A marriage during military service 1856-1859

[Tony Tunstall]

Patrick Wynne joined 18th Regiment of Foot on Oct 31st 1853 aged 17 at Chatham Depot. Presumably after training Private Wynne (3075) shipped out to the Crimea earning the Crimea medal and Sebastopol clasp. After the Crimean service he went to The Curragh Camp for 18 months. All the info so far is from the Muster Rolls of the Regiment. Patrick was a Roman Catholic from Limerick City and he married sometime during his army service, his spell at The Curragh would be his first opportunity to marry. As I understand the law you had to be 21 to marry by your own consent but from 16 with parental consent but that is according to English law, what was the situation in Irish law of the day ? If Patrick did marry (Catherine Daly) whilst he was at The Curragh how could I find out? There is no suggestion in the Musters. My reason for the deduction that he may have married in Ireland is that even though Catherine Daly was born in Middlesex they could have met in Ireland when Catherine perhaps visited family there. The alternative would be that they met and married in India where Patrick served out the rest of his time with the army making 2 more changes of Regiment. Meeting in India seems to me to be more unlikely alternative. Can anyone suggest any way I can find this marriage please? I have tried all the obvious routes including the GRO and BL Asia & Pacific Section and whilst I have gained info from these sources I can not find a marriage. Their first child was born in November 1861. but he wasn't put on the Married Roll until July 1869, was this normal practice? or is it perhaps something that came to light after the event. Catholic marriage was not a straightforward thing in Victorian times.

[Marie C..]

Have you looked on the findmypast site? One can sometimes find army marriages here that one cannot find elsewhere. I found all my army births here. Yours may have married in ireland but if she was born in England it is possible they married there but the birth will still be in the overseas section of the GR0 because he was a serving soldier when he married. One of mine was born in Camberwell but it was still an army birth. If they married in Ireland then it would have been in a catholic church as she was a catholic and therefore should be in parish registers for that diocese. It might be the nearest RC.church to the army barracks
Have you also looked on the FibiS site in case they married in India.
The army was a law unto itself and I have a relative who supposedly married somewhere(wherever the army was in 1837/8 as the son's army birth cert gives parents as married and yet the actual copy of wedding cert is Charlton Kent 1843!
I also found army births in Ireland on FMP.
Marie

[Kerrywood]

If Patrick did marry (Catherine Daly) whilst he was at The Curragh how could I find out? There is no suggestion in the Musters.

If you haven't yet tried the GRO's unindexed collection of regimental marriages, have a look at this thread (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36786) for details of how to do that (especially Geoffers' message #2). Note that this is a different source from the military records databased at Findmypast.


Their first child was born in November 1861. but he wasn't put on the Married Roll until July 1869, was this normal practice?

I believe the married roll wasn't included in the muster books before 1868.

Kerrywood

[Tony Tunstall]

I have searched the FIBIS, they were very helpful in pointing out that there were no Catholic churches in Trichinopoly but quoted a directory which states that there was a Jesuit Mission, I have emailed a Jesuit centre in USA to see if they can suggest how I can research my question, so far to no avail. I did do a cursory search on FMP but didn't find anything but I will have a closer look as I now know more about his movements than I did at the time of the original search. A thank you to Kerrywood, it would explain why he appeared at that time on the married roll. Nose back to the grindstone.

[Tony Tunstall]

Have now also searched FMP, search range 1856 1861 in both civilian and military there are Wynnes but no Patricks. I guess that had to be cleared up.

[Kerrywood]

Have you had a search done of the GRO's unindexed regimental marriage registers, not on Findmypast (see my post #3 above)? If not, this could be worth a try.

Kerrywood

[Tony Tunstall]

Hi Kerrywood, I understand that there are a lot of unindexed records from that period. I got the Muster Rolls via one of the Genealogists from this site and I'm fairly sure she had a look at the unindexed files, in fact I think that it's where she found the Musters. According to the GRO Newsletter there are new documents coming to light all the time, you never know, what I'm looking for may be in one of these. I will keep looking, new ideas occur all the time and I'm grateful for the suggestions made here. I will keep you all posted. Tony T

[Kerrywood]

Hi Kerrywood, I understand that there are a lot of unindexed records from that period. I got the Muster Rolls via one of the Genealogists from this site and I'm fairly sure she had a look at the unindexed files, in fact I think that it's where she found the Musters. According to the GRO Newsletter there are new documents coming to light all the time

Just to be clear, the source I'm referring to is the series of unindexed regimental marriage registers held at the GRO in Southport. These records cannot have been inspected by your researcher at Kew, as they are not there. They are not at Findmypast either.

These registers are a standard research source for military marriages -- not a new series of unindexed records "coming to light". It is easy to get a search of these done by the GRO. Can I suggest again that you take a look at the thread referred to above? :)

Kerrywood

[Tony Tunstall]

Yes I now see what you mean, it was the Southport connection that I missed. I will actually be going to Southport in the not too distant future, maybe I can do a physical search? But thanks for pointing that out to me.

Tony T

[Kerrywood]

No, there is no personal access to these records :(

Kerrywood