Ancestors at Waterloo?

[Phoenix]

How do you know, if there isn't a story in the family?

I suppose WO97 if they survived, but what if they weren't discharged to pension?

This website is asking for details: http://www.waterloo200.org/descendants/

[annswabey]

Medal roll, but then if they had a common name, hard to confirm. Also perhaps an obit in the local paper mentioning that a man who had died in later life was a Waterloo veteran (if true!)

[Phoenix]

This is why I much prefer naval records.

[annswabey]

Oh no! Army records are best!

[Phoenix]

Nonsense! I can tell you what the weather was like on any particular day, what provisions were taken on board, have physical descriptions, even for those who died at sea, know how much they spent on tobacco & soap..... go on, trump me!

[annswabey]

So can I, back to a ship I looked at in 1700 - amazing, really. A diet of basically "cabbidges"

I suppose I mean that Army records are easier to find and search, and give plenty of info.

[Phoenix]

Perhaps it depends on who taught you. I have never found the best expert when I have a query, looked in vain at the wrong section of the muster rolls and got very confused over the jargon.

I know it took a long time to find my man in ADM29 but it would take almost as long to explore all the logs and musters connected to him. i can see whether a whole body of men signed up together from another ship. For another man, there is correspondence of the captain, asking for compassionate leave, which explains why the whole crew transferred temporarily to another ship.

"cabbidges" eh? I can just imagine what the sleeping quarters smelt like!

[annswabey]

Only one person to ask at Kew for advice on military stuff - William Spencer.

It was a journey over to America so no doubt the "cabbidge" aroma hung around for a while!

[Shona]

Those German monarchs...coming over here and feeding our sailors sauerkraut! Outrage!

From 1757: '...a German dish...which is nothing but cabbage cut small, pressed down, and preserved in a manner to keep it a long time. This dish is much esteemed by His Majesty and it would surely be no handicap upon the sailors to be obliged to eat with their meat whatever their Sovereign esteems a delicacy.'

[annswabey]

It might be a handicap if they had to eat it every day for weeks!

[Nell]

Well, cabbidges apart, there were the toilet facilities, lack of deoderant or air freshener. I guess they'd just be immune to the stench. And it made a change from weevil biscuits!