Hi Caroline: It would suit me very well if my Joseph was one of the Birstall ones. And it's not an unlikely scenario. The foundling issue had never occurred to me until another researcher insisted that this was the most likely explanation. Unfortunately this researcher did not want to pursue the topic with me in spite of (apparently) having got their hands on Joseph's Waterloo medal. When I was at Kew, I started with the muster rolls at 1815 and worked forwards to see if I could find any identifying info. By the end of my day, I was in the mid 1820's with no sign of an end to Joseph's service. So I have to start at 1815 and work backwards to find his first entry. Is there any other way to find his attestation record assuming that there was one for little boys? Regards, Irene