Does "RA" indicate Royal Artillery?

[Gene-ee-us]

Thanks for all that, Steve! I had no idea that soldiers were recorded in such detail. I didn't know that their pay would be docked for the food they got in hospital - thanks Ken - but I suppose I should have known. Even now, the army tracks every penny handed over to soldiers, and is very concerned that you should never get a single cent more than your entitlement.

The fact that Grampa Jim was in St. John in January/February 1854 is probably a good indication that his son Matthew was born there, rather than in Halifax, as he appears to have thought. I appreciate all the information, Steve, and I would be delighted to have anything else you care to look up, but I don't want to presume upon your good nature. (If you do find anything else, perhaps a PM would be easier than multiple posts?)

Thanks again.
Myrna

[Gene-ee-us]

Just as a matter of interest, this salary works out to about 15.25 pence per day, which the Measuring Worth Web site (www.measuringworth.com) says had a purchasing power in 1853 roughly equivalent to £5.48 in 2014. Apparently common soldiers were not the best-paid people on the planet. Deducting 3.5d for hospital food would have been a big chunk of a day's wages.

Geneeeus

[StevieSteve]

Hi Myrna

Your logic isn't quite watertight re Matthew as we don't know whether his mother tagged along with James to New Brunswick. It'll be interesting to see where his new company was stationed

Further installments next month...

Steve

[Gene-ee-us]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reminder to not make leaps of logic. Matt was baptized in St. John, and while he lived at home, censuses consistently reported his birth place as St. John. When he left home, the census began saying he was born in Halifax. But perhaps I still don't have a definitive answer.  While Jim's wife and son were likely in St. John when the boy was baptized there, there was about 6 weeks between birth and baptism and I still don't know if his mother went there before or after he was born.

Anyway, I will be looking forward to the further installments, and I'll hold my whisht until then.

Myrna

[km1971]

You have to be careful with these six monthly musters. They were often signed off several months after the period finished, and the location given is where the officer was at the time he signed it off. They could have travelled to several places since the last muster.

Overseas, wives are almost certainly accepted as being on the married establishment. So the army would be responsible for transporting them from station to station. It does not mean the husband was with them all the time. If there are local newspaper archives available they should tell you something about their movements.

He could have bought about 30 pints of beer a day with his pay at home, equivalent to about £90-100 today. These purchasing power sites are not accurate. A labourer could earn 18 to 24d a day compared to a basic of 13d for a soldier. The soldier gained because it they were paid 365 days a year, with clothing provided and a roof over their heads.

Ken