Lanarkshire Militia 1807 - 1810 in East Lothian

[jacqueline cox]

Can anyone give me a) an idea, or b) some information about why a Private in the  Lanarkshire (West Scotland) Militia would marry and baptise at least 3 children in Inveresk with Musselburgh East Lothian? I am not familiar with the geography of Scotland but surely East Lothian is on Scotland's East side? What was a Lanark militia doing for at least 3 years on the wrong side of the country? I am aware that there was a war on!
Jacqueline

[JustinL]

Hi Jacqueline,

I have a similar situation in my family. A Wiltshire man got married and had a son on Cornwall in the late 1790s.

This was the middle of the Napoleonic Wars. The county militias were used to patrol the coastlines. The NA may well hold the marching orders for the Lanarkshire Militia to confirm its movements during the period.

Justin

[jacqueline cox]

Thanks, Justin.
I found the identical query re Robert Forrest by a Peter Forrest on Rootsweb from1999, but no answers, and unsurprisingly neither email address seemed to be valid any longer.
I shall email Lanarkshire Archives on Monday.
Meanwhile, any other suggestions, anyone?

[Rena]

You ask about Lanarkshire militia.  Lanarkshire and surrounding area was a place of great industry and held thousands of people who had migrated there because of those successful industries, thus it's inevitable that they should be sent to defend places with scarce man resources or places where the main occupation was skilled seamanship and that skill was needed for the merchant ships that brought provisions into the country and also the naval fleet that could fight the enemy at sea.

Whenever there's a hint of a war each parish/town is requested to send recruits to either the army or navy for the defence of the realm.   In the 1790s there was a rumble of war with Denmark and set numbers of men from each region were enlisted into the navy (they were termed "landsman" to show they hadn't served an apprenticeship on a ship).

Also in the 1790s until 1815 Napoleon of France invaded other European countries, one being the British "Kingdom of Hanover" (whch is now part of the Republic of Germany).  Napoleon had a large fleet of ships.  Britain also had a large fleet of ships but they also needed extra manpower for the militias (something akin to a homeguard), the Fencibles and the Volunteer Corps to guard the coastline and the entrances to all our major rivers and ports.   

[jacqueline cox]

Thanks Rena.
I hadn't thought about the population balance in coastal and industrial counties affecting  where service was required. However, I still can't understand why a man who was probably born in Inveresk should be enrolled in Lanarkashire Militia. Why not Midlothian Militia? (if that is the correct * Lothian).

[Skoosh]

The Militia were required to serve away from their home county, they'd be slipping away home for their dinner otherwise! 

Skoosh.

[Rena]

Skoosh 

jacqueline

We only know where our ancestors were at certain points in their lives, such as the date of the census, the date of marriages, baptisms and deaths.  In all probability your ancestor could have removed to work in the industries of Lanarkshire from his home town and found a wife on his travels.  I was a forces wife and in general our postings lasted for a period of about 2.1/2 years, but some personnel were stationed in the same place for many years.  We travelled all over; we married in the county of Yorkshire, two of our children were born in Lincolnshire and one child born in the county of Lancashire. (thank goodness none of them were born when we were posted to mainland Europe, otherwise we might have a problem with nationality lol). On th

Here's a link to a webpage dedicated to the Inveresk Parish and the Burgh of Musselburgh.
There's a list of Militia posted in the Burgh but Lanarks isn't included for some reason.

http://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Inveresk.html

They must have been there as one poster on this webpage gives newspaper details of when the Lanarks Militia were in the Lothians.

http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15539

In General.  Now that we know several militias were barracked in the area, I think it reasonable to assume that the locals knew some salient facts about each of the militias and could probably sign up to join the one they preferred - this could either be one militia gave higher wages, or there was a vacancy for some skill they wished to learn, or they didn't want to join some militias due to harsh treatment by the commanding officers, etc.

Here's a wikipedia webpage which, halfway down, gives an idea of the Scottish militia from the late 1700s to the 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia#Scottish_militia

[jacqueline cox]

Thank you both very much. I'll follow your links, Rena.

[Regorian]

A Peter Forrest wrote on Rootsweb that his ancestor served in the LM between 1807 to 1812 at Inveresk.