Naval prize money - decoding the classes

[barbara lee]

Hi All

I am following up some information on my g g grandfather Alexander
Richards, who was a Sergeant in the Royal Marine Artillery, and aboard
HMS Dragon in the Baltic campaign of the Crimean War.

The London Gazette of August 7th 1857 states that the Admiralty was
about to pay out for the Russian brig Ida, captured on 17th April 1854
by a great number of ships, the Dragon being amongst them, and lists
the amounts due to individuals in each class. It starts with the top
officers in three groups then goes on - First class £9/1/10, second
class £7/1/6 and so on down to men of the tenth class who get just 4
shillings each.

How can I find out which ranks were in each class and how much my g g grandfather got? Does anyone have a list saying which class Sergeants of Marines were in?

Barbara

[Kerrywood]

The London Gazette of August 7th 1857 states that the Admiralty was about to pay out for the Russian brig Ida, captured on 17th April 1854 by a great number of ships, the Dragon being amongst them, and lists the amounts due to individuals in each class. It starts with the top officers in three groups then goes on - First class £9/1/10, second class £7/1/6 and so on down to men of the tenth class who get just 4 shillings each.

How can I find out which ranks were in each class and how much my g g grandfather got?

The rules for Prize Money are set out in the Navy List. The List for 1844 is online here (http://books.google.com/books?id=jPFMAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false) and places the sergeant of marine artillery in 6th class (page 305).

But I believe the rules changed in 1846, so can't be sure the above would be correct for the 1850s. Maybe someone else has access to a later List?

Kerrywood

[barbara lee]

Thank you Kerrywood.

I never thought of the answer being in the Navy List, or that one would be on Google Books. The Navy List in the link you sent says on the front page that it is corrected to 20th September 1865, so that will do for me!

Barbara

[Geoffers]

In addition to Kerrywood's link; one of the great and free online resources for RN and RM research is Paul Beynon's web-site (http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html) which has conditions of service, pay, prize money, navy lists, etc.

Well worth making a cuppa and getting comfy for a browse.