Kings Own Scottish Borderers, 25th regiment foot

[softieh]

Wow! I must thank you, Ken, for all the fantastic information I have just read that you posted some months ago. I do not know how but I wasn't aware that you had replied, so please accept my apologies.

 I am absolutely thrilled with the information you posted about Gavin Scott,it is incredible! I am just sorry that I didn't find your post before now.

Thanks again to everyone for their help, it is much appreciated.

[kcairns]

Hi Sophie,

I believe we have a common relative somewhere along the line but I'm unsure of exactly how.

I have a Christina Mills ( nee Scott ) who in 1885 on her death record is listed as dying at 103 Cubie Street.

[regqueenie]

Hello, I am new to this site  Please bear with me if I get 'lost' and cant find your replies. If there are replies and I dont see them (find it hard to manouvre my way round this site)...can you e-mail me Mod edit....Email removed to prevent spam!because this way I will at least see them!
I have a relative called JAMES MILLETT (b: 1836) who on
1861 census is in 'Her Majesty's 25th Regiment, The Kings Own Borderers' (think this was 2/25 regiment)
Is there anyone out there who could find him or at least his army papers ie pensions etc or medals?
I know he was in Dunlo Street Ireland, parish of Kilcloony on 1901 census in Ireland as some children born there in 1877.79 and 1882.  Can anyone help?   Thanks, Regina

[km1971]

Hi Regina

My GGF served with the 25th Regiment in the 1870s. They were in Co Cork in 1874 and he settled there in about 1878. James Mullett probably did not win any medals as I suspect he was discharged before the battalion left for Afghanistan.

If you cannot get to Kew you will have to wait for Findmypast to put surviving records online (due 2011). If he served the full 12 years he should have recieved a pension. I have some copies of the muster books for the 25th Foot from that period and will look for him.

RC will send you an email that a post has been added to this thread, some peoplel do not need to email you separately. You should bookmark/save his page as a favorite. Then you can find the thread very easily.

Ken

[regqueenie]

Hello Ken

How wonderful, a reply! and when RC sent me ane-mail, I clicked on the blue writing below and it took me straight to this page. I will look how to 'Bookmark' so as to find you again..please do not think me ignorant of your messages in the future, I will be trying to locate you!?

My Great Grandfather James Millett (b:1836) was I believe in Devizes, Wiltshire in Octbober 1874, 'widowed' and a Pensioner' when he married a Mary Jane Owen (b: 1851) -
by September 1875, he was an 'Assistant' at the Wiltshire County Asylum. I cannot trace him in 1881 and assume he was in Ireland in Dunlo Street Ireland as he had a daughter in 1877 and one in 1879 and a son again in 1882 an Edward James Millett. So Ken I think he must have left the army before the time your Great Grandfather went to Cork.?
By 1901 I can find a James Millett (b:1834) in Dunlo, Galway living with the Bannerton family and the Hollywood family as a 'Pensioner' and I think there's a 1911 record of him again in Galway with another family and still Pensioner.

I think his first wife must have been Irish (the Catherine Millett b:1835 on the 1861 census in Frimley Farnham Aldershot) because no trace of James in 1851 or 41 census's and of course no records in Ireland at that time.

One question I would like answering Ken, is the 25th Regiment is not written as this, but as 'Her Majesty's 25th The Kings Own Borderers' is this  the same regiment as yours? it seems too coincidental to be otherwise doesnt it. James was defenitely a Sergeant before he was a pensioner at 38 years of age in 1874 in Devizes, Wiltshire. So there must be some records of his military history before 1874?

A hundred thanks for getting back to me, and perhaps for putting my head in order regarding the regiment. I await in great anticipation..wiggling on my chair in the hope of some breakthrough Ken!      Regina   

[km1971]

One question ….., is the 25th Regiment is not written as this, but as 'Her Majesty's 25th The Kings Own Borderers' is this  the same regiment as yours?

Hi Regina

Regimental names were really meaningless in your relative’s day, and I usually ignore them until the 1880s. They didn’t have permanent depots, so they would pick up recruits wherever they were. My GGF was born in Norfolk and enlisted in Gosport. As they spent time in Ireland they had a high %age of Irishmen. It changed after the reforms of 1881. They officially became a Scottish regiment, and in 1887 became the Kings Own Scottish Borderers.

So before 1881 they were the 25th Regiment of Foot, or 25th Regiment, or 25th Foot. Some people refer to them as the 25th of Foot. They had Kings Own Borderers in their title since 1801. In the 1870s they were officially the 25th (The York) Regiment of Foot (King's Own Borderers). So I will stick with 25th Regiment or 25th Foot.

Ken

[regqueenie]

I noticed Ken on the website the letters 2/25 Regiment of foot.  Does this mean the second battallion of the 25th Regiment of foot, and because it was in 1861, does it mean it was as you stated, the 25 (The York) Regiment of foot. I wonder if he was based in Yorkshire at any time...not that it matters, you have already said the name was not that important before 1881 as regiments were filled with Irish and picked up men wherever they were. i just wondered why he jumped at the York and not the Royal Irish Regiment if he was in Galway at the time. But there again I need to do a course in history so as not to show my ignorance, as his son enlisted in the Connaught Rangers and he may well have also been in them at one point, and oerhaps they were not the same as the Royal Irish (were they fighting for the Queen? oh dear I had better stop asking silly questions and not be so lazy and read a book or two on religion etc in Ireland) anyway, a special thanks for taking the trouble to get back to me earlier Ken and will await anything you may come accross, if you havent lost patience with me that is!   Regina

[km1971]

Hi Regina

Yes, 2/25 means the 2nd Battalion. They had 'The York' in the title from 1870 to 1881. They had a Depot in York at the time so a number of recruits would have come from that area. But with the railways they could pick up recruits anywhere. As I said my GGF enlisted in Gosport.

Even before the railways, a regiment in Kent would send recruiting parties to Scotland. You cannot use geography to identify a regiment.

Ken

[aspin]

I'm skipping through this thread but have you tried writing to the KOSB at Berwick upon Tweed
My grandfather was in the KOSB's and I managed to find out where he might have been in the 1914- 18 war

Regimental Headquarters
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
The Barracks
Berwick upon Tweed
TD15 1DG

Telephone
01289307436 fax 01289331928
e-mail kosbmus@milnet.uk.net

Elizabeth