Hi Bewnans,
Pensions for ex-soldiers were administered out of the military hospitals at Chelsea, London (for Britain) and Kilmainham, Dublin (for Ireland).
[Not entirely sure what the criteria for deciding between such might have been, but physical presence, birth place, enlistment place, immediate intended retirement residence place, must have featured.]
Many young men signed up in the years following the Napoleonic War success in 1815.
But then all went quiet.
His service during 1817-1834 would not have been very eventful.
Typical service period was in multiples of 6 years - 6, 12, 18, 24 ....
Looks he did NOT complete a full 18 year service.
This is most likely to have been due to bad health.
Alternatively, Government cuts might have reduced battalion strengths, forcing retirements.
Your indication that John JOLL was an out-pensioner simply indicates that he was not an inmate of these hospitals. He was "out" in the community, somewhere.
Usually such was in the care of relatives - did this status change in 1852 e.g. wife died?
So it is possible that JJ retired within mainland Britain, but then moved to the North of Ireland.
But also that he might have retired to the North of Ireland directly, but was administered from Chelsea, because of his birth_place/enlistment_place.
Anyway, it looks like the admin responsibility for his pension payments was transferred to Belfast.
This may have been because he moved around a bit there, so it was more convenient to effect change by a visit to a local office ...
It is unlikely that the JJ who fought at Inkermann in 1854 during the Crimean war is your man.
He'd have been aged 60, a tad old for an active soldier.
Your JJ had retired by 1834, 20 years earlier!
[The British forces only numbered 7,500 at that battle.
The 64th Regiment was NOT present.
https://www.britishbattles.com/crimean-war/battle-of-inkerman/]
Perhaps you could post more explicit contents/references to the records that you indicated.
This would help others aid you.
Capt Jock
