Soldiers who had women on the strength (officers and their ladies, Sgts and their wives, soldiers and thier women...) often had children who went into the Regt, as this was the life they knew....
Two women in every company were allowed to live in barracks, but no separate accommodation was provided. The wife had to live in her husbands crowded billet / tentage, often sharing with up to 19 other men..the only privacy, a blanket slung around the cot. In 1846 someone stated: "Into an apartment which serves so many purposes, and where the men can obtain no rest in the daytime, is ushered the young girl who is fool enough to marry a soldier - a most charming locality for a honeymoon; there, too, in the midst of the men, does she give birth to the future drum-boy" (The R.U.S.I. Journal Sept 1846)
