1st Regiment of Foot period 1740 - 1770

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22-01-2017, 10:03 AM
Jackboot

1st Regiment of Foot period 1740 - 1770

In the "Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Registers, 1667-1754 - Fleet Notebooks ", my 5th great grandfather, Barnes Boot, married on 7th June 1751 in London. His residence is given as "e 1st Regiment of Foot".
According to other documents he was Born in 1724 or 1728. he died in 1774 and was buried in St Martin in the Fields.I have him living in Bear Street by Leicester Square at the time of his death.
My question are:

1. I have searched the genealogy sites for further Information of his Military career (he served for 23 years) but have found no mention of him - is there anywhere else that I can look with a Chance of success?

2. Why would his Regiment be given as his residence - did he live in a barracks? If so where would this have ben in London at this time?

3. Why would he have a clandestine marriage at the Fleet?

Any help would be most welcome
Cheers
Jack
23-01-2017, 1:07 AM
elsinore

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackboot

3. Why would he have a clandestine marriage at the Fleet?

This Wiki article explains how and why Fleet marriages came about:

https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Marriage

Peter
23-01-2017, 11:14 AM
Peter Goodey

Quote:

Why would he have a clandestine marriage at the Fleet?

No questions asked! (except where's your money?)!

It's a bit early to stand much chance of finding surviving military records. I would have suggested the pay and muster records (WO12) but those for the 1st Foot only start in 1768.
23-01-2017, 12:32 PM
Jackboot

@ Elsinore - many thanks for that, now why didn't i think of that. Good old Wiki
23-01-2017, 12:39 PM
Jackboot

@ Peter, thanks for that, basically that's what I thought but why would a normal soldier want to marry in secret? there is no birth known immediatly after the marriage, I wouldn't have thought he had that much money available as a soldier. I thought that maybe it was to get out of living in a barracks (if indeed he did), but any church wedding would have done that for him.

Thanks for the Information on WO12, I was aware of it but didn't realise that it only started in 1768 - that saves me the effort of paying and going through it then.