where can I find this early army record?

[loo]

There is, on the 1881 census, a Charles WOODHOUSE, age 14, born 1867 “London”, who is a soldier stationed in the Army at “Nrth camp Farnborough, No 6 Hut F Line, Farnborough, Hampshire”. 

I would like to know if he is the son of John WOODHOUSE and wife Sarah BRAKE who appear in one household on the 1871 census with children;  he is born Pancras.  I believe but am not yet certain that he was born 16 March 1867, baptized at Old St Pancras 15 April 1867.  I know that John and Sarah and some of the children died between 1871 and 1881, so it would not surprise me that Charles was on his own and had gone into the military in order to have somewhere to go.

According to http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot/barracks/northcamp.html , Farnborough was the first real camp for large-scale training of militia,  having opened in 1855.

Can anyone tell me how I can find this army record? - especially given that I am in North America. 

Any help much appreciated.

[Valda]

The only way would be to engage a researcher to search for his army records in The National Archives at Kew London and you would need to know the soldier's regiment if he was a regular army soldier.

Most soldiers did not serve long enough to receive a pension and therefore in the period you are interested in the army would not have kept the attestation papers (paper work when they attested - giving age and place of birth and perhaps next of kin) if he did not receive a pension.
The TNA research guides give information on how to research a soldier who was discharged to pension.

http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=14

Soldiers who served only a relatively short time can be followed through the muster books (quarterly pay books) and these may give short detail on a soldier's enlistment and when the soldier left.

http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=16

These would be the obvious records to search but there are others

http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=23

If he was not a 'regular' soldier but a member of the militia then this is the guide to militia records - many men who joined the militia moved onto the regular army but not evryone did.

http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=26

Bear in mind the army was always a bit vague about ordinary soldiers' details such as age and place of birth, as often were the men who joined the army.


Regards
Valda

[Wendi]

Try
http://www.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot/

The museum for the camp, may not help with is movements, just an idea

Kind regards
Wendi

[loo]

thanks very much to both of you.  I am very green when it comes to military terminology.  I can see this is not going to be an easy search.
It sounds like you have perhaps worked on this area before.  I'm just wondering if it's likely that I will find something eventually, if I go through all these records.  I probably won't hire someone to do it, as I'm afraid of what it might cost.  But I am saving up all my unresolved odds and ends and putting them aside, hoping to get to England to check them out, but worrying, of course, about how long it might take!
I hope I'm not the only one who finds the National Archives site very difficult.  It seems to have lots of resources, if only I can find them! 

[Valda]

If you think how many miles of records (literally) the National Archives holds and that the records were made by government departments for their own purposes (merely in the case of the war office to pay soldiers either quarterly or through their pension) not for genealogists and that these different government departments were organised as it suited the period and not today, then it is a tall order for the National Archives website to make even a tiny proportion of the records accessible to everyone without some background reading on historical records and how they work.
The National Archives produces some very good books on how to access the records and how they work. You need to underststand how the army was organised in the C19th to understand how the records are catalogued and what you might find in them. The National Archives publishes a general book on its records
'Tracing your ancestors' by Amanda Bevan ISBN 1903365341
and also specific books on army records.
If you are going to visit The National Archives which is one of the greatest repositories of records in the world - if not the greatest as it holds over a thousand years worth of records its worth reading up on their records and what might be of use to you. When you get there their help desks are very helpful and informative, but the more you know the more they can help you.

Bear in mind from the start however that from the one census entry you hold, it does not actually prove that this is your Charles Woodhouse. You could research the man - what happened to him from the census entry onwards (as what army records TNA holds may not give any indication of his parentage) but not know if he is the right Charles Woodhouse.

However you might find TNA holds other records that will be very helpful to research for other family members so it is worth seeing what they do hold and yes it does take time. Researching any historical records in any repository takes time.

Regards
Valda

[loo]

Thank you for the follow-up, Valda.  This man is very important to me, and I have no other clues, at least not yet, and am not optimistic about finding many, so I'm going to make an effort to track him down, however I can, knowing full well that it may prove to not be the same person - although there are really no other candidates so far.  I have a lot of info on his family of origin, so any clue at all about family might identify him  for me.  If I learned that he died in the army, that would be very important, no matter who he was, because then I would know this particular man was not a source of progeny, which I am ultimately looking for, and my research on him would end there.

I have never had the opportunity to visit the National Archives in England, so I really have no idea, from experience, what I'm dealing with.   Of course, in the end, there will be a limit on how much time I can afford (literally) to spend there.

My problem with the website is that I can't always find what IS there.  I follow links from other places, but I can't seem to find most of them directly through the site itself.

thanks again.

[Valda]

Very little of what the National Archives holds is on their website, though the catalogues to what they hold are. Under WO = War Office there can be hundreds of different records. In each section of these records can be 100s more records.
A man joining the army might leave fairly swiftly, move abroad with the army (if only to Ireland), marry abroad, have children abroad, return or not return. He might not return because he died abroad, but his family did return. If he died before serving enough years (unless pensioned off with a disablility) the army during this period no longer needed his attestation papers -  as they were not needed as a reference to pay his pension, they consequently destroyed the papers. Even if they are found you often find ages and place of birth not particularly accurate and no other reference to a man's personal life.

Why don't you put up further information and explain what you are trying to prove in researching this man.

Regards
Valda

[loo]

What I'm ultimately trying to find out is whether the man I'm looking for had any descendants.  He was my ggrandmo's brother.  All the rest of the family seem to have died off by 1880, leaving her otherwise alone in the world, which seems to have been the family's impression of her situation.   I can name his siblings, parents, and dates for many of them, but I doubt that would help anything since, from what you're saying, the Army records are sketchy on family.  I can do a little more digging on the family of origin side, if it would help anything, but, with no sign of him thereafter, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth all the 7poundses!  He is only a child on the 1871 census and, apart from this Army thing, I don't have any other clues on what became of him.  I'm trying to figure out what is my next best economical move.  I'm going to do some more checking at ancestry.com, when I can get on to it again (I just learned my library has it free, but it's been down for a few days), and see if I can find anything more since the last time I looked, with new eyes, as I have a bit more experience now!
One thing for sure, he was orphaned at 12 if still living, and his sister, Kate orphaned at 14;  they seem to have been on their own from there on in.  She appears to have moved from Pancras out to Chiswick to be a servant in a pub, ultimately returning to Pancras area and marrying; and, I presume, Charles went into the army.
Thanks for the information.  It does seem rather a daunting task.

[Valda]

Have you tracked back the Charles Woodhouse born circa 1867 London who is living with his wife and family in East Ham Essex in 1901 - as a possibility?

Regards
Valda