Hello, I hope this is the right place to ask. I'm researching a man whose later life seems to be a far cry from his upbringing (and I'm certain I've not mixed up two different people!). He was enlisted as an ensign in 1856, by purchase (which makes sense - he was from a well-to-do family and his father was a Colonel). He then rose through the ranks to lieutenant and captain - not by purchase, so presumably promoted through his own efforts. He was still a Captain in 1871. Then, I next find him living in London's Docklands, married to a woman of modest origins, and for the rest of his life he worked in jobs like (assistant) storekeeper and timekeeper. In the 1911 census he gives his occupation as an Old Age Pensioner. He died in 1912.
What surprises me (not that I know anything about this area!) is that his father shows up in an earlier census as "retired Colonel on full pay", which seemed to suggest that high-ranking officers would be able to retire on good pensions. I've read up a little on the history of army pensions, but it's hard to sift through the information and apply it to the people I'm researching. Would a Captain leaving the army in the 1870s normally have been entitled to a pension? Would it depend on his record of service, reason for leaving etc? Is his post-Army life unusual or not, in this period of history? I'm hoping to go to the National Archives to find out more, once I know what I'm looking for!
(I suppose there might be other factors too - for example, he was the eldest son of a wealthy family, yet no sign of a good inheritance judging by his later life - there are some family documents relating to property transfers during his time in the Army that I need to get to grips with. Also, perhaps oddly, I don't have any details on his father's death, so maybe there's a story there)
