Author Topic: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817  (Read 1023 times)

guest259648

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Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« on: Tuesday 05 October 21 11:59 BST (UK) »
Year: 1817. Date: June 30th.
Pay roll, list of men.
Canada, Great Lakes, Royal Navy. 'Provincial Marine'.

A group of RN officers & men are returning to England after some years of service on Lake Erie, Lake Huron etc.
They're all labelled: "Kingston [Canada] for passage to England."

In the pay-book, a code has been placed against the name of each man who is returning.
One one page I can see:
GI 531
GI 532
GI 533 and so forth.

What do these codes refer to?
Does GI mean General Index or something similar?
What is this Index, if so?
How can I follow this up?

I am hoping that the code will lead to further information about one of the sailors, which is why I'm asking what the code might mean.

Thank you
Dulciebun

Offline diddymiller

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 17:11 BST (UK) »

www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx#g

From the Canadian government archive website : military term used:


GI   Gunnery Instructor


Diddy
Cooks -(Clackmannanshire); Erskines - (fife); Youngs - (Dunfermline); Charltons - (Tyneside ); Skillings - (N.Norfolk); Legg - (N.Yorks, Tyneside) ; Carter - (Durham); Miller -(suffolk); Pattinson -(Lincs)

guest259648

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 19:28 BST (UK) »

www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx#g

From the Canadian government archive website : military term used:


GI   Gunnery Instructor


Diddy

Hello Diddy, yes I can imagine GI could refer to Gunnery Instructor, thank you for showing me.
But it doesn't seem an ideal meaning of the GI here.

I think we're dealing with the [British] Royal Navy in Canada, not the Canadian armed forces... please correct me if I'm mistaken.

I've been back to the Pay Book to see if there is an index at the end to which the codes may refer, but there isn't. So the GI + those numbers ought to refer to something outside the immediate context?

Do you know of any existing Royal Navy records which cover the enlistment of men who entered the Royal Navy between 1805 - 1810?  I'm struggling to find anything early enough...

D

Online mckha489

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 19:36 BST (UK) »
Have you seen this?

https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol09/nm_9_2_41-67.pdf

Might be some sources in the bibliography


Offline KGarrad

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 19:58 BST (UK) »
The Canadian Navy wasn't formed until 1910.
A Fisheries Protection Service was started in 1886.

Before those dates all vessels were a part of the Royal Navy.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Royal_Canadian_Navy
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

guest259648

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 20:01 BST (UK) »
Have you seen this?

https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol09/nm_9_2_41-67.pdf

Might be some sources in the bibliography

mckha489
This is magnificent! Well spotted!!

The text says this:
"All vessels in the Royal Navy were expected to carry a muster table containing the names of the men and officers on board. Commodore Yeo kept a single volume for the "Naval Establishment on Lake Ontario," in which were listed all men and officers who arrived at
Kingston between 9 May 1813 and 30 April 1814. The table also contained the names of the
British officers and men who had been sent from Halifax prior to Yeo's arrival and those
of the Provincial Marine who were retained in the service after the commodore took
command. (At the later date the book was closed and each ship of the Lake Ontario Squadron
began to carry its own muster.)"

This is exactly what I need.

Please help me see if the text mentions where Commodore Yeo's list might now be? Does it still exist?  It feels as though the author of this article, or someone else, has actually consulted it in recent times...

D


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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 20:12 BST (UK) »
It’s odd isn’t it, that it is so specifically titled and yet not referenced in the bibliography

guest259648

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 20:13 BST (UK) »
The Canadian Navy wasn't formed until 1910.
A Fisheries Protection Service was started in 1886.

Before those dates all vessels were a part of the Royal Navy.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Royal_Canadian_Navy

Thanks for confirming this.
Yes, we're definitely looking at Royal Naval operations, RN ships.
D

guest259648

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Re: Help me interpret Royal Navy index/code from the year 1817
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 05 October 21 20:16 BST (UK) »
It’s odd isn’t it, that it is so specifically titled and yet not referenced in the bibliography

Agreed.
But it seems to be a valuable historical document and - fingers crossed - there's a copy of it somewhere.
The journal which published Tom Malcolmson's article (1999) seems to be managed by the "Canadian Nautical Research Society".  I wonder how we might contact them, to ask; I'm guessing they're probably in Canada?

D