Greenwich Pensioner - Marshall Heaviside 1781-1862

[mandymad]

My GGGGGrandfather Marshall Heaviside is recorded on his marriage certificate to Jane Sharp (26 December 1816) as "late a mariner in his Majesty's Navy". On the 1851 census his occupation is Ag Lab/Greenwich Pensioner.
Does anyone know of anywhere I can go to try and find out more about him. I know that to be a Greenwich Pensioner he had to have been in the Navy since the age of 14. Any help would be gratefully received
Mandy

[Geoffers]

The National Archives (TNA) at Kew.

Put the kettle on and have a cuppa whilst you browse these research guides click on the links prefixed 'Royal Navy'

[mandymad]

Thanks Geoffers, there's all sorts of things there that would be of help, I'll have to arrange a trip to Kew. Reading through it it does suggest that you really need to know the name of at least 1 ship he served on, but I don't know where to find that out. There's no mention of it on the research guides.

[Geoffers]

I would suggest first trying the Certificates of Service, those for ratings are in ADM29/2 for the period 1803-1816 and were used to prove entitlement to pension.

Apart from the reference to 'late mariner' do you have any idea of whether he was a rating, or boatswain, gunner, carpenter, etc?

[mandymad]

thanks for that, sounds just the place to start. I've no idea of his rating, there's no mention of it anywhere. Thanks for your help.