Unscrambling my ancestor's military record

[Aus325]

Hi all, I'm a new entry here but it seems this is a place to get some informed advice.

My ancestor served as Pvt in the English colonial force in Australia, the NSW Marine Corps of 1787, soon after known as the NSW Corps, and then amalamated with incoming English relief into the 102nd Regiment. My difficulty is that his name (McCarthy) is a reasonably common one and several other persons with the same name served in the same time periods. Researchers over the years seem to have blended together elements of these persons, resulting in a mixed up Biography.

I've been looking at Musters and Paylists that are available to me here in Aust (originating from the Joint Copying project with the UK PRO) and found various helpful listings. One of them has me confused though. Its a return of the 2nd Regiment of Foot in 1815. In it are two persons with my ancestor's name. The ranking officer is  Serg-Major David Spencer. Stationed at "St John and Moore Island" Even though this is in amongst Australian records it seems to me that it shouldn't be. Surely the 102nd was replaced by the 73rd Regiment in 1810, so how can it still exist in Ausralia in 1815? Does anyone know of this "St John and Moore Island" Regiment?

thanks all

[majm]

Welcome 

Have you noticed the various John McCarthy/Carty chaps listed at the Biographical Database of Australia?  I think your chap transferred to the 73rd in April 1810.   

 http://www.bda-online.org.au/

I have no knowledge of St John and Moore Island, sorry.

The Australian Joint Copy Project may have paylists/musters etc. 
https://www.nla.gov.au/microform-australian-joint-copying-project


JM

[Aus325]

Yes, I've certainly seen that reference on the BDA . I spent a little more time searching and found that the 102nd Regiment was stationed in Moose Island, Maine, USA in 1815. This certainly is a big stray in the Australian records. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any Australian serving marines, and should never have found it's way into the joint copying project. I'm sure this has confused a few people in the past.

[ShaunJ]

"The (102nd) regiment was posted to Bermuda in 1812 and transferred to Nova Scotia in 1813.[1] In the War of 1812 the regiment took part in seaborne raids along the US Atlantic coast.[1] Detachments of the regiment remained on both sides of the border between the British colony of New Brunswick and the US State of Maine after the war's end in December 1814 at Moose Island, modern day Eastport, Maine, USA.[18]

After the end of the wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, the British Army disbanded many units for the sake of economy. The regiment was renumbered as the 100th Regiment of Foot in 1816.[1] The regiment was the last British unit to occupy the United States; the last detachments returned to Chatham in England, where the regiment was disbanded on 24 March 1818"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Corps