Hi Ed, If your William Rowlands was born to parents who may have come with the the British armed forces to Ceylon, you may find an index to his Birth in the . GRO indexes for BMDs of Army Chaplains Returns for Stations Abroad Just check with your local genealogical Society, or Latter Day Saints. Births of Children:- Index to certified copies of registers of births (officers, soldiers, & their families) from chaplains to the forces at stations abroad, 1796-1880. Aar - Jed (GRO no F540) - fiche 1 Jef - Wil (GRO no F541) - fiche 2 Wil - Zam (GRO no F542) fiche 3 Children are listed by name...the Regiment of the father, the country in which they were born, and the year of their birth, the Volume Number and page on the GRO Record.. (Bear in mind that the father may have transferred to different regiments ) Once you have the Volume Number and Page Number, you can order the Certificate from the GRO. Good Luck Gay ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Rowlands" <edrowlan@bigpond.net.au> To: <srilanka@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:40 PM Subject: Re: [SRILANKA] ROWLANDS > Hi Georgina, The Rowlands family that we are researching at present > starts > with a William Rowlands of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. A letter from the > PRO > of data taken from the Muster Books and Pay Lists of the CRR > (W.O.12/10601-10626) indicates that he enlisted in Ceylon, on 1.4.1826 and > was discharged on 31.7.1850. The other important information is that his > place of birth was recorded as Colombo, there was no reference to his age,