Author Topic: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta  (Read 3652 times)

Offline nigelvz

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Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« on: Thursday 11 September 14 00:39 BST (UK) »
hi
I'm looking for information on the "Waterloo Men" who appear in most accounts of the early years of celebrations of the battle of Waterloo in Durham City, which involved processions of boats on the river Wear and which developed into the first Durham Regatta in 1834.  We’ve managed to find at least two veterans who served at Waterloo and subsequently lived, and died, in Durham:
Tho(ma)s Laidler, born in Durham, who served in 3rd Battalion Artilllery, was a Chelsea Pensioner and died 12 July 1854 aged 77
and
Thomas Simpson, who served in  23rd Regiment of Foot  - His Majesty’s 23rd  Regiment, Royal Welch Fuzeleers/Welsh Fusileers, born in Kidderminster 1897 and died in Durham in 1877 aged 81 

We are interested in finding the names of Waterloo, and Peninsular, veterans who came from Durham so that we trace their descendants and invite them to the 2015 Durham Regatta to celebrate the bicentenary of their ancestors’ service.

We know that the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry), the forerunners of the DLI, fought as part of Wellington’s army throughout the Peninsular campaign, but were not present at the Battle of Waterloo, having been posted to Ireland in 1814.  However, it is likely that local men, like Thomas Laidler, did serve at the battle and survive to attend the “substantial supper, and a plentiful supply of strong ale and punch” given by Captain Chipchase, himself a veteran of the Peninsular, “to every private and non-commissioned officer in Durham and its vicinity, who fought under the illustrious Wellington in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo.”  Interestingly, “forty-three of these brave fellows assembled around the festive board”. The regatta still has a clause in its constitution promising free ale to anyone who can prove that they served at Waterloo and we wish to deliver on that promise, at least to their descendants.
 
Nigel van Zwanenberg, Chairman, Durham Regatta)
http://www.durham-regatta.org.uk/
 

Offline iluleah

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #1 on: Friday 12 September 14 12:08 BST (UK) »
Hi and welcome to rootschat ;D

These websites may help you
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/men-of-the-battle-of-waterloo
http://www.waterloo200.org/

It would also be worth contacting the local records office as all their records will be there and the archivists would be best placed to help http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/home.aspx and the other place would be Durham University as they do lots of genealogy including student research projects, transcribing etc , also have lots of records in their library it could be a great research project for them https://www.dur.ac.uk/  ( http://familyrecords.dur.ac.uk/ )
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline km1971

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #2 on: Friday 12 September 14 16:46 BST (UK) »
Hi Nigel - Part 1

You should forget the DLI angle. Other than the name they did not have much of a link with Durham until 1873 when they started with a Depot there. There are only two men born in Durham (city) in 1815 in the 68th Foot, in the pension file.

The key series in the National Archives used to be called series WO97. This included men discharged to pension. Luckily the Friends  of the PRO/NA created an index for men discharged before 1854, which allows a search for their place of birth; and this is still available on line WO97 is now only available on Findmypast, but I do not believe you can search by place of birth.


Ken

Offline km1971

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #3 on: Friday 12 September 14 16:48 BST (UK) »
Hi Nigel - part 2

