]

Thanks! That is very handsome and helpful of you.

The James I'm looking for was born 26 Jan 1831 in Thornliebank, Eastwood parish, Renfrew, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Matthew Coubrough and Jean Allan, and married Annie Macdonald in Halifax, Nova Scotia 21 Sept 1851 (not 23 Sept as I said before).

Happy hunting,
Geneeeus