No one seems to be interested in Thomas Charles any more!!! Maybe I can gee everyone up again. About 7/8 years ago I went to the National Archives to look for Thomas Charles attestation papers. I found a Charles Hawkins in the Royal Horse Guards but not a Thomas and one of the last entries was "gave himself up to the 36th foot". I, then made enquiries at the Royal Horse Guards and received a letter saying they couldn't find anything. So my cousin and I went to them armed with all the info we had and, having read everything, the very nice man said we would have to take our search to the 36th foot. Back to the National Archives and I went at it a different way and looked for his children, Charles Lacy and Frank Leatham and found them both but calling themselves Hobbs alias Hawkins. (These records can be found on Ancestry) I then looked for him under the name Hobbs and found a Charles. The dates seemed to tally so we assume this is our man. Unfortunately, there is not very much information to be had but we did ascertain that he went to India. I then logged onto fibis and found him calling himself Hawkins again. I also found that he had married a Clara Chamley in 1871, having divorced Jane, and in 1873 a girl was born called Ellen Chamley Hawkins. Thomas's first wife also re-married, John T Carter in 1869. She returned to England and probably with Louisa because they can be found in the 1901 census living in Croydon. I can't find out anything more about them after this and would love any info out there. Jane is the one who was a servant at Military Row, Windsor not Louisa. So folks. I'm not sure whether you should be calling yourselves Hobbs or Hawkins because if we found the right man in the 36th foot then it's Hobbs but if that's wrong, it's back to the drawing board. I am going to the British Library as soon as the weather permits, only 20 minutes now from here on the new link, and if I find anything I will post it on here so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!