Military wives late 18th/early 19th century

[GrahamPC]

Charlotte Rose was the daughter of James and Margaret Rose, christened in 1797 in Horsham, Sussex. James was a sergeant in the 55th foot. Would Margaret his wife have been "on the strength" and would that appear in the pay books or musters? Also, is it likely that wife and child would have travelled with the regiment as it moved around? Thanks

[Jebber]

It wasn’t automatic, the number of wives taken on strength was very small, it was a lottery for which wives got chosen.

[Andy J2022]

The best way to find out if his wife was on the strength is to check the muster rolls. Not all families were, although a sergeant is much more likely to have gained permission to marry (so entitling his family to be on the strength) than would a young private. As you are probably aware between 1793 and 1797 the 55th foot were serving overseas in North West Europe and then the West Indies, and so if their daughter was conceived and born in about 1796-7 as suggested by her baptism, it's possible that his wife was with him on these overseas postings, or alternatively that he was serving at the Regimental depot in the UK at the time. 1797 coincides with a brief stay by the Regiment  in the UK before heading off once more overseas to Ostend as part of the British contingent involved in the Anglo-Russian campaign against the Dutch, so the fact that the daughter was baptised at Horsham doesn't help in establishing whether or not his wife and family accompanied him overseas.

If they had other children while overseas, then the child/children would have probably been baptised by the Regiment's chaplain. Unfortunately I don't think many records of these ceremonies have survived. Once the GRO was set up in 1837, there were regular formal returns for baptisms, marriages and burials performed overseas by army chaplains.

[GrahamPC]

Thanks,very helpful

[Mean_genie]

Forgive me for taking this on a slight tangent, but as a previous post says, many 'unofficial' wives followed their husbands on campaign, and it is hard to find any records of individuals, but there is an amazing (probably unique) first-hand account written by one of them, 'Catherine Exley's Diary', published in 2014 with lots of contextual and background information. It is available in paperback, and well worth a read if you have an army wife in your ancestry during the Napoleonic Wars:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catherine-Exleys-Diary-Times-Peninsular/dp/095638479X

[GR2]

My 4 X great grandfather, Thomas Urquhart, from the northeast of Scotland, enlisted in the 10th Foot in February 1807 and served in Sicily and Spain, before returning to Scotland in early 1815. He enlisted again later that year, this time in the 71st Highland Light Infantry, serving in France as part of the occupation force. He was discharged and returned to Scotland in November 1818.

On both occasions he was accompanied by his wife, Margaret Fraser, although there is no record of her in the muster/pay books or any other army document I can find.

The evidence for her being with him in Sicily and Spain is a later note in the Macduff baptism register of their oldest son, Adam, being born and baptised at Messina in Sicily in 1808. The record names the brigade chaplain who baptised Adam. Censuses all show Adam as being born in Sicily.

The evidence for her being with him in France is the fact that their second child, a daughter Margaret, is always shown as being born in France in 1816 in the censuses. Interestingly, only Adam's baptism was recorded in the Macduff register after they returned to Scotland, not Margaret's.

[Andy J2022]

Interestingly, only Adam's baptism was recorded in the Macduff register after they returned to Scotland, not Margaret's.

Possibly the reason for that was that when it came to inheritance at that time, the male line was the most important, and therefore the need to have some proof of the parentage of Adam.