Author Topic: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot  (Read 558 times)

Offline Bitzer1

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John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« on: Friday 11 June 21 17:05 BST (UK) »
I would appreciate any assistance in helping me to understand the army and army pension records of John Munday, as well as his movements.  He was born in Spitalfields in 1767 and baptised at St James, Clerkenwell, on 6 Dec 1767.

He was discharged from the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot on 25 Aug 1818, having enlisted on 1 May 1793 in Corsica and given 25 years and 4 months service.  His discharge papers also indicate that he had in addition served in "India 11 11/12" (was that the 11th Regiment of Foot and his battalion number or time served?) for 5 years and 11 months, giving him a total of 31 years and 3 months of service.  I am puzzled that in this record he only seemed to have received a pension for his 25 years and 4 months service.  I also puzzled how he came to join the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot in Corsica.  Did he perhaps transfer from another regiment?

A different record, the 14th-28th Foot UK Royal Hospital Chelsea Regimental Registers of Pensioners 1713-1882, lists John Munday of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot with a total of a total of 31 years and 3 months of service, made up of 25 years and 4 months and 11 years and eleven months (not five years and 11 months) in "India Service West."  I do not know what place "India Service West" refers to (India? West Indies?  The regiment seems to have been in Jamaica 1805-1814).  I also do not know how to reconcile what seem to me to be discrepancies ("India 11 11/12") between the two records, but both agree that his constitution was impaired by service in a tropical climate, which would fit with Jamaica.   

John Munday seems to have received a medal, while in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot, for service in Egypt in 1801. There was a John Munday who received a medal for the Battle of Waterloo, but it does not appear that the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot was at Waterloo, and so I assume that was someone else but would like to be sure.

John Munday's first marriage was to Mary Keen on 1 Aug 1787 in St Leonard Church, Shoreditch.  I have not found a record of his wife's death but two possible burials (St Leonard Church, Shoreditch and St Matthew Church, Bethnal Green) in 1797.   As a widower, John Munday married a widow Elizabeth Smyth on 1 Feb 1819 in St Matthew Church, Bethnal Green.  The couple were living in Tavistock Street, Bethnal Green in the 1841 census with three children: John, Esther and Rachael.  In the 1851 census, John and Elizabeth Munday were living at 9 Manchester Street, Bethnal Green.  In 1856, Elizabeth Munday died age 69 in Bethnal Green.   

John Munday, age 87, and his wife Elizabeth appear in the Bethnal Green Orders of Removal 1855-1856.  I could not find him in the 1861 census, so I presume he died before then, but I have not found a record of his death that fits before or after then.

Offline philipsearching

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 12 June 21 11:14 BST (UK) »
As John was baptised in 1767 he would have been around 26 when he enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot in 1793 in Corsica.  So, he may well have been on his way home from his previous service when he arrived in Corsica.

I wonder if his extra military service before he arrived in Corsica was with the East India Company.  5yr11mo would allow him to have joined up at about age 20, while 11yr11mo would mean he joined up around age 14 - did the East India Company employ boy soldiers such as bandsmen?

Philip
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Offline Bitzer1

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 12 June 21 15:02 BST (UK) »
Many thanks Philip for your reply.  I have also searched East India Company & Civil Service Pensions, East India Register & Army List 1855, East India Company Pensions 1793-1833, and East India Company Madras Records Of Service 1741-1858 on Find My Past but not found John Munday.

Offline Mick_Dolan86

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 01 June 23 15:30 BST (UK) »
I haven't been on Rootschat in years but I came across your post when I googled John Munday. The 18th Royal Irish was not at Waterloo; they were still serving in Jamaica. The Egypt medal is actually the Military General Service Medal which was authorised in 1847 for service in the Napoleonic Wars from 1793 to 1814. In 1850 a Clasp for the Egypt Campaign of 1801 was authorised and a dozen or so surviving men of the Royal Irish, including John Munday, who had served in the campaign, were issued the MGSM with the Egypt Clasp.


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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 01 June 23 19:11 BST (UK) »
Many thanks Mick.  That's very interesting and not something I knew.

Offline Andy J2022

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 01 June 23 20:34 BST (UK) »
Bitzer,

Having just seen this old thread due to the recent activity, I am confused by the fact that John Munday's records show that he was enlisted at Corsica in May 1793 (I have read the originals myself so I know you have quoted them correctly). However according to the history of the regiment (The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment from 1684 to 1902 by George Le Mesurier Gretton published in 1911) and indeed the history of the period more generally, the 18th were not in Corsica in 1793; they sailed to Gibraltar from England in the summer of 1793 and were then deployed to Toulon on the South Coast of France in the autumn of 1793, to try and hold that city against Napoleon's forces. They didn't arrive in Corsica until later the following year. You can read the account starting here: https://archive.org/details/campaignshistory00gret/page/89/mode/1up  (read the last sentence of the previous chapter first)

What that tells me is that perhaps the various entries in his records need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Incidentally none of the Regiments which were serving in the Mediterranean in 1793/4 alongside the Royal Irish had previously come from India,  so that isn't the explanation for how John Munday came to be there. I think it is more likely that he joined in Gibraltar, or even back in England if the date is correct. As you can see from the account linked to above, the Royal Irish were woefully under strength at the beginning of the campaign and had to rely on all sorts of foreign troops to swell their numbers.

However, none of that helps you with your basic question from two years ago.

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #6 on: Sunday 04 June 23 13:17 BST (UK) »
Many thanks Andy.  I remember when I was looking at this two years ago, enlistment in Corsica at that time did not seem to fit the regiment's movements.  I had not seen the regimental history for which you kindly provided the link. 

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Re: John Munday 1767-? 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot
« Reply #7 on: Thursday 14 September 23 21:53 BST (UK) »
The Royal Hospital Chelsea Returns of Payment of Army and Other Pensions, 1842-1883 give John Munday's death as 27 June 1858, age 90.