This is Holy Trinity Church in the centre of Richmond Market Place. A small part of it is still used for services and prayer, but the main part of the church is the Regimental Museum for the Green Howards. This is an excellent museum, packed with interest for all, not just those with a military background. For a while I worked as a volunteer here and gained a lot of knowledge and friends. This picture by Terence Cuneo depicts the raising of the Regiment in 1688, the time of the Glorious Revolution, by Francis Luttrell at Dunster Castle in Devon. The Regiment supported William of Orange and was deployed to Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne. For a large part of history regiments were named after, their Commanding Officer, and at one time there were two regiments named after a Howard. To differentiate between the two the 19th Regiment of Foot adapted their uniform to have green facings and became The Green Howards (or with received pronunciation The Grin Hards). By the 19th century various regiments had their own recruiting areas and The Green Howards became associated with Yorkshire. But they travelled the globe. The Green Howards moved to Richmond in 1873 and the Barracks were built in 1875. There are many places in Richmond which incorporate names associated with the regiment, or the insignia XIX, for the 19th Regiment of Foot. There is a Luttrell House, roads named after recipients of the Victoria Cross, Norwegian Royalty, and a Danish Princess. To give the regiment its full title it is "The Green Howards, Princess Alexandra's Own Yorkshire Regiment, the 19th of Foot". In 1875 the then Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, presented new colours to the regiment who then adopted her insignia and incorporated the letter "A" into their badge. In 1914 she became the first female Colonel in Chief of a regiment. But all this is just by way of an introduction. One day, when working amongst the archives and library of books held in the Museum I happened upon a register kept by a Padre, or several Padres, to the regiment recording baptisms, marriages and burials of military personnel and their families. So I copied the entries out by hand, thinking one day I would see what had happened to all these people. For many years in these registers the regiment had served in Ireland and thus recruited lots of men with Irish surnames. Oh dear, not easy to follow through, just too many called Kelly and Doyle and O'Brien. But just every so often someone did have a more distinctive name. Also as time went on the baptisms, marriages and burials moved on from Dublin to places such as Malta, Cephalonia, Zante, Corfu, Barbados, Trinidad, Quebec, Montreal. What happened to all the sons and daughters of these servicemen? Who were their wives? So this month I am looking at just a few military families to see how they travelled the world. By 1841 the baptisms record that the regiment had moved from Ireland to Malta (right at the bottom of the map above). On the 26th July Mrs Mary Dillon gave birth to a boy who was baptised on the 8th of August as Richard Henry son of Corporal Martin and Mary Dillon. They had already had a son Robert born in August 1839 when they were in Cork, and they had another son Alexander James in 1843 when they were in Cephalonia, by which time Martin was a Hospital Sergeant. Ten years later, 1851, Richard Henry was at school in London. I haven't found the other boys. This is the Royal Military Asylum for children of soldiers founded in 1801 and opened in 1803. It was for 700 boys and 300 girls, but from 1823 the girls were moved to a school in Southampton. Most of the boys were destined for a career in the army, but not exclusively so. It was later renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School. This photograph dates from about 1900 and is from the Historic England Archive ref cc97-00178. Around 1903 newspaper reports recorded that the school was moving out of Chelsea where it had occupied twelve acres, originally part of Lord Cadogan's estate, and was going to Dover. At that time there were 550 children between 9 years and 16 years. Educating the children of military personnel has always been a problem as their parents have such frequent moves, and this institution offered a solution for some. Father Martin Dillon was discharged from the regiment when he was 34 years old. Richard Henry did go into the army in the 1st Batallion 19th of Foot. The registers then record that the regiment moved on from Malta to various of the Ionian Isles from Corfu down to Zante, on the map above between Greece and Italy. What were they doing there? Now a holiday destination it seems strange that British soldiers were garrisoned on these islands. The British gained vast territories across the globe at the very end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries as a result of wars in Europe. These included Trinidad, Tobago, St Lucia, Dominica, Guiana, Malta, the Ionian Isles and even a strange place called Heligoland. But first the Ionian Isles. These had been part of the Venetian Empire until taken over by the French in the Napoleonic wars. However they would have been useful to both the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and the Russians, and were at the centre of a power struggle with the French. But the British captured them in 1809 and by the Congress of Vienna [1814- 1815] they were made a British Protectorate with Corfu as the capital and remained so until 1864 when they