G'day folks, An interesting lesson here for us all. Did you know about the Law records being on the net? Use the google search engine and this criteria "George Bridges Plantagenet FIELD" complete with " and " and see what happens. Now...have you had an idea yet? ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date forwarded: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 21:56:34 -0700 From: "Gordon Barlow" <[email protected]> Date sent: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 23:54:18 -0500 Organization: Subject: [India-L] New South Wales To: [email protected] Forwarded by: [email protected] George Bridges Plantagenet (don't ask!) FIELD was a Captain in the 23rd Native Infantry, pensioned 1828 and retired to Calcutta, where he died in 1861. HOWEVER... while surfing in Google the other night I tapped in his full name on the off-chance, and up came a report on his trial in Sydney, NSW, in 1838, before the Supreme Court of NSW for killing a horse that had invaded his wheat field. I'm sure you will all be pleased to know he was found Not Guilty (he claimed to have shot at it with powder only, and that the prosecution arose from a conspiracy by his "assigned servants" - prisoners, I assume), but some questions arise. Was it a common event, for retired India Army Officers to go wheat-farming in NSW around 1838? Second, why would a man retire as Captain, aged 39? Third, would there be a record of his entry into NSW, and back to Bengal? (His wife died in Calcutta in 1840. I don't know if he was there at the time, though it would be a natural enough thing for him to do, to return to civilization after such dreadful treatment in the convict colony.) Fourth, how would he have come to end up at Burragorang, way up-country from Sydney? The whole thing sounds bizarre. I got the surprise of my life to find the report. It just goes to show that casual searching for unusual names can be a profitable exercise. Gordon Barlow in West Indies ==== INDIA Mailing List ==== There's lot's of interesting browsing in Todd Mill's collection of internet links for India at: http://www.regiments.org/milhist/southasia/india.htm ------- End of forwarded message ------- ================================================ SAVE THE AUSTRALIAN CENSUS FROM DESTRUCTION On 7 August 2001 vote YES