Pre1915 57 fusilier volunteers

[Royfamily]

Timothy Kennealy was in the 57 fussiliers volunteers.his birth was 1863,but also shows as 1861/2. He was in Canada around 1888/9 then back in London,prior to emigrating in 1907 he enlisted in theCEF in 1915 came to England in1916 and returned to Canada after service.looking for info on his time in the fussiliers.thanks

[ShaunJ]

Can't see any British army records for him. "Volunteers" indicates a militia unit - a part time soldier. "57th " suggests his service was pre-1881 (when the regiments were reorganised and given names rather than numbers), but could be later as the historic numbering seems to have persisted in some militia units.

I see that on his CEF attestation he said he was born in 1879 - understating his age by 16 years.

[Andy J2022]

There was no such Regiment as the 57th Fusiliers, volunteers or regular. There was the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, and the 7th Royal Fusiliers. The 57th Regt of Foot was a Light Infantry regiment which later became the Middlesex Regiment (in 1881). Volunteer Battalions tended not to serve overseas during the nineteenth century because they were primarily a reserve force designed for the defence of the UK mainland (this changed at the time of the Boer Wars, but that was much later).

None of the 3 regiments mentioned above was stationed in Canada in 1888/9. The nearest you get to a Fusilier Regiment in Canada is the Ist Battalion of the 101st Royal Munster Fusiliers who left Nova Scotia in 1883. 

Can you tell us where you got the information about his regiment as it seems to have got a bit garbled.

[Royfamily]

Thanks for the input,info on 57 fusiliers is what he said on inlisting with CEF the age difference seems to be what he made up to in list 3 times he also went from having grey hair to black.I know he is buried in the milatry cemetery in saskatawen, which gives his birth as 1861. But 1863 seems to be his real d.o.b thanks for looking

[Andy J2022]

Royfamily,
The periodic lists of the British Army's worldwide deployments known as the Stations of the British Army, for 1888/9 make no mention of any British Regiment in Canada at that time. This makes sense since relations between the USA and Canada were fairly good at the time and so there was less need for a British garrison there.

Therefore the Canadians would have been expected to rely on their own locally recruited militia, albeit these would have been referred to as forces of the [British] Crown since Canada was still a colony. Is it possible that your man was actually a volunteer in a Canadian regiment known as the 57th Fusiliers? I have no information about the Canadian militia regiments, so I can't confirm that such a unit existed. When he then came to join up for the CEF, he would have declared his former service knowing that the recruiters knew what he meant. If this theory is to hold water, it depends on what evidence you have for Timothy's date of emigration to Canada. Have you found his service records for WW1 with the Library and Archives of Canada?

Added: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Militia

[ShaunJ]

CEF file ( 98 pages, takes a while to load):  https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B5079-S036

[Andy J2022]

Well done Shaun, I couldn't be arsed to check. I think that settles the 57th Fusiliers issue. If Royfamily hasn't already seen those documents he's going to be over the moon with the extra details.

[Andy J2022]

For the sake of completeness, the other thread on this subject is here: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=866668.0