Marriage and Garrison duty 1850-65

[kiwipom]

Would a soldier have been allowed to take a wife while on Garrison duty?
I have an ancestor identified as being with the 40th Regiment of Foot in Australia, which sailed from Cork Ireland 1859 aboard HMS Vulcan.
Children born 1859,1860,1862 and I'm trying to ascertain whether his wife would've sailed with him or he married whilst abroad.

[jmduke]

The Canadian Military Heritage website has a good section on life in the British Army entitled "The Daily Life of Soldiers and Officers" (http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_512.asp?flash=1). It includes a section on the plight of soldiers wives. It seems that prior to reforms in the early-mid 19th century, a limited number of soldiers wives (typically six per company) were allowed to accompany the regiment when it relocated. The lucky ones were chosen by lot. They were considered to be on strength, lived with the men in the barracks, and were expected to help with domestic chores in the barracks. Married soldiers were sometimes given permission to live in town. After 1848, the army began to make some special provisions for married soldiers, such as special barracks rooms, beds for children and small allowances for those living in town. I can't say what your ancestor's situation was in 1859, but my own GGF, an Armourer Sergeant, was permitted to take his wife when he was deployed to the West Indies from England in 1861.
JMD