Joining Royal Horse Artillery in 1790

[Flemming]

I wonder if Chatters could advise on 'joining up' procedures in 1790.

Under TNA ref. WO 69/1/635 (description of soldiers joining Royal Horse Artillery) there is Matthew BOWDEN of Soldiers Unit 1 Battalion. The index says he was born Callington, Cornwall and enlisted 1790 aged 22 years (born 1768, which fits with Matthew BAWDEN bp 1767 Callington). The index says he transferred to 7 Battalion in 1805.

My questions are whether Matthew could have joined up locally (perhaps in Plymouth), and whether he would have been dispatched to the fray (or training camp) immediately, or whether he still could have been carrying on the day job locally until needed.

The reason for asking is that there's a marriage for Matthew BOWDEN in 1795 in Stoke Damerel, occupation mason, and I wonder how feasible it is that this could be the same chap.

FindMyPast has a likely discharge note for him in Woolwich, although it's dated 1811 and his age is given as 53 years (i.e. born 1758, not 1767). It does say he's from Callington, although occupation labourer (not mason, although perhaps he was originally a mason's labourer - his likely father was a mason).

A further TNA record (WO 69/618/2418 - 1790-1811 - Royal Artillery Pensions Register 1815-18) has the following in the index: 'Matthew BOWDEN; POB not given; enlisted 1790; discharged 1811; reason: Pension.'

He also may be the same Henry BOWDEN in Woolwich in 1841 (born 1767 out of county).

Any advice much appreciated,
Flemming.

[MaxD]

Have you seen the actual entries in the two Kew documents?

I ask because the RHA wasn't formed until 1793 so I imagine the register is including men who joined the Royal Artillery earlier than that date.
There certainly was a 1st Battalion of the RA in 1790 but it had a number of companies, ten in 1790, which would have recruited individually and wherever they happened to be.  Once joined up he would have gone wherever they happened to be going, he wouldn't stay at home awaiting a call.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Britain/Artillery/1stBattalionRA.pdf does not have detail of where they were unfortunately.  To complicate matters further, the companies didn't necessarily move/fight together as a battalion, a quick glance at each company's later whereabouts in the link will show this.
Looking through the companies for 1795, Plymouth doesn't appear but some appear to be relatively near on the south coast.
That said, if the man married in 1795 is in the army, why would his occupation be recorded as a mason?
The artillery battalion muster books at Kew would, if they were complete, perhaps find him and his whereabouts.  Unfortunately, while there appears to be a book for part of 1794 the next one is 1804:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_srt=3&_aq=battalion+1+muster&_ep=artillery&_cr=WO&_dss=range&_ro=any&_p=1700%7C1800&_st=adv


MaxD

[Flemming]

Hello Max, thanks for the reply and the links, which have been very helpful.

I haven’t seen the original records for the two references above, just the index on TNA’s website, and, as you say, given the RHA wasn’t formed until 1793, it’s possible their dates are broad ranges, not specific to Matthew Bowden, and I so shouldn’t take them as such.

I do have an image for Matthew’s discharge note (‘To whom it may concern… etc.’) although I wonder if this is just the first page of a full service record that I didn’t download at the time (back in the day, I didn’t realise service records had to be downloaded a page at a time). It says he was in the 3rd Bn Royal Regiment of Artillery, and my handwritten note to this says the following:

Gunner Matthew Bawden/Bowden of Callington, served 21 years in 3rd Battalion of Royal Regiment of Artillery, enlisted 1802, left 1822; age 55 years, joined age 34 years.

This might make more sense - married in 1795 Plymouth, three children bp Plymouth by 1801, joined up in 1802, fourth child bp 1804 Southwark.

I’ve used your link to the Napoleon Series to find the 3rd Battalion and can see that Willington's/Brome’s company was in Plymouth Dock from 1801 to 1804.

The issue, then, would be his discharge date. TNA’s index at WO 69/618/2418 says 1811, and the discharge note I have says 1811 - although the year looks as if it’s been added later (I’ve attached a clip - hope it’s ok with copyright). Col William Borthwick signed (and Matthew was in Captain Harrison’s detachment).

Alternatively, I may have mistranscribed 1811 as 1822 (black mark for me if I did).

If this is the Matthew I’m looking for, it’s possible his first wife died in Plymouth in 1818, and he then found a new partner called Catherine (born in Germany, according to the 1851 census). I haven’t found a marriage for these two, nor bps for their two children, both born in Woolwich (although they could have been just her children). Would the Army have their own marriage and bp records, perhaps? And, if they weren’t married, how would the Army have regarded this in a previous century? EDIT: found possible bps on Ancestry.

Thanks again for your help,
Flemming.