Army Regiments in Lancaster circa Sept 1855?

[GalaxyJane]

Hi,
    Forgive me is this is a silly question, I have no experience in this area of family history so please bear with me.   
     Is there any way of finding  out which regiments were present in Lancaster around September in 1855?
        I have a relative who changes occupation to soldier at that time, then disappears off the face of the planet.
        If I had some idea whom he enlisted with, I might be able to find out what happened to him --from muster rolls, perhaps?
     
                          Regards
                                   Jane

[km1971]

Hi Jane

I cannot find a battalion of infantry in Lancaster at the time. There would also have been units of the RA, RE etc in Lancaster as well. The problem is that a large part of the British army are recorded as being in the Crimea, but they would have left a Depot back in the UK for recruitment and training. What you really need is the 1856 Harts Army List, which should record where the Depot was – although Hart’s does contain a few mistakes. I don’t believe the ‘official’ army lists of the period tell you where the Depots were. Kew has a full set of both publications.

There were also about 5 or 6 battalions in both Preston and Manchester, so he could have jumped on a train and had his pick of which regiment to join. If he disappeared because he died while serving they would have destroyed his papers 20 years later. You could post his details in case someone can do a lookup for him in the casualty and medal rolls for the Crimea. You cannot search the musters without knowing his regiment. If you know the place and birth of any of his children you should post details.

That assumes he became a Regular. There was a recruitment drive at the time of the Crimean War for men to join the Militia. They were used to replace the regiments sent to the Crimea. They are filed according to their parent regiment as of 1881, and unfortunately the papers they have for the local regiment - the 4th/Lancaster Regiment – only start from 1870. Findmypast are putting surviving Militia/Regular papers online by 2011, so you should be able to do a name search then.

Can you give more details of how you know he became a soldier? You could also do a search of local papers as they often mentioned military units in the area at the time.

Ken

[GalaxyJane]

Hi Ken and thanks for your very informative reply.
  The information that my Joseph Mason Woulidge became a soldier is from his daughter Sarah Ann's baptism record which I saw on microfilm this summer at the Lancashire RO. 21 September 1855  Saint Mary Lancaster. Earlier in the month on her birth cert his occupation was journeyman joiner, so I assumed he had just signed on.
      His DOB was 15/ 7/ 1829 -- on the island of St Helena but the family definitely moved back to England in April 1836, ( I checked all the EIC army muster rolls at the British library one year )
     He is in Manchester in the 1841 census, although missing in 1851, (lost in the rain damaged section no doubt) and marries there in 1852. The only further info I have on him is his daughter's birth certificate and baptism record.mentioned above, taking place at Lancaster in 1855.
      The local papers are a source that never entered my mind. Thanks for the suggestion. I do not live in the UK, so this and Kew must go on my to do list, but I now have some idea of where to start.
                        Thanks again for your interest
                                           Jane

[josey]

Do you know of this site?

http://www.1851-unfilmed.org.uk/intro.htm

You can search by all or part of surname [although Woulidge seems perfect for much variety!!] and there is a list of affected streets. He may have been at the address on his marriage certificate of 1852.

[km1971]

Hi Jane

Have you a date when you know he was dead, ie from a census return for his wife, or a child's marriage?

Also, was he related to the Benjamin Mason Woulidge of Leicestershire/Derbyshire?

Ken

[GalaxyJane]

Hi Josey and Ken and thanks for your replies.
      I had seen the unfilmed 1851 site but wasn't aware of the list of affected streets. I will check to see if the address on his  marriage cert was among them. I have already searched for him by name to no avail Many thanks
     Ken, I have no further information whatever about Joseph Mason Woulidge after his daughter's baptism in September 1855 ==presuming he attended it. I do know he was alive a few days earlier as he was the informant on the birth certificate.
         After that there is nothing at all on either him, his wife or child, either in the BMDs or censuses. If he was a soldier I  presume he must have left the country with his family.
         He is indeed related to Benjamin Mason Woulidge of Leicestershire --though there are two. He is the son of BMW senior by his first wife Elizabeth, surname unknown, and half-brother of the BMW who is the son of BMW Sr and his second wife, Eliza nee Hutchinson. There is no sign of Joseph and family in the Leicester area nor any in Cheshire where his wife came from.
           Thanks once again for getting in touch
                                         Jane