Recruitment pre WW1 ?

[ShaunJ]

My eyes are going funny tonight - does that say he served in 3rd Battalion East Surrey Regiment?

Yes it does. Before November 1883. Perhaps it was a militia battalion. Also on that attestation he said he was aged 18 and 3 months.

[Spidermonkey]

My eyes are going funny tonight - does that say he served in 3rd Battalion East Surrey Regiment?

Yes it does. Before November 1883. Perhaps it was a militia battalion. Also on that attestation he said he was aged 18 and 3 months.

Yes - it was a militia battalion. See snip from good old Wiki!!

[kr236rk]

Oh wow!  If you don't know someone, then details such as tattoos etc can really help build up a picture.

Not sure what you can see or not, but parents names and address are given as George and Sarah Emma Kemp, of 101 Kentish Town Road.  Siblings are George and Emma.

Kentish Town is about right - North London - that's why I couldn't understand the Kent connection.

There is only one photograph of Arthur circa 1930, nothing of his army career survived. Apparently he kept a Boer War diary which went to my father's half-brother George Kemp, I have never been able to trace the family. Curiously, there were no photos of Arthur in the old Bromley home I used to visit as a child. My father said there was one of Arthur with a 'swagger stick' which he wasn't meant to have, but I never saw that photograph.

[Spidermonkey]

Oh wow!  If you don't know someone, then details such as tattoos etc can really help build up a picture.

Not sure what you can see or not, but parents names and address are given as George and Sarah Emma Kemp, of 101 Kentish Town Road.  Siblings are George and Emma.

Kentish Town is about right - North London - that's why I couldn't understand the Kent connection.

There is only one photograph of Arthur circa 1930, nothing of his army career survived. Apparently he kept a Boer War diary which went to my father's half-brother George Kemp, I have never been able to trace the family. Curiously, there were no photos of Arthur in the old Bromley home I used to visit as a child. My father said there was one of Arthur with a 'swagger stick' which he wasn't meant to have, but I never saw that photograph.

The name George definitely comes down the family line - Arthur's father, brother and son!

[kr236rk]

Not sure what you can see or not, but parents names and address are given as George and Sarah Emma Kemp, of 101 Kentish Town Road.  Siblings are George and Emma.

Can see nothing     Do I need to up my subscription please 

[Spidermonkey]

Military records are also available on Fold3, so you might need to compare FindMyPast and Fold 3 subs to see what works out to be best value.  Crucially, you now have Arthur's service number which will help you find his service record.

On the 1871 census, I can see Arthur with his family at 3 Masbro Terrace, Hammersmith:
George Kemp  Head  Mar  30  Cabinet maker  bn Marylebone
Sarah Kemp  Wife  Mar  26  bn Clerkenwell
George Kemp  Son  5  bn Shoreditch
Arthur Kemp  Son  3  bn Kensington
Emma Kemp  Dau  6 mnths  bn Hammersmith

[Spidermonkey]

George Oliver Kemp married Emma Sarah Bullock at St Matthias Church, Bethnal Green

George Oliver Kemp / Bachelor / 24 / Couch (?!) maker / 7 Huntingdon St / father Henry Kemp / dead
Emma Sarah Bullock / Spinster / 20 / 7 HUntingdon Street / father Robert George Bullock / baker

bride and groom signed their names
witnesses: James Wright and Mary Ann Thomas (I think)

[kr236rk]

George Oliver Kemp married Emma Sarah Bullock at St Matthias Church, Bethnal Green

George Oliver Kemp / Bachelor / 24 / Couch (?!) maker / 7 Huntingdon St / father Henry Kemp / dead
Emma Sarah Bullock / Spinster / 20 / 7 HUntingdon Street / father Robert George Bullock / baker

bride and groom signed their names
witnesses: James Wright and Mary Ann Thomas (I think)

I've got George Oliver & Sarah Bullock on my tree - so not as far out as I thought I was.

George a cabinet maker - yes worked with wood - my father and grandfather as well. Arthur was additionally a carpet-layer, a skill passed onto my father.

[kr236rk]

Military records are also available on Fold3, so you might need to compare FindMyPast and Fold 3 subs to see what works out to be best value. 

Which is the lightest subs to FindMyPast which will allow me to access that record please? Thank you.