Regiment on death cert 1856 Scotland

[Flemming]

The plot thickens on this one. It seems the wife had a previous marriage and the first-born may have come from that union, some years before the claimed YOB, which could be why a record for it hasn't been found.

Given the last child may not be his either, this means he only had to be in Scotland in summer/autumn 1855 (for a May 1856 birth) and in spring 1857 (for a Jan 1858 birth) - presuming either/both were actually his.

It had occurred to me that perhaps the wife followed him on manoeuvres in England or Ireland and the children were conceived there but born back in Scotland. She ended up in North East England and I can't see any obvious reason for that (other to be somewhere no-one knew of the multiple partners and various illegitimate offspring).

I'll see if the Sussex RO has muster rolls or other info and save the SP credits for a bit longer!

Thanks again for your interest.

[MaxD]

Good luck!

MaxD

[Flemming]

I gave in and dowloaded the death certificate for Jan 1859. Father a stoneminer. Huh? I presume he left the army or never was a soldier in the first place. I suppose there still may be some record of him in the muster lists, if he was in the regiment. This family is driving me to drink 

[MaxD]

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!
Walter Scott

[Ru]

A latecomer to your thread sorry but just a thought. My first take on the regiment, looking at the weight of the strokes was the 24th  but when I enlarge the image it does look more like a 3....but I prefer 24th i think.

If the surname you're researching is Flem(m)ing you should be able to narrow your SP search with one of my indexes here
https://one-name.org/cgi-bin/archive/scottish-birthfrontpage.cgi?study=Fleming&ref=2406
If it's not Fleming, most SP Fleming births to 1869 can be found as baptisms in FamilySearch so same probably applies for other surnames.

PM me you you think I could help further
Ru

[Flemming]

Hi Ru, thanks for the reply. There's been a bit more progress with this one. I asked NRS to check the original death certificate and they believe it's the 25th (King's Own Scottish Borderers). Another Record Office looking just at the scan suggested the 26th (Cameronians). With the latter in particular, I've been advised they were based more at home and in the colonies so more possible for children to have been conceived at that time. It's also been suggested that, during this time period, men volunteered for the Crimea but never actually went to war, then were stood down when it was over - which also would fit with children being conceived and the 'civvie' occupation being recorded on an 1859 death cert.

I've had another look at the on-line records for these two regiments specifically (FindMyPast, TNA) but no luck. Also asked Scottish Museums for some background information, even if they don't actually hold any records.

I'll see what comes of these two regiments first, given they're both Scottish which would fit with the family's location at this time. I've had a quick look at the 24th and this was the South Wales Borderers who seem to have been out of the country a fair bit in the 1850s (fleeing from cannibals on the Andaman Islands in May 1857, apparently) - but another one to add to the list.

Thanks for the link to the Fleming page - this is a different family but will make a note for other research 

[MaxD]

For what it may be worth, the official Stations of the British Army has:
 24th Foot Jan 1855 Bengal, depot at Chatham - Dec 1855 Bengal, depot at Canterbury -  Dec 1856 Bengal, depot at Chatham

25th Foot Jan 1855 Madras, depot at Chatham -  Dec 1855 Manchester depot not listed -  Dec 1856 Manchester, depot not listed.

26th Foot Jan 1855 Canada, depot at Newcastle - Dec 1855 Bermuda, depot at Chatham  - Dec 1856 Bermuda, depot at Chatham

Not sure about the advice about the 26th being more at home , not supported by the "Stations" or the regimental history https://archive.org/details/ScottishRifles-DisbandmentProgram/page/n9

History of the 24th here https://archive.org/details/cihm_05694/page/n17
These were not the South Wales Borderers (until post 1881)!!

History of the 25th here https://www.archive.org/stream/lowlandscotsregi00assouoft#page/188/mode/2up

The point made about men volunteering and then not going to the Crimea is perhaps similar to my earlier point that because the cert gives the name of a regiment, it doesn't automatically follow that that the regiment is stationed where the death occurred.  Note the depots are all in England and a man could well be stationed with his regimental depot.

MaxD

[Regorian]

24th was South Warwickshire Regiment until 1881. Number looks like 35 or 36 to me. Just to confuse matters further, for the Crimea, there were wholesale transfers of personnel from the rest of the infantry to bring Crimea regiments up to strength. Due to heavy losses by cholera, continuous drafts of replacements were necessary. 

[MaxD]

I have added "until post 1881" to my post above.

MaxD