Overseas Marriage Certs - India

[gortonboy]

Hi,,,there is this man in findmypasts chelsea pensioner records

Name:Frederick W MEADS
Year of birth:1835
Place of birth:Glasgow, Lanarkshire
Regiment:107th Regt Of Infantry

he served in india for 15 years,,,,,,,on discharge his intended place of residence was Jersey.

his service states he enlisted in 1866,,,discharged 1870,,,,but he was also allowed a further 14 years service to count towards pension,,,,so maybe this chap served previously in another regiment? 

[gortonboy]

can you post one of the census references u have for your frederick? 

[Jane Masri]

Erica, we have an excellent Armed Forces page here on Rootschat which is worth keeping in mind should you get stuck.
I am by no means an expert in military research but I can give you the benefit of my recent first time dip into military matters  
Your main place of research for military matters is going to be at the National Archives at Kew.  The British Library holds very little in the way of HM forces, it's mostly for the British East India Company.
You're unlikely to find a service record or enrolment papers as you might for WWI soldiers.  For his details you need to check Muster & paybooks for his regiment.  You can search on TNA site for his regiment to see what is available.  I was given a tip at TNA.  On the catalogue search box just put in '101*' (omit the inverted comas) in the keyword box, this should give you all their holdings for his regiment. Put in WO for the series (War Office) & a time range.
It's also worth finding the regimental museum for HM 101 to see what papers they hold.

PS.  Just seen gortonboy's post.  If that's his service record then you probably wont need to search much further 


Jane

[Ezyka]

Thanks Dawn.  I think i'll post on the military board aswell.  I've not done much research like this before!

Hi Gortonboy.  I have the record you mention on FindMyPast.  Its his discharge papers.  They are interesting as they give details of his medical conditions but they also raise more questions!  Like his birthplace being Glasgow!?  With the info that Dawn gave on his first two marriages, I now know two other regiments he was in before the 107th (which he was a letter carrier according to one of his childrens birth certs), a private in the 3rd eur regt and a band sergt in HM 101 regt.  I know that he was a pensioner of the army and I would be interested to find out how much he got.  Apart from the discharge papers, I don't have any other military documents for him.  The census returns are as follows.

1851 Frederick Meads (mistranscribed Wends) b.abt1834 Boxmoor, Herts. School master at Winslow Workhouse, Bucks.

1871 Fred W Meads b.abt1835 Hemel Hempstead, Herts.  Commissionaire in army. Living in St Helier, Jersey with his 2nd wife and children.

1881 Frederick Meads b.abt1835 Boxmoor, Herts. Pensioner. Living in Marylebone London with his 3rd wife Sarah  (who he married in Jersey) and children.

He died in 1881 in Marylebone, London.  I have his death cert.

My aim is to try and find out where his was actually born so I can't try and find out who his parents were.  I can't find him on the 1841 census nor in the parish records for the Boxmoor/Hemel Hempstead area.  I thought military records might provide a clue.

Erica

[Jane Masri]

Frederick is beginning to sound like my great grandfather.  On his RN sign-up papers he states he was born Limerick, Ireland.  On all censuses when he was serving, again, Limerick.  Although I suspect that was copied from his papers.  Then, once he retired from the RN & on the 1891 cesus he says, born in Hyderabad, India    I can't think of two more diverse places!  Anyway he was born in India!
Have you tried Scotland's People to look for a possible birth?

Whoops, just thought, he was born 1830's so too early for Scottish civil registration 

jane

[Ezyka]

I had a look for Meads living in Scotland in 1841 but nothing that fits.  I've been working on the Meads for a few years now and keep getting stuck!  I find out little snippets of information every now and then but they just open up more questions!  Kind of makes it more enjoyable though because i get really excited when I find something!    The other odd thing is that on his third marriage cert his name is Frederick William Alport Meads.  

Erica

[Jane Masri]

......which begs the question, are we looking at two Frederick mead's?...have you found death registrations/burials for his first two wives?

Jane

[Ezyka]

I'm  not sure what happened to his first wife but his second wife died in Jersey. It says he is a bachelor on his second marriage but his children from his first wife are living with him and his second wife.   So its the same Frederick.  He was discharged from India to Jersey which is where he married his third wife.  He was a widow when he married his thrid wife.  This is where i'm descended from. 

Erica

[ShaunJ]

I would guess that most of his soldiering would have been with the army of the HEIC - the Honourable East India Company. These units were absorbed into the British Army in the 1860's. So the record shows that he joined the British Army in 1866 but also that he had 14 years of former service which was allowed to count towards his pension.

On a point of detail, the 1871 census shows him as a pensioner, not commissionaire.