West Indies/France

[Flosse]

Hi,

In the 1851 census of Thatcham, Berkshire, Joseph Brown states he was born in c.1799 France.
In later census, he states he was born in the 'West Indies NK, british subject 'and 'formerly a soldier' before becoming an agricultural labourer.

Joseph married Rosanna Adlams in 1821 in Thatcham, Newbury, Berkshire and, certainly as far as we can tell, lived there for the rest of his life.

Can anyone help me to understand these origins? - To begin with I do not know what 'West Indies NK' means, and also would be interested in opinions of which regiment he would likely to have been attached to as a soldier and where he may have served.  Perhaps he served in the West Indies but for what purpose and when, I do not know.  It is odd that he states France for some census and then West Indies in 1871.

I have tried ships lists but there are many Joseph Browns!!

Thank you for your interest and any help you can offer,
Flosse

NB.  Just to add a further detail, he also states that he is deaf in 1871 - perhaps as a result of his occupation as a soldier? Would he have been pensioned off as a soldier for this reason and if so, would there be a record of it somewhere?

[ShaunJ]

NK is Not Known.

I wonder if he was born somewhere like Guadeloupe which changed hands between Britain and France in the 1790's.

[jorose]

It depends on who gave the information - I see that in 1861 he's listed as "France, British Subject", but also marked as "deaf".
By 1871, therefore, he's probably not the one answering the census questions. Anyone could have given the information - perhaps a neighbour trying to be helpful.

If he was a soldier but b. 1799 and out by 1821 he mustn't have served for very long. Possibly he was invalided out?
At Joseph's marriage, is he listed as "otp"?
(If he was a soldier he's also very unlikely to be found on any shipping lists).

[Flosse]

Thank you for your replies.

I have today checked with Berkshire Record Office concerning his marriage and it states that they were married by Banns in Thatcham.  Unfortunately no other information is given.  It was certainly worth a shot!

I am happy to search military records and am hoping to visit the NA shortly, but without more details I am sure it would be the proverbial needle in the haystack....

Thank you again
Flosse

[jorose]

There definitely should be more information than that, unless they were just checking some sort of index for you and not the full info. It should look like this:
http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/registers/7marpre1837.htm
Whether or not he was "of this parish", and the witness names could be of great use.
If that was really all that was on the original microfilm copy of the marriage I would be very surprised. Even if there's no further info on him there should be witnesses.

[Flosse]

I did ask!  Anyway, I have asked them to check for me once more, just in case - they are so very helpful.

Just as an additional confirmation, In the very faded 1841 census, Joseph is in Bucklebury with his wife (who is listed as 'Hannah' just to confuse things..) and there is a cross in the box determing whether the resident is 'of foreign parts'.

Flosse

[Flosse]

Hi again,

The Records Office has just reported back to say that on the marriage doc,  both parties were of the Thatcham parish (St Mary's church).  Joseph signs his name and Rosanna leaves her mark.

Witnesses included Anne Hazel (by her mark) and Edward Winbolt (signs).

Not sure if this will help but may offer some extra clues perhaps??

Thanks again for the postings so far - v. helpful.
Flosse