Author Topic: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?  (Read 3245 times)

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #27 on: Monday 15 October 18 19:08 BST (UK) »
Oh, that's cool- it seems you can only read the records online at an LDS library, though. I'll need to check if there is one near me.

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #28 on: Saturday 27 October 18 12:53 BST (UK) »
So I've continued to chip away at this mystery - Eastbury, the rootschatter who did the original lookup for me, has been kindly looking at the original parish registers for me on Microfilm as his time permits.

So far it appears as if the original local index lookup was correct - Edward Monk was baptised in 1802 and my 3x great grandfather John Monk was baptised in 1805. However, that means the eldest brother William is currently not represented in the Rock parish registers - so he may have been born/baptised elsewhere.

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #29 on: Thursday 14 March 19 22:58 GMT (UK) »
So I’ve continued Working on this to see if I can find out whether my ancestor did any kind of military service between 1807 and 1814 and I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall. It seems fairly logical to me that William Monk was doing something during the ~6 year gap in his children, but I can’t find out what.

There seem to be plenty of William Monks serving in the military and the navy at about the right time, but I can’t make any firm link between any of them and my ancestor. I’ve also searched prison records and can’t find anything matching him.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to go from here, because honestly I’m a bit stuck.

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #30 on: Friday 15 March 19 11:28 GMT (UK) »
So having posted the above, I may have found a potential lead while cross referencing records. Isn't that just sod's law?  ;D

So William Monk's eldest son (who ended up going by the name William Monckton in Upper Penn, Staffs) had a daughter, Mary Ann Monkton. In the 1851 census she is listed as a visiting housemaid at the house of a Rector who is apparently hosting overnight guests in Wolverhampton. The assumption is that Mary Ann Monckton is in service to one of the visitors.

One of said visitors is Major Abiathar Hawkes (Retired), formerly of the 39th Regiment of Foot. I looked into the history of the 39th Regiment and discovered that the 2nd Battalion was stationed in Kidderminster in August 1807 - only ~7 miles from where William Monk the elder was living in Rock. Assuming William's last child pre-gap was baptised pretty much as soon as he was born, then a potential departure in August 1807 would fit with the conception.

This is obviously all completely circumstantial but it's the closest I've had to a lead in a long while. Does anyone know if service records of the 39th Regiment survive anywhere?


Offline josey

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #31 on: Friday 15 March 19 18:04 GMT (UK) »
Just to add a reply to show that your posts are being read!! Well done for your persistence.
Seeking: RC baptism Philip Murray Feb ish 1814 ? nr Chatham Kent.
IRE: Kik DRAY[EA], PURCELL, WHITE: Mea LYNCH: Tip MURRAY, SHEEDY: Wem ALLEN, ENGLISHBY; Dub PENROSE: Lim DUNN[E], FRAWLEY, WILLIAMS.
87th Regiment RIF: MURRAY
ENG; Marylebone HAYTER, TROU[W]SDALE, WILLIAMS,DUNEVAN Con HAMPTON, TREMELLING Wry CLEGG, HOLLAND, HORSEFIELD Coventry McGINTY
CAN; Halifax & Pictou: HOLLAND, WHITE, WILLIAMSON

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #32 on: Friday 15 March 19 18:19 GMT (UK) »
I've read them too.
Abiathar is a name I've not met before.
Cowban

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #33 on: Friday 15 March 19 18:34 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for the replies!  :)

(I was slightly off, James Monk was born in 1809 rather than 1808, but the timeline would still work for the 39th to be at least a potential regiment for William Monk Snr - apparently Worcestershire was one of the recruitment areas given to the 39th.).

@Maiden, I'd never heard of it either. I looked it up, apparently it's one of those *really* obscure biblical names that has long fallen out of fashion.

Offline M_ONeill

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #34 on: Saturday 16 March 19 12:06 GMT (UK) »
So thanks to a kind rootschatter here I now have the full list of baptisms for William’s children:

Quote
William - 13th May 1798
Mary - 12th May 1800
Edward - 9th October 1802
John - 1st January 1805 (My ancestor)
Thomas - 4th November 1806
James - 16th April 1808
<Gap?>
Francis - 2nd July 1815 (died in infancy)
Joseph - 8th April 1816
George - 7th July 1821 (died at ~1 year old. Mother died in childbirth)

So if William *did* do any form of military service, he had to have been with a Regiment that left England sometime after June/July 1808 at the earliest, and William would have had to have come back by October 1814 at the latest.

Well he may not have been in the military, but those dates line up very, very closely to the Peninsular War...


Online ShaunJ

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Re: Did my ancestor serve in the armed forces (~1809 - ~1814)?
« Reply #35 on: Saturday 16 March 19 13:02 GMT (UK) »
Quote
One of said visitors is Major Abiathar Hawkes (Retired), formerly of the 39th Regiment of Foot. I looked into the history of the 39th Regiment and discovered that the 2nd Battalion was stationed in Kidderminster in August 1807 - only ~7 miles from where William Monk the elder was living in Rock. Assuming William's last child pre-gap was baptised pretty much as soon as he was born, then a potential departure in August 1807 would fit with the conception.

This is all a bit tenuous - that she might be in the major's service because her father might have been in the army some 40 odd years earlier. I note that her name appears above the major's in the census which strongly suggests to me that she was not in his service.

Abiathar Hawkes was not with the 39th Regiment in 1807. He was with the 21st Light Dragoons around that time per his 1809 marriage announcement. He joined the 39th in 1820.
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