Irene, The Description Book for 1 Battn 52 Foot, 1803-1808 (WO 25/406 fo 74) tells us: Joseph BOYE, height 5ft 4ins, age 18 years; complexion [Round]; visage Oval, eyes Hazel, hair Dark Brown. Born Berks, Wantage; trade Labourer. Enlisted by Major Brand at Newbury 17 July 1805. Transfered from 2 Battn 24 April 1808. The Description Book for 2 Battn 52 Foot, 1807-1831 (WO 25/408 fo 18) tells us: Joseph BUY, height 5ft 1 1/2ins, age 16 years; complexion Fair, visage Brown, eyes Hazel, hair Brown. Born Berks, Wantage; trade Farmer. Former service: Recruit.. Enlisted by [SM] Burdett at Newbury 26 Feb 1805. Boy from GS transferred to 1 Battn 24 April 1808. The ages/place of birth would seem to indicate that you have located the correct man in the registers for Wantage. cheers Chris Watts ----- Original Message ----- From: "Irene Marlborough" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 10:30 PM Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] SOG-UK Foundlings in the Army > Doh! I can't believe I got the arithmetic wrong again! Thanks for pointing > it out Caroline. I must say that I am really excited by all this. The chap > who told me that Joseph was a foundling did me a favour. It seemed all too > plausible but now it seems that it wasn't true at all. > > Chris Watts is a true champ with this RAOGK. I can only say that I do my > best to pass the favour forwards. > > I'll keep the list posted about progress with Joseph. I'm glad that so > many > of you were intrigued by the story. > > Best wishes, Irene > > > ------------------------------- > 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
Hello Chris: Thank you so very much for this. After Joseph being a mystery man for 20+ years for me, now I feel I can almost see him. I'm a bit confused about the 2 different enlistment dates. Farmer is probably an inflated description of ag lab. But was he 18 on enlistment or 16? The 2nd description is evidently of a later date but it's certainly the same chap. I read up a bit about recruitment and found it fascinating stuff. It seems to me that Joseph must have signed up for life otherwise he'd have taken a discharge in 1812 or 1819. Especially likely in 1819 as he was about to be married. Now if it's true that he was in "for life", how did he get permission to marry? And what woman in her right mind would marry such a man. He sounds like a good looker - must be where I get my looks from :-)). But even so, unless she got permission to travel with the regiment (unlikely) she'd be lucky to see him again. I'm convinced enough to begin researching the BUY/BYE family of Berkshire though it's a new county for me and I'm unsure of the resources. In the meantime, I'm still investigating the life of ordinary soldiers and I'm still very interested in the recruitment process. At 16 would he have been given his own signing bonus or would that have been paid to his parents. In other words, might he have been "sold" to the army - with his consent, of course but without understanding the true consequences at that tender age. It's still absolutely stunning to have such a graphic description of my 4th gt grandfather. Thank you so much, Irene