Help Needed to Interpret WO10/WO97 Records Please

[calmar]

I have located this info for William Woodruff but cannot access it on AA. No matches showing. Does anyone know how to get results from AA cause i never can!!

I am hoping that is my gt grandfather who was with the 2nd Batt 3rd The Buffs from 1859. He married in Limerick Ireland in 1860 and his 1st son John William was born in Gibraltar in 1864. Next child was Ravina born in Dublin in 1868. Would those facts mean that this is my man!

Worldwide Army Index 1861
First Name(s):William
Last Name:Woodruff
Number:3762
Rank:Gunner
Unit:12th Brigade R.A.
Regiment Stationed at:St.Helena; Mauritius; New Zealand; Canton; Hong Kong; Colombo (Ceylon); Cape of Good Hope National Archives reference:WO10 / 2635.

Another record in this list for William Woodruff gives his Attestation Corps as 2nd Batt The Buffs ? Regiment
Attestation number 1619
WO97/4209/64.

No results for this one either.

Any help or guidance would be gratefully received.

Regards,
Calmar

[gortonboy]

The William with army number 1619 looks like the record of his son b Gibraltar...enlisted in 1880.

[gortonboy]

why do u think the first record could be your William?   wrong regiment,,,didnt serve in Gibraltar?

[gortonboy]

when and where was your William born?

[km1971]

What is AA?

GB is correct. He is the second entry. The first is to a Gunner in the Royal Artillery.

The dates and places matches the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot (aka The Buffs). The service companies were in Malta in 1860, but they kept a Depot in Limerick. He must have joined them in Gibraltar as they moved there in June 1862. Two years later they were in Barbados; and they arrived back in Dublin in June 1866.

Ken

[km1971]

Here is final proof that he was in the 3rd Regiment, as Ravina's birth is in the Regimental BMDs, indexed as the 3rd Foot:

Name: WOODRUFF, Ravina
Regiment: 3rd Foot
Place : Dublin
Country: Ireland
Year: 1868
Volume : 776
Page: 40

If you wish to order the birth certificate you have a choice of ordering the civil one from Ireland, or the regimental one from UK GRO quoting these references.

Given the gap in births it may also be worth researching a birth in Barbados for a child who died before being listed in a census.

Ken

[calmar]

Thank you for replying Gorton Boy.

I was not sure about either of these records so was trying to access to verify my gt grandfather's army service and to find his dob and parents etc.

So far I have been unable to locate him  in the army records at Kew. The 1st sighting of him on census in 1871 in Cheriton Kent in Barracks with wife Mary and children John William, Ravina and Frederick.

He says on all census that he was born in Glossop Derbyshire about 1834 + or -, but his death cert in Sept 1918 in Sheffield gives his age as 89, which makes his birth a lot earlier.

He does not show up on  census  in Derbyshire before joining the army and marrying in Ireland in 1860. Lots of red herrings in that area.

However to give you  brief history of him I have found this info.

1857 he joined the HEIC in Liverpool saying his age  was 25 years and that he was a Stove Grate Fitter  and was a native of Derbyshire. This was from his Attestation Papers which I got from the India Office in London. These papers also said he was discharged in abt 1859 in Bombay when I believe they were transferred to the British Army, I believe in India.

1857-1859 obtained the Indian Mutiny Medal with Central Indian Bar.
Name Pte W Woodruff
8th Coy
3rd Bombay (European)
Regt Hon E Indian Coy.

In  these listings it is also saying 'Also known as Woodcock'. I can't find anything for that chap  tho, so may be an alias, hence me not being able to find him in Derbyshire before enlisting.

1871 census Cheriton, Corp 2/3 Foot.

By 1881 he had left army service but was living in Dover Kent.

Any light you can throw on earlier timescale for him would be  very much appreciated.

Thanks for telling me about his son, I have got his records so I can discount that one. Those records were in  British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Transcription and the other one  which you  say is wrong regiment is from the 1861 Worldwide Army Index.

Many thanks, clutching straws again!!
Calmar
 

[calmar]

Thank you km1971.

I do have the army records for the children born in father's service but I was not aware of the one you mention in Barbados. Have you got the timescale for that child. I am one child missing as on 1911 census he says they had one more child than I have found, so may be that is the one!

If as you say he joined in Gibraltar, where was he from 1859 to then, which would be about 1864 when John William was born there.

Regards,
Calmar

[km1971]

I was only suggesting there may have been another child due to the gap between the two you gave. Barbados would be a good place to look as the regiment was there.

His record for his time in the 3rd Regiment has not survived. 1619 is obviously his son. The fact the father is not listed in the 1861 index suggests he joined later (and also after his marriage), or it is a mistake by Findmypast. But the only way you will know for certain is to research the muster books in Kew starting with 1864 and going backwards until you find his enlistment and forwards to his discharge. Enlistment and discharge give the best chance of his age and place of birth being recorded.

Also, if his HEIC papers says discharge rather than transfer, it suggests a gap in service.

Ken