Selling an army pension

[josey]

Morning Advertiser 30 Apr 1832:
St Mary-le-bone;  2 guineas reward...William Trowsdale hath deserted his Child James aged 4 years whereby he has become chargeable to this Parish. He is about 6 ft high, very stout, fair complexion, dark hair and blue eyes, by trade a umbrella maker, was formerly a pensioner in the 2d Life Guards at 6d per diem which pension he sold about 1 year ago. Whoever will apprehend the above shall receive the reward.

Child James was born in 1828 & his mother died in 1830.

William was born 1785 in Gilling, Yorkshire, he enlisted in 14 Jan 1804 & was discharged in 1814. There is an 1814 discharge record for William Trousdale of 2nd Life Guards, born Gilling circa 1785 "as a consequence of having been ruptured in Portugal. "

How would a soldier sell his pension? And what return was he likely to get for it? Would it have been official in the sense that the army would pay the new recipient directly  or would William have passed it over as he received it? Thanks for any help.

[MaxD]

(Educated) guess is that "sold" here refers to commutation of his pension ie taking a lump sum instead of a per diem amount, something that can still be done. Pension regulations have always been horrendously complicated so I won't venture  a guess as to whether this man did this on retirement or after receiving a pension for some period.  In any event, commutation means he had a lump sum to disappear with.  There re a number of newspaper articles of the period referring t men who had done this unwisely and become destitute.

MaxD

[josey]

Hello Max, thanks for replying. Commutation makes a lot of sense, so thanks. I don't know how long William was absent for; child James was cared for by his older brother Charles. William must have come back at some stage because when he died in 1844 his address was given as Barratt's Court [ex Stingo Lane], where his son Charles lived.

James didn't do too badly to start with but suffered during his army career:
Not on 1841 census at Barratts Court with Charles & family. ? in Workhouse
1851 census aged 21 ? no occupation at 88 Earls Road living with his brother Charles born 1818 & family.
1861?  in army presumably - spent 13 yeas in India
1871
Last name   Trousdale
Service number   1504
Rank   Private
Unit or Regiment   108th Regiment of Foot (Madras Infantry)
HQ location   Deesa, India
National Archives reference   WO 12/10030
1879 Discharge:
Name:   James Trousdale
Pension Admission or Examination Age:   48
Birth Year:   abt 1831
Birth Place:   Marylebone, London, Smith
Pension Admission or Examination Date:   8 Jul 1879
Regiment:   108th Foot
Rank:   Pte
Regimental Number:   1504
Discharge at age 30 because of weakened by frequent bouts of dysentery, lost one eye, sight weak in other, bow legged. 5 ft 5 in [he came from a tall family, father was 5 ft 11 in, so may have been malnourished in childhood.
1881 RG11; Piece: 151; Folio: 26; Page: 44 living at 9 Burne St with Charles jnr, unmarried, pensioner.
1891 RG12; Piece: 99; Folio: 99; Page: 13; 32 Lisson Street
Last name   Trowsdale
Relationship   Head
Marital status   Single
Gender   Male
Age   63
Birth year   1828
Occupation   Smiths Labourer
Birth town Marylebone
 as Vanosdale[/i]
On electoral roll 1892 - 1898 at 32 Lisson St with a John Bloomfield.
1898 Death cert Marylebone 1st quarter 1 a 492. Never married.

Thanks again for the pension info.