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Messages - Broomie

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Armed Forces / Re: 39th Regiment of Foot
« on: Tuesday 28 September 10 22:20 BST (UK)  »
Hi Maureen,
Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with it. A couple of corrections: I referred to "Major Poole" when referring to his death but by then of course he'd been promoted to Lt Col. There's bound to be some reference to the promotion to tell you when it happened. Also Mary's family was Deane-Freeman not the other way around as I had it. Google them and you'll find a history of the family. My guess on Mary's wretched worthlessness would be an affair and a return to Britain in disgrace. India was very hard on wives with heat & dust & boredom & lots of dashing young officers looking to practise their "gallantry" on them. And Mary was probably younger and the Colonel was away a lot etc etc. Of course she might have simply been an independant spirit and not content to be treated like one of the rank & file of the 39th. Her family were renouned for their kindness and generosity. It's hard to believe that they'd have produced a "worthless wretch". It would be interesting to find out what really happened.
 On Thomas's birth, Ireland is a possibility, specifically County Cork. That's where Mary came from. However, I vaguely remember a reference to a Thomas Poole in the Cork Militia in the early 1800s, maybe something he joined in his early years. It was a common enough name so it's only a vague possibility. Good luck with it.
Doug

2
Armed Forces / Re: 39th Regiment of Foot
« on: Tuesday 28 September 10 11:54 BST (UK)  »
Hi Maureen,
I can add a little on Major Poole's later activities. I researched the Coorg campaign earlier in the year to find out what happened to Captain Forbes of the 39th who wrote the diary of the Voyage of the Guildford, referred to in my previous post.

By the time Poole received his appointment to the 39th on Feb 21, 1828, most of the 39th's complement were already in NSW. Their headquarters had been transferred the previous year.  Presumably Major Poole was a later arrival. Unless the Sydney Gazette reported his arrival, I can't add to what Ken said. Ironically, detailed records exist for convict arrivals but not for the military.

 A google search will give you a fair bit of information on the 39th's activities in NSW but I haven't noticed anything on Major Poole.

On the transfer of the regiment to India: six companies of the regiment embarked at Sydney on the 21st of July 1832, in three divisions, and disembarked at Madras on the 22nd of September and the 10th and 14th of October.  The remaining four companies embarked at Sydney on the 3rd of December, and arrived at Madras on the 21st of February of the following year. On arrival they marched the 13 miles from Madras to Poonamalee where they were stationed.They next marched to Bangalore in February 1833. In the following month cholera broke out amongst the troops and they suffered a heavy death toll. In the course of five weeks the regiment lost their adjutant, Captain Thomas Meyrick, four serjeants, forty-two rank and file, two women, and eleven children.

The Coorg campaign is well documented and I recommend these sites (if you haven't already found them)

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2217218
 
http://malabardays.blogspot.com/2010/03/outbreak-of-war-with-coorg-1834.html

As you'll see, Colonel Lindesay praised his infantry commander, Major Poole, very highly. (Forbes, who appears to have acted as Lindesay's personal assistant, also gets a very favourable mention). This campaign would have been quite profitable to Major Poole.

Captain Forbes became the secretary of the Coorg Prize Committee and their nominated agent. Following normal procedure, this was set up to organise the distribution of twenty-nine thousand pounds in prize money derived from the sale of plunder. Over nine thousand would go to Colonel Lindesay with the remainder distributed amongst the lesser ranks. Even the dead received their share although it might be slow in coming. The widow and son of Private Bennett of the 39th had to wait twenty years to receive his four pounds nine shillings share.

Forbes didn't live to enjoy his share either. He left a final diary, a private log kept between 10th April and 12th June, 1836, of his voyage on SS Protector en route from Madras to Gravesend. He was in command of a group of soldiers who, like himself, were being invalided back to Britain. Reportedly the diary tells us that he boarded the ship for home “more dead than alive”. On June 16 he died and was buried at sea. At the time of his death the prize money still hadn't been distributed: he bequeathed the monies he expected to receive to his relations. I hope Major Poole derived more benefit from his share.
 
I can't help much with the remaining years. After the Coorg victory they were highly praised. They remained camped at Mercara, the capital of the Coorg region until mid-1834 then marched back to Bangalore. In late 1838 and early 1839 they marched the 160 miles to Bellara to replace the 41st Regiment. It was there that Major Poole died. The United Services Magazine of 1839 lists his death at Bellara, Madras on April, 23, 1839. Have you found how he died?

