Info from service document, c1819

[thewideeyedowl]

These two snippets are from a record book (1819), listing service personnel and pensions, but some of the words I find indecipherable. Please can you help with these two snippets:

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/extensions/uploads/43a179f2-caf4-410f-ba88-d981d283572f.jpg

His age is 27. He served for 9 years and 2 months, and 1 year and 7 months. But I cannot properly decipher the block of words/figures between, which seems to have been added later and include '3 July 1821'. Any ideas?

This second one is slightly easier:

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/extensions/uploads/1582e6e0-fae9-479d-85e1-32371e836add.jpg

The man (Daniel Downer) broke his scapula when his horse had a fall in Portugal and at the end of his service he was granted a very small pension (6d/day). The shoulder was expected to give him problems for the rest of his life - the first words are something like 'Reduction of debility of right shoulder...'. It's the word that is/isn't 'debility' that I cannot properly make out.

Many thanks for reading this and having a go at deciphering it.

Owl

[arthurk]

I can't help with the first extract, but I think the second one starts "Reduction & debility..." with an ampersand in one of its many variants. I'm not sure what reduction is in this context - reduction in movement?

Arthur

[Pam Downes]

I would agree with Arthur about the second one beginning 'Reduction & debility...'

Re the first one, it's a slightly obvious question but do the columns have headings? Or at least headings on earlier pages?

Pam

[Waitabit]

I guess I might have a guess here:
1 Vet Batt. Op. 3 July 1821 9. 2/m? to 1.(of) 7/m? (month?) ok read it again, you have that bit sussed.

[Waitabit]

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/17537/page/2081

Mentions the 1st Veterans Battalion, & the royal Waggon train.

[thewideeyedowl]

Many many thanks to all who have been zooming in on this on computer screens. With regards to the first snippet, I too have come to the conclusion that it is 'Reduction & debility'. There are 24 men entered on this page of the Admissions Register and the description of their complaint almost invariably starts 'Reduction..'. I think, therefore, that is the way the examining doctor/registrar would have recorded what we would term 'Disability'. (So many of the men on this page had a horse fall under them (like Daniel) i.e. it was the horse's fault, or they had a fall from the horse, i.e. it was their fault, or had a waggon run over part of them, etc etc.)

The pages under examination are from the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Records & Service Records 1760-1882 - (TNA ref: WO 120, Piece 21) - which I have accessed via Ancestry.

There are 15 columns, which I will try to paste in from my transcription here. The columns that do not apply to Daniel are in italics. The indecipherable addition is written across cols 4-7.

(p)437
Royal Waggon Train

Double-page spread, with 15 columns:
1 Admission [date]: 12th May 1819
2 Name: Danl Downer
3 Age: 27

4 Quarter Master Serjeant
5 Serj Major
6 Serjt
7 Corpl

8 Private [Years/months]: 9/2, 1/7

9 India
East West

10 Total [service, yrs/mths]: 10/9
11 Rate per day: 6
12 Complaint: Reduction (?)of debility(?) of right shoulder from fracture of the scapula by a fall
of his horse in Portugal.
13 Where born: Godshill, Hants
14 Trade or Occupation: Mason
[ht/hair/eyes/complexion] 5/6, Brn, Grey, Fresh

15 Remarks

I know from his discharge papers of 1819 that he was 5' 6", had brown hair, grey eyes, and a fresh complexion - so that explains the text under the word 'Mason'. He seems to have sustained the injury in Portugal quite early in his service - I suspect after 1 year and 7 months - but they kept him on. He shows up in Canada in 1812(?), and is discharged after all hostilities were over, as most of the men were.

My next task will be to investigate the Veterans' Battalion......

Thank you everyone for your interest in this chap.

Owl