Kings Own Scottish Borderers, 25th regiment foot

[Jaznjjj]

I know this is a very old thread but it is of interest to me.  I have many, many questions but by way of introduction I will start off with just a few comments.  An ancestor, Richard Bruce 546 enlisted in the 25th at Paisley on the 12th February 1831 and I am attempting to track his movements to see how it meshes with his having a wife and young family as well as trying to identify his parents.  Richard later volunteered to the 11th Foot on the 4th January 1838 and eventually boarded the Mayda with convicts in 1845, landed on Norfolk Island and eventually was discharged in Sydney.  The family settled in South Australia.  I do have some information provided by a researcher 40 years who engaged Kintracers Ltd in England to do a search.  I see myself possibly retracing that research.  Jennifer

[tillyann]

Hi to everyone researching the 25th Regiment of Foot Kings Own Borderers.
I am hugely interested in where the Regiment was in lreland in 1824-25 and 1832-34.
What l have got so far around these times:
June 1823 Belfast to Ennis
June 1825 Richmond Barracks Dublin. Detachments went to England
July 1825  Athlone to Dublin
Oct 1825 Richmond Barracks Dublin marched to Cork (this applied to those going to the East Indies),
Nov 1832 Drogheda then Dublin
If anyone can fill in some gaps I'd be grateful.
The KOSB museum have checked this for me and my research appears correct so far.
I am trying to locate the children of Edmund Whittaker No.72  Private then later Corporal. He is sometimes referred to as Edward. He served from 1813 until the end of 1839. He only went to the Netherlands 1814-15 and the rest of his service was in Scotland or Ireland predominantly.
I know the muster books would be helpful but l'm in Australia and to hire a researcher to look at that many records isn't an option. Just being honest.
If anyone can shed some light on this that would be wonderful.
Thanks
TillyAnn

[Jaznjjj]

Hi TillyAnn, Just touching base with you as my soldier ancestor was also in the 25th before transferring to the 11th in 1838. The enlistments of my Richard and your Edmund/Edward did not much overlap except I might have information on the movements of the 25th from the early 1830s - but I will have to dig into my files. Problem will always be that you cannot know if your soldier was part of a detachment, and perhaps not with the main group. Some detachments went on recruitment duty.   I am also in Australia.  Please feel free to pm me if I do not get back to you in a day or two.  Jennifer

[tillyann]

Thanks Jennifer.
Edmund, it appears, was involved in soldier training so he didn't go anywhere except Ireland - a big percentage of his time was spent there. The children's baptisms would have occurred there. He did some service in Scotland in 1831 definitely as a daughter is born there and would have spent some time in England too.
It will be interesting to see if your research turns up anything connected.
Thanks for the invitation to message you too btw.
Best wishes
Tillyann

[Andy J2022]

Problem will always be that you cannot know if your soldier was part of a detachment, and perhaps not with the main group. Some detachments went on recruitment duty.   

Jennifer, I agree that we can't be sure about the detailed movements of individual soldiers we are interested in, but the muster rolls (TNA WO 12 series) can provide clues to detachments. Where the records are complete, the rolls were submitted on a monthly basis, and so they can be quite fine-grained in showing the deployment of individuals. The muster rolls for the 25th are fairly comprehensive for the nineteenth century, but the down side is that they haven't been digitized and so a personal visit to Kew is required. Not really a simple task all the way from Australia!

[tillyann]

Hi Andy J2022,
Sorry to jump in on your post to Jennifer but it is applicable here too. Not that easy from Australia as you say.
Regards
Tillyann

[Jaznjjj]

The good news for me is that when the 11th served in Van Diemen's Land, Sydney, Norfolk Island etc the muster rolls are available.  At one stage I tried to track the movement of detachments in the colony and it is a daunting task. Maybe at some future time the records at Kew will be digitized as I would like more information about my ancestor's service with the 25th! 

It is possible to locate some movement of the regiments by trawling British newspapers. 

I also made an effort to track the ships in which the 11th travelled, both to get here and then when on detachment.  I eventually identified the ship my ancestor travelled in by looking at departure dates, how many days being paid while on board from the muster rolls, etc.  It took a while!   

J