Understanding Muster Rolls of 1st Foot Guards
I’m researching the history of my 4x Great-Grandfather, a Private James Cotton, who served in 3/1st Foot Guards from 1803-1818 and saw active service both in the Peninsula, and then at Waterloo. I started with his discharge record, and then have subsequently built up a record of his activities from the muster rolls at the National Archives.
I find the muster rolls very useful, but I am struggling to fully understand them and I can’t find any relevant information online about how to interpret/read some of the details. I have the following questions, and would be grateful if anyone could provide some insight, or point me in the direction of places where I could find answers to these questions ?
A muster is for a period of six months, but I think the muster record itself is simply telling you what the soldier was doing on the date of muster itself. Is that right ? If so, and they have had a variety of different situations during the period of the muster, is this ignored, or would it be described elsewhere ? What happened for example if they were not eligible for pay for part of the muster period ? How would this be recorded and calculated ?
The muster is always for a period of six months from 25th June – 24th Dec or from 25th Dec – 24th June, but the place of muster always has a later date, usually a few months after the end of the muster period, but sometimes more than one year later. Furthermore, the officers certificate is then usually signed a few days after the muster place is dated. How do we interpret these different dates and places ?
Often, many of the soldiers are on “duty” or “command”, but other soldiers simply have a blank next to their name. What does a blank entry signify, and what do on “Duty” and on “Command” mean ?
If a soldier shows as being on “furlough” I assume this means that he was taking a break from the company with permission of his superiors ? Under what sort of circumstances would this happen ?
Any insight would be gratefully received.