British Army in Alderney - 1812-1814

[bc1946]

An ancestor - Alexander Cowan was in Alderney with the 82nd Regiment of Foot during this period before being sent to France and then Canada. In the 1851 Census for Sunderland his daughter Margaret stated that she was born on the island of Guernsey c.1815. Would she have been mistaken because of the time which had elapsed or would the men have been based on Alderney while wives lived in Guernsey? Any ideas where she may have been baptised?
Perhaps a local history expert might know some of details of the military presence!

Thanks for any help here.

bc1946

[kismet]

Did anyone ever reply to you about this.

Even today, very few children are actually born on Alderney.  Pregnant women are taken to Guernsey to give birth as a matter of course - they are flown out at all hours of the day and night.

My husband, whose parents lived in Alderney, was born in Guernsey because he was going to be a difficult birth (that was in 1951) and his mother had to be taken to Guernsey by boat (can't have been much fun to be on a boat for an hour and three-quarters or so when your're in labour).  So you never know - that might be the reason.

Kismet

[bc1946]

Thanks Kismet.

Sorry for the delay in replying to your post - I was out of the country when I saw it initially and then forgot to acknowledge the information you gave when I returned.

As far as I know there were two forts on Alderney at the time although the larger one was greatly increased in size some time in the 1850's I believe. I have no idea as to whether these could have accomodated families in 1813/14 or even whether there would have been enough accomodation on the island for the followers of the regiment.

I did find the baptism of the child concerned at the Town Church, St Peter Port
- whether she was actually born there is another thing I suppose but at least there was some basis to her claiming to have been born there!

Thanks again for your information.

Bill

[kismet]

Hello Bill,

I had forgotten I had replied to you about your posting.  There are actually 13 Forts on Alderney, two of which are huge and definitely had accommodation and somewhere I have a booklet about them, I will see if I can find it and get back to you. 

Sue (Kismet)

[Valda]

Have you checked the army overseas bapstisms (later births after the start of civil registration) held in the overseas section of the GRO civil registration index for Margaret's baptism?

You can access the index at this website (but it is pay by view).

http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet

Regards

Valda