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Thanks for the info Jomot. I did not know about the 7 day trial, I have just signed up and had a look. It is a list of soldiers who's balances are unclaimed (title of the page is Soldiers' Balances Unclaimed - just in case the way I have written it changes it's meaning). It shows £11 14s 11d unclaimed by Robert. I would imagine this was the amount unclaimed when he died and as he had no next of kin (wife etc) in India it remained unclaimed, although if anybody thinks otherwise please let me know.

There is a Robert Tatham on findmypast in the Military records. 

1861 service number 420, 39th Foot (Dorsetshires) stationed at Templemore.

1871 Robert Tatum, service number 420, 39th Foot (East Middlesex), Bandsman, stationed Ferozepore, India

No other information given unfortunately. 

The National Archives reference for 1871 is WO 12/5304 and for 1861 is WO12 / 5294.  I don't know if there would be any more details on the records at Kew

Hope this helps
Sandra

 I just wanted to thank you once again Sandra, I think you have found my Robert. I have been searching on Find My Past, I cannot see this Robert's service records but I looked at the service numbers around him, No. 417 William James Griffice was enlisted at Walsall on 3 August 1860, No. 422 Joseph Weetman enlisted at Walsall on 28 August 1860 so I would think that as Robert's number is 420 he would also have signed up at Walsall in August 1860, which is exactly where I would have expected Robert to have been! It is just a shame I cannot find out what happens to him after 1871 but at least I now have a lead!
 

Strange he calls himself a widower on 1851 and 1861 if he is still living with his wife on and off!

By 1851 I think their marriage was all but at an end. I have no evidence that Ellen went back to James after she left him (the 2 week spell mentioned above). If this was because she had just found out she was pregnant than that would be late 1848/early 1849. The outcome of the trial in 1852 is that James would pay for the upkeep of the two children (even though evidence was given that one was not his), but he refused to pay for Ellen, so he probably considered himself as good as a widower by 1851, and of course he was a widower in 1861 as Ellen died 1857.

 Hi all,
 
 I have been trying to find out what happened to my 2nd great grandmother's brother Robert Tatham but have hit a brick wall so I thought it would post it on Roots Chat and see if anybody can come up with an answer for me.
 
 Robert was born on the 2nd November 1842 at Cleveland Street (I think) Workhouse in Westminster and was baptised at St Anne's Church in Westminster on the 29th December 1842. He was the son of James Thomas Tatham (a Currier) and Ellen Tatham (nee Turley). At the time of his birth his father was somewhere in America having travelled through Ellis Island earlier in the year.
 
 On the 1851 Census Robert is living with his father at Worcester Street, Kidderminster. Unfortunately I don't have a sub with Ancestry at the moment so cannot link the record in but Robert is living with James Tatham (Father, 47, Currier Journeyman, b. London), George Tatham (Brother, 13, Scholar, b. London) and Ellen Tatham (Sister, 11, Scholar, b. London), all living in the house of Samuel Goodyear. Robert himself is down as being 7 and born in London.
 
 Now, here is the tricky bit to explain. When James left Ellen in London they had no idea she was pregnant with Robert and the money she was left with was not enough to keep her family, hence Robert being born in the Workhouse (I think the idea may have been for James to set himself up in the States and call his family over later, but this never happened). Finding herself destitute, Ellen seems to have decided to return to her father's household at Martley, Worcestershire only to leave the parish with a man called James Griffiths. They settled at first at Astley and then at Stourport in Worcestershire and had at least one daughter, Rosannah (b. 1847 - my 2nd great grandmother) and possibly Louisa (b. 1849 - I do not know which of the James's is Louisa's father).
 
 Ellen can be found on the 1851 Census living with her two youngest daughters’ in Bewdley, Worcestershire. Ellen dies in 1857.
 
 By the time of the 1861 Census James Thomas Tatham is living in Walsall, Staffordshire with his children George and Ellen. There is no sign of Robert and I cannot find a suitable entry on the 1861 Census for him. Neither can I find a suitable death entry using either the old GRO Index (freebmd version) or the new one (gro.gov.uk).
 
 I should also mention that his eldest brother, Edward James Tatham, did immigrate to Chicago so there could be a chance that Robert followed his brother over to the States although I believe Edward did not emigrate until later in the 1860’s.
 
 Does anybody have any idea as to what might have become of my Robert?