Merry Christmas all.
Bookbox, thank you for your explantion, I popped into LMA yesterday and it all made sense. Having the Calender in my hand I understood this was the index and then finding the petition on microfiche was a veritable treasure trove, it included details about his wife and children including affidavits about christenings dates and places and then one on his christening including his parents names - Bingo!
At Kew I obtained Josephs discharge papers and now I am reading eveything I can about why and how he ended up joining the English Army. He was black and presumably French speaking. The history books suggest that we, the English, had recently invaded and appear to have supported the monarchists opposed, to other things, freedom of slaves. I know this is an incredibly complex subject, especially in Guadaloupe with its free people of colour policy but Guadaloupe appears to have good records, in French, so my son’s bilingual girlfriend will be even more welcome this Christmas.
What a lovely bunch you all are.
