Conscription - military/national service?

[pottoka]

Can anyone tell me at what periods conscription or military/national service has existed in England?

I am trying to trace someone born in 1818 in Southampton and who moved to France before 1841; he was illegitimate, and his mother died in 1843 so there doesn't seem to be any way of tracing the line further back unless he had to do a stint in the military and there are some records from that.

Having been drawn in to ask about national service, I would be interested to know how England recruited its army at any time. Thank you.

[Geoffers]

Can anyone tell me at what periods conscription or military/national service has existed in England?

There was conscription during the two world wars, national service following WW2.

I am trying to trace someone born in 1818 in Southampton and who moved to France before 1841; he was illegitimate, and his mother died in 1843 so there doesn't seem to be any way of tracing the line further back unless he had to do a stint in the military and there are some records from that.

Military records are unlikely to mention a father.

Are there records of the parish having questioned the mother as to the identity of the father of her child?

Does the parish register record any additonal information?

I would be interested to know how England recruited its army at any time. Thank you.

Apart from te periods of conscription and National Service in the 20th century; the army has relied upon voluntary enlistment.

[Terry Reeves]

Potoka

Conscription was introduced for the first time at the end of February 1916. It ended on 11 November 1918 and was resurrected again for WW2 in 1939. After WW2 there was compulsory military service (or National Service) until 1962 (I think). There was no conscription or peace time national service as we know it before that.

TR

[Mutley]

Was this a little late for press gangs?
I believe they were active in the port areas but I think that stopped after the Napoleonic wars and I don't know if he joined the navy at that time whether there would be any records.

Not much help, sorry

[pottoka]

Pottoka

Conscription was introduced for the first time at the end of February 1916. It ended on 11 November 1918 and was resurrected again for WW2 in 1939. After WW2 there was compulsory military service (or National Service) until 1962 (I think). There was no conscription or peace time national service as we know it before that.

TR

Thank you, Terry. That’s nice and succinct and exactly what I wanted for my own further education.

Military records are unlikely to mention a father.

Are there records of the parish having questioned the mother as to the identity of the father of her child?

Does the parish register record any additonal information?

I haven’t seen the Parish Records in question unfortunately, at least the baptismal record. I answered a question on a French forum like Brit-Gen and helped someone find the death certificate of the mother, on which “occupation” was given as “spinster”. Apparently this person paid over £800 to a genealogical research society to find out more for her about her English ancestors, and they didn’t even find the death certificate or send her a copy of the baptismal entry in the Parish Registers. She got three pages of mostly negative information.

It says, apparently:
25 Jan 1818 - Henry Bloomfield – natural son of Jane Bloomfield of Bag Row (St Mary, Southampton)
Would the parish authorities have tried to find the father for him to pay for the upkeep of the child?

Was this a little late for press gangs?
I believe they were active in the port areas but I think that stopped after the Napoleonic wars and I don't know if he joined the navy at that time whether there would be any records.

Not much help, sorry

I thought about press gangs, too, but it seemed not to be the right period. That's partly why I asked about how the military went about recruiting.

[Geoffers]

Would the parish authorities have tried to find the father for him to pay for the upkeep of the child?

Yes, that's about it. Different parishes approached it with varying degrees of enthuisiasm, but did want to avoid paying for upkeep if possible.

For those parishes where detailed records were kept and they survive, they can be very informative and interesting.

[pottoka]

Yes, that's about it. Different parishes approached it with varying degrees of enthuisiasm, but did want to avoid paying for upkeep if possible.

For those parishes where detailed records were kept and they survive, they can be very informative and interesting.

I've been trying to find an illegitimate and seemingly unregistered ancestor of mine born in Lincolnshire in about 1845, and a wonderfully helpful person called Pam Downes suggested that line of enquiry, so I really should have thought of it. Thanks, Geoffers, I'll pass on the information.

[daggers]

The Militia has not been mentioned so far. I quote from the PRO's booklet 'Records of the Militia from 1757' by Garth THomas, published in 1993 [Readers' Guide No. 3].
"As a measure to counter the perceived threat looming on the Continent, the Militia Act 1757 was enacted to re-establish militia regiments in the counties of England and Wales, a policy extended to face the threat arising from the American and French revolutionary wars, the Napoleonic Wars and, later, in the nineteenth century, the Crimean War. Recruitment was by means of a form of conscription, by which the 'Principal' or 'Drawn Men' were drawn by ballot from the lists of adult males (aged 18 to 50, 1758 to 1762; aged 18 to 45, 1762 to 1831) that each parish was required to draw up. The 'drawn man' could delegate his militia obligation to a substitute."

Daggers

[pottoka]

That's very interesting, Daggers, and the same sort of thing that went on in France. One of my students here had an ancestor who had done the service of someone else and been paid for it which had allowed the family to buy their farmhouse (still in the family). They still had the papers to prove it!

Would there be records of this, do you know? If there wasn't any actual fighting abroad, do you know where the "training barracks" would have been?

[Geoffers]

The Militia has not been mentioned so far................the 'Principal' or 'Drawn Men' were drawn by ballot from the lists of adult males (aged 18 to 50, 1758 to 1762; aged 18 to 45, 1762 to 1831) that each parish was required to draw up. The 'drawn man' could delegate his militia obligation to a substitute."

The Gibson and Medleycott Guide to 'Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876' (ISBN ` 872094 02 3, publ by the FFHS) includes lists of surviving Ballot lists and Musters. For Southampton it includes:


Records held at Hampshire RO

Militia Ballot Lists
1825, 1826 Southampton Borough complete (D/PM 7/2/1.2)

1828, Southampton Borough, 9 wards (D/PM 7/2/4-12)

1831, Southampton Borough, (Part) (D/PM7/3/2)

which may all be too early for your chap.

There are also:

Muster Rolls
1834-9, 1852-3. North and South Mants Militia. (LL.25-29)

1834-46. North Hants. Yeomanry Corps (LL.100-1)

The various lists contain between 5 and 300 names.

There are other surviving militia records held at TNA in document class WO96 - these are part of the records which are being put online by 2011 via findmypast.