On Mon, 08 Dec 2014 10:59:27 -0000, David Marshall via <[email protected]> wrote: > On 08/12/2014 10:49, Anne Chambers wrote: >> David Marshall wrote: >> >>> >>> My thanks to all who made suggestions. I am a little surprised that >>> "lacemaker" would have been considered >>> more prestigious than "Corporal in the Grenadier Guards" but maybe he >>> just considered his military service a >>> temporary episode in his life - he bought himself out and returned to >>> lacemaking a couple of years later. >>> >>> David >>> >> A temporary aberration perhaps ? How long was he in the Army; had there >> been any Army recruiting operations in the vicinity when he joined up ? >> Did he sign up for xxx years and then have to wait until he could >> leave? >> > He enlisted in his home town of Nottingham in January 1877 for 12 years > and purchased his release for £9 in July 1885. I have not yet found out > why the wedding was in Clewer. Nottingham is the home of lacemaking. I think that in a civilian context, being a lacemaker from Nottingham would trump being a Corporal in pretty much any regiment. As for Clewer, there's a large 'house' nearby (aka Windsor Castle) that could provide ample excuse for the Grenadier Guards being nearby. So you only have to wonder why a girl from Ireland was in Clewer ... in service perhaps? = Malcolm. -- Malcolm Austen <[email protected]> GENUKI trustee <[email protected]> Pedigree User Group <[email protected]> Oxfordshire FHS <[email protected]> FFHS Communications Officer <[email protected]>