Help with Military record

[helenbee]

I am looking for the military records of my Gggrandfather, Henry Hounsom. I have followed the advice on the boards here and went to PRO on line and did a search for him but it came up with nothing. He was in the army from the late 1860s until at least 1901. I have him on the 1881 census in the Royal Artillery at Pembroke Dock. In 1891 and 1901 he is at Aldershot barracks where he is a 'conductor' in the army service corps. I can't find him in 1871 but he had 9 children born at Devonport, Pembroke Dock, Woolwich and then Aldershot - all have army bases I believe.

In the First WW, 2 of his sons were killed and appear on the CWWG site but I am assuming that Henry was too old by then to still be in the army but he was definitely still alive as a newspaper cutting about the death of one of his sons gives a private address for him in Aldershot. Would there be any pension records for him anywhere?

I don't know when he died but would really like to find this out.

Any help anyone can give me or any pointers whatsoever would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Helen

[manmack]

helen,you are in the right spot for records,there should be quite a bit about henry at the n/a,was henrys other son a officer when he was killed in ww1,i found edward,hes buried in shropshire two others are not henrys sons that just leaves the officer,henry was probably at pembroke dock because the royal irish artillery were there at the same time,they were being transferred to the royal artillery at the time,and it would have been part of his job as a staff sgt of RA to help with this,do you have the names of his other sons,i have henry jnr and edward,and his daughter henrietta,theres no sign of him and his wife lavinia in the 1901 census,i can only find edward,who is a 16 year old trumpeter in the RA but non of his brothers,mack

[liverpool annie]

Just a thought ....
he wouldn't be in the Military Band would he ? as a conductor 
or is that a stupid response?

Annie

[manmack]

annie,a conductor is a senior NCO in charge of the arsenal,he looks after the munitions etc,he was a staff sergeant,so hes probably a battery sergeant major or the equivalent rank,mack

[liverpool annie]

Oh ! 

Pity - I do love a Military Band!

[helenbee]

Hi guys and thanks for your responses so far.

Firstly, the other son who died in WW1 was George James Hounsom. He wasn't killed in action but died from illness back at his base on the south coast (I can't remember where - I think it might be Plymouth). The other 2 sons, Walter Charles and Henry John both appear to have survived WW1 and I have found medal cards for them all at National Archives. Yes, and Edward was buried in Shropshire but again I can't understand why as the family were all 'down south' by that time.

In 1901 most of the family are still at Aldershot - their name was mistranscribed in the census which made them very hard to find...I think it appears as Honnsom.....I will have to check. Edward was away with the RA as you found and if my memory serves me right, Henry was also away at barracks somewhere...again I will check.

So, do you think there is a possibility that Henry Snr does have some records at the NA but they're just showing up in my on-line search. What should my next move be?

And thank you for your clarification about 'conductor' - I too had conjured up images of a baton waving soldier in full regalia!!!

Hope to hear from you again,

best regards
Helen

[helenbee]

Me again. 1901 census info is under "Honnsom" on the transcribed records.

The family, Henry Snr, Lavinia and some of the children are at:
Aldershot Military in Stanhope & Wellington Lines, District Royal Engineers Mounted & Imperial Yeomanry, and Henry is given as "Conductor Army Ordnance Corps"

Henry Jnr is at Gillingham in Kent, name is given as "Honnson".
He is at the District Brompton Barracks and is a 2nd Corporal Royal Engineers.

Thanks

Helen

[manmack]

helen wasnt edwards dad originally from shropshire,he may have been buried there because its the family hometown,its well worth a trip to the archives,mack

[Jooner3]

Hello
I have been doing a family tree and basically stumbled across this site in my research
I have traced my GG Grandfather as being Henry James Hounsom born around 1858 Portsea
He is listed as being a company Sargent major on board HMS Dido firth of forth Edinburgh around the 1900s
He had other siblings one of which George emigrated to Australia
His father was a John Hounsom and I'm sure his father James
If anyone has the same or new information I would love to hear from you
Many thanks
Allan