Somerset St James?

[Silverhawk]

I've found a possible record relating to my great(x3)-grandfather in Ancestry's "Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service" collection, however I'm a bit non-plussed by the information given in the Where Born column. It says "Somerset, St James". I can't find a place called that and if it's a parish, the number of churches in the county dedicated to St James make that unhelpful. Am I missing something? Is being from St James somewhere obvious to someone from Somerset which as a daft notherner I'm just not getting, or is it really as vague as it appears to me?

[radstockjeff]

I see from another thread that you are looking at LEWIS.
Putting 2&2 together does not always add up but there is a baptism for a John Lewis at St James Church, Bath (destroyed in WW2) on 17th June 1781, Father Georg   Mother Jane.
Is this of any help?

[Silverhawk]

Sorry for the missing info, I just posted what I thought was relevent to the question. Yes, it's a Lewis I'm looking at, William Lewis to be precise. His age on death in 1840 was said to be 48, but as the baptism of his oldest child, Henry, in 1819 gave his occupation as a soldier in the 88th Foot and this is the only William Lewis in the 88th Foot that I can find, I'm guessing for now that it must be him, even though this William is 4 years younger (born c1796 given an enlisted age of 14 in 1810).

[Silverhawk]

Sorry for necroing this thread, but I've just dipped back into my research after two or three years away from it, and I find this question is still bothering me. The military record I found is the only real lead I have for William Lewis. Just in case radstockjeff was on the right track, I tried checking the baptisms for St James' Church in Bath that are online, but unfortunately there's no William anytime in the 1790s so I'm thinking the location doesn't relate to Bath? Anyone have any ideas?

[glenclare]

I don’t know if this will help but,
According to Genuki
St. James' church, rebuilt in 1768, is an elegant structure in the later style of English architecture. ... By charter of Elizabeth, the several parishes of St. Peter and St. Paul, or the Abbey parish, St. James, and St. Michael, were consolidated into one rectory, to which the vicarages of Widcomb and Lyncomb were annexed."  [Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) ©Mel Lockie]

Given this, is it possible that William was from St. James but was baptised at one of the other churches?

There is this baptism which matches age on death in 1840.
William Lewis
Baptism  17 Mar 1792  at Bath Abbey, Somerset,
(St Peter & St Paul Bath)
Father  Thomas Lewis
Mother Mary Lewis

[Silverhawk]

Another possibility indeed. Although the military records seem quite sure that he was 14 when he enlisted in 1810. Could an 18 year old really be mistaken for 14? I've heard of kids pretending to be older to be eligible to fight, but not younger.

[rosie99]

Is it a transcript that you are looking at.   I can see an original document that gives an age of 15 for a William Lewis that has been over stamped with Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
That document is for - William Lewis born in the parish of Somerset in or near the town of Somerset in the County of Somerset on the Twelth day of February 1810 at the age of Fourteen for Life

ADDED
OK found the page you are referring to, he attested in Wells

[Silverhawk]

I hope it's okay to post this image? This is what I'm working from. You can see him at the bottom.

I also have the Kilmainham record you mentioned, but that was less useful given as you say it just said Somerset for town, parish and county.

[KGarrad]

Maybe St James, Taunton?
or St James, Cameley?
or St  James the Great, Winscombe?
St James, Yeovil?

There may be other churches in Somerset dedicated to St James.

There is also St James, Somerset, Bermuda