If anyone is going to The National Archives I would greatly appreciate a lookup of some Militia records for Durham. I am hoping to find further information on my 6 X great-grandfather John BEST who was a soldier with the Durham Militia when he married at Alnwick on 25 Feb 1796.
I have a copy of his record from a Muster Roll taken at Yarmouth Barracks on 22 Apr 1796 and it shows he had been a substitute and was a private. I am trying to ascertain just when he has returned to Northumberland. He is recorded as still being a soldier, however no unit is mentioned, when his daughter was baptized at Chillingham on 20 Jan 1799 having been born 22 Dec 1798.
The following are dates that I have from movement records of the Durham Militia
01 Nov 1795 Morpeth and Alnwick
01 Apr 1796 Doncaster en route to Yarmouth
01 May 1796 Yarmouth
01 May 1797 commenced to march to Hull
17 May 1797 arrived at Hull
01 May 1798 York
01 Jun 1798 Hull
01 Jul 1798 Burstwick Camp
01 Nov 1798 Stamford en route to Colchester
01 Dec 1798 Colchester Barracks
I believe he was still with the Durham Militia when it was stationed at Hull as the family returned there after his tenure of service. The 1796 Muster Roll does not show when his service commenced but I suspect he probably joined late in 1792 when it was re-embodied or very soon after. My feeling is that he had probably returned to Northumberland by late 1798 at the latest. His wife was in the advanced stages of pregnancy by then and I suspect they would have been aware of the pending move to Colchester.
I have the following reference numbers from The National Archives
WO 13/609 date 1798
WO 13/610 date 1799
WO 13/608 date 1780-1797
These are described as Militia and Volunteers Muster Books and Pay Lists for Durham though precisely what they might contain is not stated. WO 13/609 would seem the most likely one to contain the information I need on him however he may also be mentioned in WO 13/610 dependent on when he moved and just when the Musters were taken. If SKS could have a look at just what these records might contain and if there were more precise dates for them I would greatly appreciate it.
Bruce.
