Born Scicily Germany - any ideas on this???

[Jeffrey]

Thank you all for your replies.

Didn't think about him possibly being a messenger but I suppose they had quite a few of those - not having mobiles!!!!!

Judy

[Jeffrey]

Dear Neil,
You wrote in your last e-mail:-

A wing of the regiment was in Portugal 1808, battles of Rolica, Vimiero.

Do you know under what records I can look this up at Kew by any chance. I think I must have missed this and I am sure the records will be somewhere as they seem to be very well documented.

Thanks
Judy

[km1971]

Hi Judy

As Neil says, the two wings were re-united in Sicily in September 1809. Your research of the musters last year shows he was in Sicily in June 1809. So he must have been in the wing already in Sicily, rather than the wing that was in Portugal.

To confirm this you will have to go back to Kew and look at the muster books for 1808 to 1809. The musters run from 26th March to 25th March in this period.

Regarding the 'With General Staff' did you notice who else from the 20th Light Dragoons wase likewise engaged? If he was there alone with an officer he was probably acting as a servant. Half a troop may have been acting as an escort to a senior officer, or guarding the pay chest from an attack by bandits, or as messengers and general dogs bodies.

You have to remember that this entry only applied on the day of the muster. It cannot tell you if he was there only for that one day or for several weeks. In later musters they would have additional sections detailing movements of officers and men, as they needed to record the 'per diem' allowances for food, etc. But 1809 is a bit early for additional information like this.

Ken

[Jeffrey]

He was definately in Portugal as he sustained an eye injury which was received in Rolica Portugal.

Also I think they did not all come back all together as the ships could only carry 180 horses and there were 350 of them. So in the muster rolls of 1809 from Kew some were already back in Scicily from Portugal, some were at sea and some were still in Portugal.

So these troops were away from the main lot in Scicily in 1808 so wondering where about to search for their names in the muster rolls.

Judy

[km1971]

Hi Judy

Your Reply #14 doesn't mention he was in Portugal. The answer is still the same. You will need to look at earlier musters. Each bound book should contain the muster books for the wing in Portugal, the wing in Sicily, and the depot that stayed in the UK.

Searching for 20th light dragoons in WO12 on the NA Catalogue it looks as if they are bound into two or three year periods, rather than the normal one year.


20th Light Dragoons


WO 12/1420        1802 - 1803

WO 12/1421        1804 - 1805

WO 12/1422        1806 - 1807

WO 12/1423        1808 - 1810

WO 12/1424        1811 - 1813

WO 12/1425        1814 - 1815


You have posted details from 1809, so wasn’t 1808 in the same bound book?

Ken

[GR2]

An ancestor of mine served in the 10th Regiment of Foot during the Napoleonic Wars and had a son born in Messina, Sicily, and a daughter born in France. He was fairly recently married and his wife accompanied him abroad. He returned to Scotland about 1817. The census entries for his son vary from Messina, Italy, and Sicily. Once it is stated that he was a British subject. Your ancestor was definitely born in Palermo, Sicily. The Germany bit is just an error or misunderstanding by the ennumerator.

Graham.

[Colin Cruddace]

If a British subject was born overseas then their census entry would reflect this, ie Jamaica, British Subject. Wouldn't the same apply to a German subject, ie Sicily, German?

Colin