Author Topic: Fifeshire Cavalry  (Read 10567 times)

Offline LizzieW

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Fifeshire Cavalry
« on: Tuesday 21 February 12 17:37 GMT (UK) »
I'm hoping someone can advise me as I know very little about Scotland.

In 1798, my 4 x g.grandfather arrived in Boston, Lincs with the Fifeshire Cavalry (records in The National Archives).  He married in 1798, although his first child was not born until February 1800.  It's possible that he married fairly quickly so that his wife could travel with the regiment as the payroll records (which I've not seen personally) show that he was paid a billeting allowance for his wife.

The problem is, there are no records to show where he was born.  The only birth I can find is in 1770 (date ties in with his age at death), is in Newsaughton which I think is in or near Edinburgh.

My question is if someone was born and baptised near Edinburgh, why would he join a Fifeshire Cavalry (which I believe was a Militia).

The only reason I think the birth/baptism could be my 4 x g.grandfather is because his mother's surname appears as a family name in later generations.

Without any further info, I cannot take this search any further.

Lizzie

ps.  I should have said that the occupation of the father in the birth/baptism record in 1770 was given as a gardener and my 4 x g.grandfather's occupation (after the Militia troop was disbanded in 1800) was also a gardener, as was his eldest son.

Offline bleckie

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 22 February 12 21:54 GMT (UK) »
Hi Lizzie

I cannot help you with your question

It could be he changed jobs. or the militia may have been garrisoned in Edinburgh.

If you go to the link below and enter the co-ordinates below it will take you to Saughton Hall

if you look left of this you will find old Saughton this may be the one you are looking for.


http://geo.nls.uk/search/mosaic/#zoom=6&lat=56.71138&lon=-4.9&layers=000B0000000


322052   671895

Yours Aye
BruceL




Offline LizzieW

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 23 February 12 00:31 GMT (UK) »
I suppose it's always possible that the family originally came from Fife but my 4 x g grandfather's father (who would be my 5 x g.grandfather) was a gardener at Saughton Hall. 

I'll have to see if I can find any more children of the same parents.

Lizzie

Offline hdw

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 23 February 12 16:53 GMT (UK) »

My question is if someone was born and baptised near Edinburgh, why would he join a Fifeshire Cavalry (which I believe was a Militia).

The only reason I think the birth/baptism could be my 4 x g.grandfather is because his mother's surname appears as a family name in later generations.

Without any further info, I cannot take this search any further.

Lizzie


In the first place, I think you are right in saying it would be a Militia regiment. I had an ancestor in Fife who joined the Dumfriesshire Militia, and that's the other end of Scotland from Fife, but according to the local old parish records in east Fife his wife continued to produce babies at regular intervals, so I think the Dumfriesshire Milita just happened to be stationed in Fife during the Napoleonic Wars and some impoverished farm labourers would have joined up regarding it as a better prospect than toiling in the fields.

There were also Fencible regiments, raised for the "defence" of the realm, and again they recruited over a wide area. An ancestor of mine from Roxburghshire in the Borders joined the Hopetoun Fencibles, raised in 1793 by the 3rd Earl of Hopetoun at Linlithgow in West Lothian, and they even had recruits from beyond the Tay, far from Linlithgow.

Harry


Offline LizzieW

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 23 February 12 17:14 GMT (UK) »
Thank you Harry.

I guess that my ancestor was an impoverished gardener, or if not impoverished then perhaps looking for a bit of adventure and joined a militia.

Payroll records of the Fifeshire Cavalry at the National Archives, show that he joined the Cavalry in 1795 and on the records for the second half of 1795, he is listed as "attested Sept 9".   Unfortunately, as far as I know any record of his background is missing/not available.  I know the troop was originally raised in 1794, and in 1799 became a fencible unit.  It seems odd that the Fifeshire cavalry is showed as arriving in Boston, Lincs in Spring 1798 and yet by August 1798 my ancestor was married.  I don't know what the hurry was, unless his wife to be was pregnant, although the first child I know about didn't arrive until February 1800.

