Hi Ian and Mike. Unfortunately, John Little simply doesn't appear in documentsonline at all. Presumably he would have left the Royal Navy before 1873, when the records start. This fits with what Mike suggested. On the other hand, we did find my husband's direct ancestor in documentsonline. According to the doc, he enlisted on 2 April 1896 for 12 years. There is a note that, as of Feb. 29th, '96, he transferred from the Royal Marines to the Royal Navy. Here's the puzzle. His actual service in the RN lasted from April 2 1896 to August 2, 1896, clearly MUCH less than 12 years. Under the column "If discharged, for what cause?" it states "Run" quite clearly. A note at the bottom adds Run 2-8-96 Karachi (Brisk). Brisk is the name of the ship he was on. In fact his entire service record is one line and, amusingly, the authorities have drawn a line under his record and added a second one underneath. We wonder if "Run" means he "ran away"? or could this possibly be something else? Thanks, Lynne Quoting Ian Thirlwell <[email protected]>: > Lynne, > > if you find his post 1873 record in documentsonline and he also served > before then, the post 1873 record should also give you his earlier > Continuous Service (CS) number. These are in three series from 1853 to > 1872 and you need to check if the CS number has a suffix a or b is is > without a suffix. This number, including suffix of present, can be used > to order the earlier service record from ADM 139 in the National Archives. > There's explanation of all this in Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Bruno > Pappalardo. > > Cheers, > Ian > > lynne robinson wrote: >> Hi Mike, >> >> That's very helpful. Its difficult for me to judge how the class >> system might >> have worked at that time. Just to be sure I understand, my >> gggrandfather, the >> petty officer, would have been a COMMISSIONED officer and therefore likely >> wouldn't have left the Navy until he died or retired? >> >> How likely is it that he died on land and had his death recorded there? >> I can't >> find him in the online Royal Navy lists and, since they start at 1873, he >> should be there unless he died or retired prior to that. I guess he >> could have >> been invalided out since he likely would have been too young to retire. >> >> Any clues as to his likely life history are helpful since I have had great >> difficulty in being sure I have the right John Little. >> >> Hope you are enjoying your retirement, Mike. Thanks for taking time to help >> those of us who are still slaving away. >> >> >> Lynne >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message >

Hi Lynne, it's possible that there will be pre 1973 records, the problem though is finding them. There are files with surname indexes but they aren't searchable online. Reading from Pappalardo's book, sevice between 1853 and 1872 is split into two in the indexes: 1853-1862, and 1863-1872. For surnames beginning K to R the earlier index is in ADM 139/1021, the later in ADM 139/1025. From these you can obtain the CS number to look for the actual service record. I haven't gone through this procedure myself so don't know how easy it is to search the indexes. If they are straightforwardly in name alphabetic order, the National Archives may be able to find the entry for a particular name within their allotted time through an estimate request. "Run" means basically deserted. It appears quite frequently in the records, much more, perhaps, than you'd expect. Cheers, Ian lynne robinson wrote: > Hi Ian and Mike. > > Unfortunately, John Little simply doesn't appear in documentsonline at all. > Presumably he would have left the Royal Navy before 1873, when the records > start. This fits with what Mike suggested. > > On the other hand, we did find my husband's direct ancestor in documentsonline. > According to the doc, he enlisted on 2 April 1896 for 12 years. There is a note > that, as of Feb. 29th, '96, he transferred from the Royal Marines to the Royal > Navy. Here's the puzzle. His actual service in the RN lasted from April 2 1896 > to August 2, 1896, clearly MUCH less than 12 years. Under the column "If > discharged, for what cause?" it states "Run" quite clearly. A note at the > bottom adds Run 2-8-96 Karachi (Brisk). Brisk is the name of the ship he was > on. In fact his entire service record is one line and, amusingly, the > authorities have drawn a line under his record and added a second one > underneath. > > We wonder if "Run" means he "ran away"? or could this possibly be something > else? > > Thanks, > > Lynne > > > > >

Hi Ian and Mike. Thanks for confirming what we felt was likely, that the "Run" means deserted and for the info about how common it is. Thanks so much also for the very specific info about how to search these records. Because I know so very little about this man, and haven't even found a marriage between him and the mother of my ggrandmother, this will likely be necessary. He is named on my ggrandmother's birth certificate and as her father on her marriage certificate, but beyond that, and the children who appear in the censuses with the surname "Little", we haven't definitively linked a specific John Little to the family. Lynne Quoting Ian Thirlwell <[email protected]>: > Hi Lynne, > it's possible that there will be pre 1973 records, the problem though is > finding them. There are files with surname indexes but they aren't > searchable online. Reading from Pappalardo's book, sevice between 1853 > and 1872 is split into two in the indexes: 1853-1862, and 1863-1872. For > surnames beginning K to R the earlier index is in ADM 139/1021, the > later in ADM 139/1025. From these you can obtain the CS number to look > for the actual service record. I haven't gone through this procedure > myself so don't know how easy it is to search the indexes. If they are > straightforwardly in name alphabetic order, the National Archives may be > able to find the entry for a particular name within their allotted time > through an estimate request. > > "Run" means basically deserted. It appears quite frequently in the > records, much more, perhaps, than you'd expect. > Cheers, > Ian