William Rufus Diamond

[londonscorpion]

Further musings on WRD’s age and an update on progress.

WRD’s son, Edward Adolphus, also enlisted in the 13th Light Infantry (although I have not found any military records for him) and we find him in the 1871 census at the Pembroke Dock in South Wales with over 640 other members of his regiment. Edward was the youngest of all his comrades at the tender age of 15, although there was one other 15 year old in the group.

As a matter of interest I wonder what they were doing there?

As avm228 has told us, WRD would have had no input to the census and this now proves to be absolutely true: I have reviewed all 33 census pages associated with the battalion and I find that the census was written up in the following order:

officers in order of Rank,
unaccompanied men in alphabetical order,
married men with their families in no obvious order.

It’s difficult to imagine all those men in a name order queue waiting to give their details!!!

From all the above, I conclude that (at least in 1871) the army must have known and accepted that some of their men were as young as 15 and that this was quite acceptable. Maybe in 1838, when WRD enlisted, the acceptable age was even lower.

I have sent off to General Register Office in Ireland for WRD's marriage certificate and I am waiting for results.

[km1971]

It’s difficult to imagine all those men in a name order queue waiting to give their details!!!

The return would have been compiled by the orderly room clerks using the Attestation Forms completed when they enlisted. They may have had to ask the married men about some details of the children, but the paymaster kept details of the number and ages of the children.

Ken

[Kayehelen]

Fascinating search and great help. I am in little chart and about to start collecting and collating little chart family trees. I would be interested in anything that says where your ancestors lived in the village. I hope to produce some maps, with house names etc and family history. I have  been collecting photos and postcards and have a book out soon( in an attempt to flush out more) if you are interested it's called Weald Villages. Will let you know if I find out more about your little chart connections.

Kaye

[londonscorpion]

Hi to Kayehelen and a further update on progress

Kayehelen, sorry for the slow response but I have been otherwise occupied. I have not yet got round to investigating the connections with Little Chart and Pluckley but I will certainly keep you updated with any progress. I am still hoping that more registers/listings will come online re Dorking in Surrey that will shed confirming light on WRD’s parents and DoB. Keep your eye on this forum and my other posts, all concerning WRD, on the Armed Forces, Kent, and Surrey forums. Good luck with your book and let me know where I can get a copy.

I am still waiting for a copy of the Irish marriage certificate of WRD and Sarah Ann – I am assured it will arrive next week.

[londonscorpion]

Here is the long awaited marriage certificate of WRD and Sarah Ann. Unfortunately it does not shed much light on his D0B, both being of "full age". However we now know the occupations of the fathers: a gentleman for Joseph, and a ? for John. I think I read "gardener" but I am not at all sure. Anyone got a better suggestion? The thing here is that Joseph being a gentleman does not quite tie in with the three census occupations I have for him:

1841 dealer
1851 poulterer
1861 higler

The other two sources, which are 100% reliable, give occupations which are also difficult to reconcile:
 
1885 butcher (marriage certificate of William and Amy)
1863 dealer in chickens - formerly a farmer (Joseph's death certificate)

In none of the above three censii do we have WRD living with his parents and so no direct link between him and this Joseph can be confirmed. The only other (very circumstantial) link comes from the presence of a Sarah Ann in the 1851 census who is the right age (22 and therefore DoB 1829) AND she is described as "Son Wife". Neither piece of information by itself proves that this Sarah Ann is WRD's wife. On the other hand, we now have found Sarah's date of death (23 Sep 1861) from the original image (at FindMyPast British-India-Office-Births-and-Baptisms) of her record in the handwritten Register of Burials at Gonda in India. This gives her age as 32 which confirms her DoB as 1829. I think I shall have to start to try and find Sarah’s parents, starting with her father - what was his occupation again?

Of some interest too perhaps are the witnesses. Thomas Wilson was a sergeant in the 13th (a labourer as a civvy) and we find him in the same 1851 census as WRD. I have not been able to locate John P Warberton (or is this Marberton - anybody?)

[londonscorpion]

A big Hi to everyone who may be still interested: I have just made a major breakthrough in my William Rufus Diamond (WRD) research with the location of three new sources:

1) the burial record for a Keturah Diamond in Brenchley (17 Dec 1825). This would have been first wife of WRD’s father, Joseph.  This find puts Keturah definitely in Brenchley with Joseph.  The date of this record also ties in with Joseph’s second marriage to Matilda in 1826.

2) the baptism records for three children born to Joseph and Kate:

Keturah 1814 – 1814;   Joseph 1815 - ?;   and Mary Kate 1820- ?

There may of course have been more.

3) a marriage record for a Mary Kate Diamond and Edward Barnes in April 1848 at St Mildred, Tenterden, Kent. The record tells us that both Mary Kate and Edward were resident in Brenchley at that time; and confirms the fathers as Joseph Diamond and John Barnes.

This last find is very significant because amongst the artifacts I inherited from my father is a letter, dated March 27 1889, addressed to William Rufus Diamond in Brecon, from a John E Barnes, 37 years of age, living in St Louis, Missouri, USA.  The letter begins “Dear Uncle Rufus” and goes on to talk of “Sister Ruth” living in Detroit, and his son of 9, Harry Edward.

Thoughts on WRD’s date of birth

I am very much minded to now accept that WRD was born in March 1828 as the copy baptism record indicates:

(a) it is the date that calculates from the note in the baptism extract (that he was 2 years and 3 months when baptised), and that information must have been given by Joseph or Matilda - why would they have any need to falsify that.

(b) 1828 is the date that WRD uses on the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censii after his discharge from the army when he had no further reason to hide his true age.

Thoughts on WRD’s place of birth

As to his place of birth, I am still very much open to either Brenchley or Dorking, Surrey, but on balance I think Dorking is more likely:

(a) he stuck with this place from the very first record he had;

(b) his father, Joseph, worked as a carrier and just maybe at some point he was living in Surrey with Matilda;

(c) in any case why would he want to lie about that detail which alone would not have prevented  him from being accepted into the army;

(d) if WRD had been born in Brenchley, why would he not have been able to obtain a copy of his birth record instead. I would assume that it was WRD who organised the copy because both Joseph and Matilda had died in 1863.

There are of course still other questions to answer, notably the widely varying occupations, but  the bottom line is that my faith is now totally restored in the 1851 census which puts WRD’s first wife, Sarah Ann, with Joseph, her father-in-law.

[MargP]

Hi

That's brilliant, so your hard work was not in vain, if you look hard enough, you can always find that one piece of evidence, that can confirm your finding.

Margp

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