I exceed the maximum message size
I have produced this, which is a list of men born in Durham (city), serving in other regiemnts in 1815. They went on to be discharged to pension:
THOMAS ROBSON  29th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 51.   1791-1815
FENWICK ELLSBERRY  29th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42.   1812-1835
GEORGE WILSON  53rd Foot Regiment;  Militia; Fencibles Discharged aged 44.   1794-1817
JOHN CHARLTON  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 20.   1812-1815
JOHN FAIREST  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37.   1804-1824
JOHN FERGUSON  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 29.   1803-1815
HENRY WHARTON  43rd Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43.   1808-1833
ROBERT WILKINSON  East India Company; 34th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 32.   1814-1829
ROBERT CARR  36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 30.   1806-1819
RALPH DAVIDSON  1st Foot Guards Discharged aged 34.   1803-1816
GEORGE HODGSON  10th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37.   1805-1822
WILLIAM DAWSON  44th Foot Regiment; Royal Newfoundland Veterans Discharged aged 38.   1813-1836
ISAAC MEVIN  15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43.   1808-1836
JOSEPH HUDSON  15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42.   1799-1823
THOMAS STOREY  15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 42.   1809-1818
GEORGE CARR  15th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 27.   1809-1821
ROBERT HUDSON  87th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34.   1807-1817
WILLIAM GRANGER  24th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 43.   1791-1815
THOMAS NEWTON  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 40.   1803-1825
GEORGE BAINBRIDGE  65th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 40.   1798-1823
GEORGE GREGG  68th Foot Regiment;  Fencibles Discharged aged 42.   1794-1819
EDWARD GIBBONS  31st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34.   1805-1819
ANTHONY YATES  36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 41.   1805-1827
ROBERT HERBERT  3rd Foot Guards Discharged aged 36.   1805-1816
SAMUEL MANN  14th Foot Regiment; Norfolk Militia Discharged aged 42.   1803-1826
JOHN MALLEN  10th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34.   1807-1822
ABRAHAM BARNETT. . 25th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 31. Kilmainham Reference: B366.   1806-1819
WILLIAM DUNCAN  86th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 45.   1793-1815
CHARLES GOLIGHTLY  84th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 28.   1811-1815
JAMES WOODS  32nd Foot Regiment; Royal Artillery Discharged aged 34.   1809-1826
WILLIAM MCDONALD  36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34.   1805-1819
WILLIAM CLOSE. . 16th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 41. Kilmainham Reference: A11364.   1799-1816
ANTHONY TROTTER  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37.   1804-1822
JOHN HERBERT  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 29.   1807-1815
THOMAS MATHEWS  8th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 36.   1804-1822
GEORGE DOBSON  7th Foot Regiment; Yorkshire Militia Discharged aged 38.   1803-1821
THOMAS BARRINGTON  1st Foot Guards Discharged aged 44.   1808-1825
THOMAS BRAMER  79th Foot Regiment; Caithness Legion Fencible Cavalry Discharged aged 34.   1798-1816
THOMAS CLEMINSON  68th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 35.   1808-1825
WILLIAM FOTHERGILL  65th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 24.   1811-1820
JOHN MADDISON  95th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 39.   1799-1818
THOMAS EYRE  36th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 37.   1809-1827
WILLIAM LIDDELL alias WILLIAM LIDDLE  3rd Foot Guards Discharged aged 30.   1812-1821
RALPH HERBERT  61st Foot Regiment;  Fencibles Discharged aged 41.   1799-1825
JOHN FRENCH  61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 33.   1802-1817
GEORGE DODGSON  16th Foot Regiment; 37th Foot Regiment; 3rd Royal Veteran Battalion; 8th West India Foot; 62nd Foot Regiment; 64th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 50.   1806-1821
JOSEPH DAVIDSON  15th Foot Regiment; 1st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 39.   1799-1821
JOHN COOPER  10th Foot Regiment; 8th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 53 Years of enlistment and discharge are unknown.    
CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON  11th Dragoons; 87th Foot Regiment; 61st Foot Regiment Discharged aged 34.   1801-1817
THOMAS STORY. . 15th Foot Regiment; 16th Foot Regiment. Discharged aged 40. Kilmainham Reference: A10585.   1799-1816
MARK HALL  52nd Foot Regiment; 7th Foot Regiment; 9th Royal Veteran Battalion; 3rd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 49.   1799-1816
RICHARD AYRE  67th Foot Regiment; 40th Foot Regiment Discharged aged 50.   1797-1820
THOMAS BAINBRIDGE  68th Foot Regiment; 2nd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 28 after 7 years 8 months of service Covering dates give year of enlistment to year of discharge. Residence or place where pension paid stated in document.    1807-1816
GEORGE MILLER  82nd Foot Regiment; 3rd Garrison Battalion Discharged aged 29.   1805-1815
CHARLES WINTER  56th Foot Regiment; 5th Royal Veteran Battalion; 57th Foot Regiment; 4th Royal Veteran Battalion; 2nd Royal Veteran Battalion Discharged aged 50 after 17 years 5 months of service Covering dates give year of enlistment to year of discharge. Residence or place where pension paid stated in document.    1798-1816

The first task is to remove those men without service in a regiment at Waterloo. The list on part 1 gives the regiments present

I suggest you get a moderator to put this in the Armed Forces section, and also put a link in the Durham section. You are looking for volunteers who can find military records online after the initial cull. 'Waterloo' men initially received a half-penny extra pension and this should be recorded on their papers. Later on this was changed to two years additional pensionable service.

Ken


Offline km1971

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #4 on: Friday 12 September 14 16:51 BST (UK) »
Hi Nigel - Part 3

Waterloo men who survived to be discharged to pension is the easy one.

Men killed at Waterloo; or discharged without a pension; or serving in the Peninsular will requiring extensive research at the National Archives. Although for the last group, you may find some who served in the peninsular, but not at Waterloo.

Ken

Offline nigelvz

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #5 on: Friday 12 September 14 20:42 BST (UK) »
many thanks for your replies and the fantastic list from Ken - this makes the task so much more likely to be successful - I'll follow your suggestions about the Armed Forces and Durham areas of the site.  No worries with those who died at the battle or in the Peninsular as they won't have been around at the regatta.  The ones who did attend must have been pretty hardy as they had to survive for another 19 years. 

Iluleah - will contact the University and the family research section -most of us involved in the project are alumni and/or former staff

best wishes
nigel

Offline iluleah

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #6 on: Friday 12 September 14 21:18 BST (UK) »
Durham Uni are fantastic as far as their FH research goes and best wishes with your regatta ;D
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline jon andrews

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #7 on: Monday 22 December 14 16:50 GMT (UK) »
Re your post of 11 September 2014, are you interested in veterans of Waterloo who were probably in Durham (county) in 1834 but not on your lists of names?

Jon andrews

Offline nigelvz

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Re: Waterloo Men and Durham Regatta
« Reply #8 on: Monday 22 December 14 23:31 GMT (UK) »
Re your post of 11 September 2014, are you interested in veterans of Waterloo who were probably in Durham (county) in 1834 but not on your lists of names?

Jon andrews


hi Jon
yes we'd be very interested - it wouldn't be that surprising if some of the relatively local ones made it into the City for the Waterloo celebration and the Regatta that year
best wishes
nigel vz