Just looking at two of my distant relatives who joined the British Army in the 1820s. Joseph Bateman joined the 6th Dragoon Guards at Manchester on 1 March 1828, claiming to be 18, when he was (based on his baptism) at least 19y 10m old. His brother, Samuel Bateman, joined the 53rd Foot in March 1831, claiming to be 18 years 10 months old, when he was more like 20y 10m old. (Both sets of data from their discharge data on FindMyPast, though Samuel was indexed as James! Their identity is clear as both are recorded in the Army papers as coming from the small village of Haslington in Cheshire) Can anyone suggest if there is any reason why anyone should under-declare their age on joining the Army? I could believe ignorance, except both do it, which makes it slightly less believable. Was there, perhaps, an upper limit on age? I note that Joseph was to receive a bounty of £2 12s. Always tricky to evaluate but comparing to average earnings, the MeasuringWorth web-site suggests that this amount in 1828 bore the same relation to Joseph's earnings as £1,940 would to an average worker in 2013. (Although he may only have had 2s 6d in cash). Could it be that this bounty was payable only to 18y olds? Grateful for any thoughts... Adrian Bruce

My own grandfather did exactly the same in 1906...he was small for his age and wished to persuade the Army that he was still growing. I assume from what he told me, there was a minimum height restriction. Carole -----Original Message----- From: Adrian Bruce <abruce@madasafish.com> To: sog-uk@rootsweb.com Sent: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 21:45 Subject: [SOG-UK] Under-declaration of age on entry to the Army Just looking at two of my distant relatives who joined the British Army in the 1820s. Joseph Bateman joined the 6th Dragoon Guards at Manchester on 1 March 1828, claiming to be 18, when he was (based on his baptism) at least 19y 10m old. His brother, Samuel Bateman, joined the 53rd Foot in March 1831, claiming to be 18 years 10 months old, when he was more like 20y 10m old. (Both sets of data from their discharge data on FindMyPast, though Samuel was indexed as James! Their identity is clear as both are recorded in the Army papers as coming from the small village of Haslington in Cheshire) Can anyone suggest if there is any reason why anyone should under-declare their age on joining the Army? I could believe ignorance, except both do it, which makes it slightly less believable. Was there, perhaps, an upper limit on age? I note that Joseph was to receive a bounty of £2 12s. Always tricky to evaluate but comparing to average earnings, the MeasuringWorth web-site suggests that this amount in 1828 bore the same relation to Joseph's earnings as £1,940 would to an average worker in 2013. (Although he may only have had 2s 6d in cash). Could it be that this bounty was payable only to 18y olds? Grateful for any thoughts... Adrian Bruce ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOG-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message