RootsChat.Com

Good afternoon everyone…
Please may I ask if anyone can provide me with an approximate date concerning the death of the wife of one of my regimental heroes.  I would just like to know if she died before or after 1841.   
I created an Ancestry tree for Anne, and this is her URL.  Anne Tayton - Facts (ancestry.ca)  Unfortunately, I was working on possible documents linked to her when my subscription ran out.  I still have access to the tree, but I’m not allowed to open the documents or do research.
https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/176311746/person/302287879968/facts

For those who do not have Ancestry…  The story goes…
Ralph Fraser served in the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards, and I am trying to determine if he was suffering from Combat Stress, (PTSD) perhaps following the Battle of Waterloo.  He was demobbed in 1818. 
A possible marriage for Anne and Ralph is the 28 of April 1818.  Birth unknown, Anne Tayton had a possible father called George.  Two children called George Ralph Fraser and Ann Martha Fraser, unfortunately, both died before 1826.   Had Anne also died before 1841, then this war-veteran could have been in a terrible state.
On the 12th of January 1841, he was enrolled as one of Queen Victoria’s Almsmen, and this post could have been given to him by the Chaplin of the Royal Chelsea Hospital. 

Thanks in advance.
Regards…, Iain.

Good morning everyone…
As my post is a military-linked question, I suppose I should have posted it in the appropriate section.  However, as this this makes up more of a general, ‘building’ and observation question…, here I am. 

Question:  What are the elements strewn about the grass in this painting ?

Date and details:  This is an anonymous painting of the Hougoumont farm following the Battle of Waterloo.  I have only presented part of the painting, as the remainder, despite it being of interest, it has many errors.  As such, my question remains focused. 
Judging from the walls still standing, it was probably painted between 1817 and 1830.  This then tells us that a certain amount of imagination was used by the artist, as these elements would have been used for the pyres.  The building on the left was the cidery, (to the east of the Northgate) and we can see, projecting from the first and second-floor charging holes, a sort of ‘ramp,’ probably used to roll the barrels down onto the carts. 
However, why so many ‘ramps’ on the grass for so few windows, when ‘logically,’ only two would have been needed.   

PS  Why have I posted this on RootsChat instead of some Napoleonic forum ?  Well, following 10-years of research, my manuscript should be going to print early next year.  In it, RootsChat will be thanked in the credits’ pages…, for all the incredible assistance provided by hundreds of members.  Thanks to you, I have been able to create Ancestry trees for my ‘Eight Hougoumont heroes,’ (for which RHQ have informed me that their Waterloo Medals will be reinstated) plus the Hougoumont Farmer Antoine Dumonceau and his gardener Guillaume Van Cutsem. 
Thank you everyone…, much appreciated.   …, Iain.   

Hi All…  I have a quick question…

Concerning George Cadwallader, former 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards, (Scots Guards) was demobbed in 1836. (RootsChat has already helped me concerning his military service)
However, following his admission to Chelsea as an out-patient, I think he married, and found a job as a hotel porter.

In order to find which hotel, do I have to write to every hotel in London…, or is there another way of finding out ?

Thanks in advance…, Iain.

George Cadwallader:
July 1791 - Baptism 16 July 1791 – 14 June 1848.
Demob 1836.
Possible wife Ann Brooks – Marriage 7 Dec. 1841.
Possible employment:  'Gate keeper.' (possibly an hotel…, due to the marriage certificate mentioning ‘porter’)

Good afternoon everyone.  I’m wondering if someone could help me find a birth or death date ?  If I have it, Ancestry should be able to help me find descendants.  I’ve started a tree for this former Waterloo soldier, (no relation) but I need a date before any information can be extracted from Ancestry or the British Newspaper Archives.

A few years back, the ‘Waterloo Uncovered’ archaeologists discovered a finger bone at the Hougoumont farm.  Nothing unusual in that, despite bones being an extremely rare find following so many deaths.  However, I am researching a certain private called Joseph Lester who served in the 2nd Battalion 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards.  On his demob papers, the Surgeon Major wrote, as usual, ‘worn out,’ but he also added that Joseph had lost a middle finger of his right hand.  Unfortunately, he wrote that the cause of this injury was due to a prior battle.  I would like the opportunity to check that out by finding a descendant, then ask for a DNA test. 
Yes…, a very remote possibility, but you never know !

   Birth abt1789 • St. Nicholas, Newcastle, Northumberland, England.
   1806 description - Height 5-feet, 11 and 1/8 inches. 'Sandy' hair, grey eyes, fair complexion.
   Enlistment - 18 April 1807
   On his Statement of Service, the officer wrote that he was seventeen years of age.
   Demob 5 April 1827 • London, England.  Sergeant…, following 21-years, 12 days.  Conduct very good.
   1827 Chelsea Pensioner Outpatient, aged 38.

Working on the assumption that an Ancestry member has him in their tree, that relation could have him down as being a former soldier. 
This man was one of the Guardsmen who assisted with a shoulder during the second breach of the Northgate…, and Wellington knew his name.

Thanks in advance…, Iain. 

Good morning everyone…

A quick question from someone who is a fanatic for detail. (lol)  By looking at a signature, is it possible to tell if the owner is right or left-handed ?

The first was Matthew Clay’s signature and the second was Robert Gann’s cross. (1815) 

Robert was Matthew’s Old Soldier at Hougoumont, Waterloo.  Both were firing from one of the chateau windows, and I’d like to know who was on what side of the window. 
Taking into consideration that left and right-handed soldiers held their muskets differently, this tells us what each man was looking at.  A minor detail, but important in relation to my paragraph.   

Thanks in advance…, Iain.