Royal Marine Recruited in Bedfordshire

[scintilla]

My gggrandfather Robert St Denis Howard was recruited in to the RM in 1833. I have a copy of his attestation papers that say that he swore the oath in front of a magistrate in Eversholt, Bedfordshire and he was medically examined by a doctor in Woburn.

Would this imply he was living in this part of Bedfordshire at that time? Or would a recruiting party have collected a number of potential recruits and taken them to a certain area? I don't know how these recruiting parties worked.

After leaving the RM he spent the rest of his life in the Medway Towns in Kent, so there doesn't seem to be any subsequent return to Bedfordshire. Because in all the censuses etc he always states he was born in France it is very difficult to track down his birth and his parents. I was hoping that if I could establish a Bedfordshire connection I could look for other family members there.

[bedfordshire boy]

The two censuses in which I've found him give his birthplace as St Dennis, France. It seems a coincidence that you have his middle name as St Denis!

Do you have his marriage certificate for his marriage to Caroline which would show his father's name? Or is his father named in the attestation papers?

There are no Howard burials in Eversholt up to 1851.

David 

[scintilla]

Hello David

It was my hope that the attestation papers would give his fathers name, but not to be. The other problem is that we do not think that Robert ever married Caroline. I have been in contact with another descendant of Robert Howard, and neither of us have been able to trace a marriage certificate. Indeed in the 1871 census we find his family in the workhouse and he is the mate on a ship and he actually says he is unmarried! In several of the censuses he says he is a naturalised British Subject, but I cannot find any record of papers for this.

He is always consistent in saying he was born in St Denis, near Paris (sometimes different spelling Dennis, Denies). I think he is telling the truth. We have speculated that he may have been the product of a relationship involving a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars because he was born in 1815.

Thanks for checking the Eversholt burials. The magistrate on the attestation papers is James Reed who I think was also the clergyman at Eversholt at that time.

Merv

[bedfordshire boy]

Hi Merv

I couldn't find his marriage either. Do you have the birth certificate of any of his children to get Caroline's maiden name? But unlike Robert who was consistent with his birthplace, Caroline wasn't. Was she born in Plymouth (which was also a marines' base) or Chatham?

I think it will have to be through her to get to Robert

David

[scintilla]

Hello David

I have copies of the church records for the baptisms of 6 of the children. No maiden name is given, although some give Carolines middle name as Jane.

It gets more complicated in that my relative who has been working on this problem for a number of years has made a link between a Caroline Bryant who marries a William Parris, has 2 children with him, but she thinks Caroline subsequently leaves William to live with Robert Howard. I'm not sure exactly how the connection is made but she has promised to send me some more details. No record of William Parris's death has been found.

There is a Caroline Bryant aged 14 whose father is a shipwright who is living in Chatham in 1841 and is said to be born outside Kent, opening the possibility of her being born in Plymouth.

Merv

[bedfordshire boy]

You need a birth certificate, which will confirm her maiden name. Fortunately they did seem to register their births!

I'll see if I can see anything on the Bryant/Parris angle. Odd that Robert born St Denis may have lived with a Parris!

David

[bedfordshire boy]

They thought long, very long, and hard before tying the knot!

Robert Howard, Caroline Parris, Medway March 1884 vol 2a page 689

Let us know what the certificate says about his father

David

[scintilla]

David

Thanks very much for that. I just didn't try that far forward in time! I will order the certificate.

Merv