Colchester Barracks 1856-1861

[edalmun]

My great x3 grandfather William Aldous lived in Colchester (born 1837) , and according to his son was an army corporal. When his son was born in Feb 1857 he is listed on the brith certificate as an baker journeyman, but I believe that at some time after this he joined up with the army. On the 1861 census his wife says she is a widow, but I can find no death certificate in Essex. If what she says is true he must have died sometime between 1856 and 1861. If he was part of the army it is quite possible that he was posted somewhere else in the country and this is where he died.

However to find this out I need to know which regiment he may have joined up with. Does anyone know what regiment a young man would have been able to join up with in Colchester at some point between 1857 and 1861? Also does the fact that he was a corporal suggest how long he might have been in the army?

Thank you!

[littlemak]

Hi Most men from Colchester would have joined the Essex Regiment, my Grandfather did and he lived in Stanway.
Carol

[edalmun]

Hi,

Thank you ever so much for that, I've just done a quick bit of research on the regiment and apparently in the years I'm looking for the regiment was made up of the 44th and the 56th regiments. Apparently they saw action in the Second Opium War in China, so if William was involved that may explain his disappearance.

Thanks again,
Elissa

[t mo]

hi from an old colchester boy !!
i,ve just had a look on f m p for the army pension records and nothing shows up same for ancestry  , thats not to say he wasn,t in the army just not pensioned off , although as carol says most men would have joined the essex reg as it,s the local reg don,t get sidelined with that just in case he didn,t join them , my own dad started off in the essex but transferred after  dunkirk ,so be careful , as you say he would have been in for a few years to make corporal will keep looking for his record
trevor

[t mo]

me again was william born in colchester or could it have been norfolk ?
trevor

[edalmun]

Hi,

Yes he was born in Colchester, around 1837.

Elissa

[edalmun]

I've just read through your message again and you say you couldn't find a pension record. If he died while he was in the army I presume he wouldn't have received a pension at all anyway. I've heard that quite a few regiments moved through Colchester Barracks so it's quite possible he joined up with somebody else.

Elissa

[t mo]

yes of course your right my fault for not concentrating on if he died while in service ,
just looking at the 1841census and there,s a william aldous in colchester aged 4 shown on his own initially until you go into the original book which then shows him with a thomas aged 13 -alexander 8- charles 6  all in the colchester union workhouse no parents with them had you seen this ?
trevor

[edalmun]

Hi,

Yes I have thank you, he's still there in 1851 but his brother's have gone. He got married in June 1856 and apparently at that time he was an agricultural labourer, but by Feb 1857 when his son was born he was a baker (journeyman) apparently. I presume he must have joined up sometime after this, although he can't have been in the army for long as apparently his wife is a widow by 1861. I can't find any record of his death in Essex, and althou some William Aldous' died outside of Essex it is quite a popular name in that area so I have no way of knowing if it's him. If he was an army corporal and was involved in some campaign somewhere he could have been killed and never recorded here. That's all I can think of to explain his lack of death record.

Elissa