british soldier -france

[deanC]

hi
my relative John Davison was born 1818 France , we believe his father to also be John Davison a soldier ,
how can i find out who,what where , etc concerning the army at this time in france .

dean

[Geoffers]

Do you have a marriage certificte for the John DAVISON bn c.1818? If so, what does this record for his dad?

Have a service record for the dad, but identifying him with a name like DAVISON and its variants may take a while - the records in WO97 are available on the pay-per-view site 'findmypast' - Also look at TNA's catalogue to see if he can be found in other document classes, WO119 or WO121.

Have a look at the indexes to army births to see if John's birth was registered (army birth registrations are in two series - regimental registers dating back to 1761 and Army Chaplains' returns dating to 1796). Also have a look at the overseas births in BMDregisters.

Did John DAVISON the son do anything for a living which may have left a paper trail which might connect him to his dad - e.g. did John bn c.1818 serve in the army?

Once you can can confirm John the father was in the army - and his rank - and his regiment/corps; then you can begin to look at the who, what, where.

[Geoffers]

Any idea where your John DAVISON (the father) came from?

A seach of TNA's catalogue brings up these hits, restricting the search period to 1780-1840. Some can be eliminated on date of discharge.

[deanC]

geoffers

thanks for your help , most of the future generations lived in the north london area , son of john married Mary 1821 , but no further clues on john senior .
john junior was a shoe maker as was his son , so maybe john senior was the same or a saddler maybe .
i will check out the marriage cert /records to see what i can find ,

dean

[Geoffers]

my relative John Davison was born 1818 France

son of john married Mary 1821

Was he into older women, or was she a cradle snatcher?

but no further clues on john senior

You might put the kettle on, get comfy and look for any John DAVISON in the census who would have been old enough to have a son in 1818; and see if any are described as 'Army Pensioner' or 'Chelsea Pensioner'. If you get any hits you might then see if they can at all be connected with John DAVISON bn 1818.

[deanC]

Geoffers,
sorry 1821 was Mary's birth date , looking forward to a couple of days off,and i will take up your suggestion ..but it might be a glass of wine instead !!!
thanks for your help ,i will let you know how i get on .

[trenners]

hi
my relative John Davison was born 1818 France , we believe his father to also be John Davison a soldier ,
how can i find out who,what where , etc concerning the army at this time in france .

dean

Hi Dean,
John's father was Jas Virgilius born 28.01.1791 in Newcastle England

More details at

https://freepages.
genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~drury/index.html

Les