The story behind his reference to Mary as a "worthless wretch" would be very interesting. I googled Thomas Poole out of interest and saw that Mary was the youngest child of the (then) wealthy Freeman-Deane family of Castle Cor in County Cork. After such a noble upbringing she might have let her self go a bit! It would be interesting to hear her side of the story.

Just let me know if you want further information on my sources etc. Hope this is of some use.
Cheers, Doug.



3
Armed Forces / Stocks
« on: Friday 30 October 09 01:17 GMT (UK)  »
I've wondered about the use of stocks, stiff high collars, as part of British military uniforms in the 18th & 19th centuries. I've read that stocks, initially of leather, were used to protect the neck from sword slashes. I've also read that this is a misconception and they were more ornamental, giving troops a more upright "heads-up appearance. I know the US Marines adopted them and got the name "leathernecks" as a result. In reading an old diary I saw "Watch mounting without stocks" and later, "watch to resume the use of stocks". The watch referred to was a night time one aboard a convict ship. The guards were in the habit of making a comfy nest for themselves on top of the chicken coop and having a "kip" until the butcher, peeved at having his hay messed up, discouraged them with buckets of cold water. Could stocks have been a device to keep soldiers alert? Its a bit hard to nod off with something hard cutting into your chin and neck. Can anyone contribute information?

4
Armed Forces / Company Nicknames - Flankers etc
« on: Friday 30 October 09 00:30 GMT (UK)  »
In transcribing an old diary from the 1820s I came upon a term that I can't work out. The writer, a 39th Regiment Captain has been given temporary command of the grenadier company, the Flankers. (I presume they got that name from their traditional position of honour on the right flank or perhaps from their use as elite troops in flanking operations.)The writer, worried about losing his grenadiers and being given a less distinguished company, says: "The fall is very great from a flanker to a graiber". Has anyone come across the term, "graiber"? The handwriting is atrocious so the word could be spelt in other ways. It could even be "scailer". Does anyone have suggestions. If "graiber" is correct, it might be short for "greybeards".

5
Armed Forces / Re: 39th Regiment of Foot
« on: Tuesday 20 October 09 23:49 BST (UK)  »
Hi Wendy,
I've just spotted your post. I can provide you with a little information on Joseph Howard. I've only today finished transcribing a diary kept by John Forbes, the Captain of the Guards on the convict ship, Guildford, during its 1827 voyage to NSW. He had command of the elite, grenadier corps of the 39th Regiment which was being transferred to NSW and was assigned to guard the convicts on the Guildford. He lists all the soldiers under his command. Among them was Private Jos Howard who was accompanied by Mrs Howard and one child. Most of the soldier's first names were abbreviated in this way. No further details are given. They sailed from the Nore at the mouth of the Thames on March 25,1827.

The only other major reference to the Howard family is this
Tuesday 10 April: "Mrs Howard brought to bed of a son last night."

and then rather obnoxiously....

Monday April 16: "Mrs Howards child died last night & was consigned to the fishes".

I believe this sort of flippant callousness was considered "cool" within his circle but he later shows a decent, caring side when one of his men falls dangerously ill. The 200 page diary gives a fair indication of his character and I'm sure that the flippancy was a facade: he would have been genuinely upset by the death. The child who died was definitely not the one listed as accompanying them, so one child arrived safely in NSW with them.
 
At the end of the diary he lists all of the soldiers who were punished for sloppiness, insubordination etc. The usual punishment was to stop their grog. Most of the soldiers get a mention but not Jos Howard. Clearly his behaviour was exceptional.

There are two other direct mentions of Joseph. Of the morning parade on July 11: "Mostly very clean - Webb, Howard & Lewis particularly so - Dean & Conway dirty - they ought both be got rid of useless vagabonds."

Finally on July 23, one day's sail from Sydney: "Paraded with clean packs in hand - Howard has lost one of his." No disciplinary measure was taken against him, I assume because Forbes would give such a good soldier the benefit of the doubt. The soldier's equipment didn't just disappear. It was either stolen or sold by the soldier to one of the convicts or crew members. Forbes would have assumed the pack was
stolen.

That's all, I'm afraid. They entered Sydney Heads early on July 25 and disembarked at 2PM, marching to the barracks with drums & bugles and the full regalia, letting Sydney know that the grenadiers had arrived.

I have to make a few corrections and add some footnotes to the diary then I'll pass it on to the National Library in Canberra. They have the original manuscript and hold copyright on its contents. I was allowed to photograph it on the basis that I'd do them the transcription, and was required, as are all people who examine their rare manuscripts, to sign an agreement to honour their copyright.  I hope that they will soon make the diary available for download.
Doug.


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