RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Eidde on Tuesday 14 July 20 14:27 BST (UK)
-
Hi all
Does anyone know where out-pensioners were paid in the 1870s/80s- was it at their local post office? Also, did a lower age limit exist for the British Army in the 1860s?
I'm trying to line up the pension records I have for a James Carroll of the 20th Bde RA with my gt grandfather, but there are a couple of anomalies - one being the birth dates which are out by about a year. Did the Army bother very much about age in those days? Would anybody bother to lie about it to enlist?
Another problem is that the pension records don't give a precise address for payment - just St Stephen's Green (Dublin), and I'm wondering if that refers to a post office.
Any tips much appreciated.
Thanks
Eddie
-
Local payments had been made at post offices but in 1842 local pension offices were set up to cover pension districts. There was one Dublin pension district which appears to have looked after a number of payment places.
He may not have known his own birth year exactly and what a man said wasn't checked (unless he was obviously fibbing!). Boys of 14 (sometimes 13) could be enlisted as drummers, buglers, trumpeters with parental consent.
MaxD
-
Thanks, MaxD.
That's pretty much what I suspected in terms of age of enlistment.
I've got a list of some of the payment places, St Stephens Green being one of them and encouragingly close to where my gt grandfather lived. So it looks like one more bit of evidence to say that the pensioner whose army record I have found is in fact my ancestor.
Thanks again
Eddie