As far as I know his parents stayed in Scotland, but if the baptism I found is my ancestor, I cannot find the parents listed under any parish deaths on Scotlandspeople, so I think I'll have to be happy just knowing that my 4 x g.grandfather was born abt 1770 in Scotland, joined the militia in 1795, came to Lincolnshire where he married, had a family and died in 1867.

Lizzie

ps.  What is the Scottish naming system.  My ancestor called his firstborn after himself, his 2nd born (a girl who died) after his wife's mother, his 3rd born (a boy) possibly after his father, if the baptism I found his correct. He called his 4th born (a girl after his wife's mother again, his 5th born (a boy) after his wife's father, his 6th born (a girl) after his wife and the 6th born (a girl) possibly after his mother if the baptism is correct. 

Does that follow any system?

Offline bleckie

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 23 February 12 19:48 GMT (UK) »
Hi Lizzie

The Scottish naming pattern

First son is named for the Father's Father.
Second son is named for the Mother's Father.
Third son is named for the Father's Father's Father.
Fourth son is named for the Mother's Mother's Father.
Fifth son is named for the Father's Mother's Father.
Sixth son is named for the Mother's Father's Father.
Seventh through Tenth sons are named for the Father's Great-Grandfathers.
Tenth through Fourteenth sons for the Mother's Great-Grandfathers.

First daughter is named for the Mother's Mother.
Second daughter is named for the Father's Mother.
Third daughter is named for the Mother's Father's Mother.
Fourth daughter is named for the Father's Father's Mother.
Fifth daughter is named for the Mother's Mother's Mother.
Sixth daughter is named for the Father's Mother's Mother.
Seventh through tenth daughters are named for the Mother's Great-Grandmothers.
Tenth through fourteenth daughters for the Father's Great-Grandmothers


Yours Aye
BruceL

Offline hdw

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 23 February 12 19:51 GMT (UK) »
The Scottish naming-system used to be fairly rigid. You do find departures from it - maybe a couple had become estranged from their parents, who knows, and didn't want to carry on their names - and if a child was illegitimate in the eyes of the "kirk", i.e. born less than 9 months after the marriage, it would usually be called after the father or mother rather than a grandparent.

But by and large, all else being equal, the 1st son was called after the father's father, the 2nd son after the mother's father, the 1st daughter after the mother's mother, the 2nd daughter after the father's mother ... then there was a bit of leeway. The names of the parents' own grandparents would be used, and if the father and/or mother of the baby had different first names from any of the above, subsequent children might be called after themselves, and if even more children arrived, the names of aunts and uncles could be drafted in. When all these family names had been used up, the names of in-laws and family friends could be employed.

My father's family were absolutely typical in this respect, and this is a 20th century family! My father was the youngest of 10 children, 8 boys and 2 girls. The eldest child was a boy, and was called James after his father's father. The 2nd son was called Robert after his mother's father. The eldest daughter was called Ann after her mother's mother. The 2nd daughter was called Margaret after her father's mother. My uncle Dave was called after his father's paternal grandfather and uncle Bill after his father's maternal grandfather. Uncle Alex was called after his mother's paternal grandfather and my uncle John after his mother's maternal grandfather. Uncle Adam was called after his father's uncle and/or brother, who were both Adam.

I think my dad must have been an afterthought, his parents both being well into their forties by the time he was born in 1911. I used to wonder why he was called after one of his uncles-by-marriage, a mere in-law, then I did some family-history research and discovered that my dad was born exactly a fortnight before his maternal aunt married professional golfer Henry Robert Duff from St. Andrews, so my granny probably thought her new brother-in-law's name would do for her 8th son, all the family names for boys being used up by then.

Harry

Offline Skoosh

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 23 February 12 23:38 GMT (UK) »
Gardeners tended to move around from one lairds house to another.

Skoosh.

Offline LizzieW

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Re: Fifeshire Cavalry
« Reply #8 on: Friday 24 February 12 00:19 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for the Scottish naming system.  My ancestor seems to have followed it in relation to his wife's parents.  As I don't know who his parents are, I don't know if he followed it or not.  Of course, my ancestor's wife was English, so perhaps she wanted her first born named after his father, rather than grandfather.

Skoosh, I imagine the gardeners in Scotland moved around on a seasonal basis, somewhat like the agricultural labourers in England.

Lizzie