became Greek (but Britain had a hand in who became King of Greece). So that is why the 19th of Foot were in this part of the Mediterranean. Around the globe regiments were garrisoned to protect places which were strategic for the British Naval fleet, one being the Cape of Good Hope. Which brings me to a soldier with the very distinctive name of Charles Highmore Potts. What a joy to have someone with such a name. Not only did Charles have a distinctive name, he married a woman with a very unusual Christian name. I have not traced his marriage(s) but they are available on t'internet. He married twice, each time in Cape Town, and his second wife was called Geertruidijda Haupt, married on 7 February 1825. He was an officer in the Green Howards in the time when to become an officer you had to purchase your commission. According to the type of regiment there was a sliding scale of costs, which could amount to thousands of pounds. Appointments in the armed forces were and still are (I think) recorded in the London Gazette, and were then often copied into other provincial newspapers. This is from The London Gazette 24 February 1829. But we will go back before we go forward. Army Lists record who was in which regiment and the rank that they held. In 1816 Charles Highmore Potts was a Cornet in the 19th of Foot, this does not mean he was a musical instrument, but the name of a rank, sometimes also called an Ensign, and he would have paid about £400 for this position. In 1817 he was a Lieutenant, which would have cost him £550. By 1825 he was a Captain and would have paid about £1,500 for this rank. By 1838 he was a Major which would have cost him £2,600. He had had children by his first wife as The Morning Herald recorded in the Deaths - on 10th June 1822 at his house in Egmore, Madras, the infant boy of Lieut Charles Highmore Potts. And on the 21st of the same month the Lady of Lieut Highmore Potts, his Majesty’s 54th regiment , aged 23 years. So he had been in Madras, but married in Cape Town, which would have been a stopping off point on the voyage to and from Britain. There was a birth of a Charles Highmore H Potts in Tobago registered in Overseas Births in 1834 as an Army Birth. Then the registers that I copied out record that in 1840 Charles and his wife Gertruyda had a daughter also called Gertruyda Maria, at the Royal Barracks in Dublin. In 1841 they had another daughter called Emma baptised at the Royal Palace Chapel in Malta. By 1851 he was in barracks at Brecknock in Wales, his wife now Gretruda (easier to spell) was aged 39 years, born Cape of Good Hope. But then his life started to fall apart. And how often this is a gift for historians. This is from The London Gazette 15 April 1859. The London Gazette not only recorded purchased commissions in the armed forces, but those who were insolvent or bankrupt. This is the Debtor's Court in Portugal Street around 1911, photograph from Historic England ref BB99/03261 Charles Highmore Potts was summoned to attend here, a Colonel in the army [the commission could have cost him upwards of £3,600], at the suit of his creditors a Mr Howells and a Mr Took. His debts exceeded £2,000, and were long standing. The principal creditor was Mr Howells and Mr Took was owed money for educating Highmore's son. So he had not sent his children to the Asylum in Chelsea for educating soldier's children. The piece in the London Gazette of 15 April 1859 then proceeded to list all the known addresses of Charles Highmore Potts, in case any other creditors decided to raise their cases. It was a LONG LIST. It started with Barracks in Dublin, then Cork, next the Barracks in Malta, Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, then Corfu again. Then he was back in Blighty at the Sun Hotel, Chatham, Kent, then back to Ireland at barracks in Boyle, Roscommon, then Sligo, back to Boyle Barracks before on to Castlebar, Mayo, then Toxford in Mayo, next Mullingar in West Meath, then Naas in Kildare before back to Dublin. Then on to Wales and Brecon where he was in 1851, not long there then on to Plymouth, then Winchester, next Portsmouth, all of these in barracks. Then Civvy Street - 17 Arundel Street, near Leicester Square, next he went abroad, Flamande Street, Bruges, Belgium, possibly to excape his creditors? Who knows? he changed addresses in Bruges to Chateaux St Croix, which sounds quite grand, but then to Rue d'Espagnole, then no. 9 Rue Philipstock in Bruges and then back to London and Arundel Street again. Phew, what a life, did he ever unpack? Was his wife with him all that time? But his debts - the court had to decide what income he had and how much he could repay his creditors. The hearing in May 1859 said that he had income of £247 a year less income taxes, and if £90 was set aside for his creditors he would have 1/9d a day to live on (I have not checked this), which was not enough for himself and his wife after 40 years of army service. The Chief Commissioner pronounced a judgement of six months at the suit of the creditors generally and eight months at the suit of Mr Took for contracting his debt without reasonable expectations of payment. Sadly one of his daughters died in 1860, Gertrude Maria, at West Brompton in London, eldest daughter of Colonel Charles Highmore Potts late of the 19th Regiment. Then in the 1861 census he was in Chelsea with his wife from the Cape of Good Hope, a son born in the West Indies and daughter Emma born in Malta. Gertruijda (reverted to original spelling) the beloved and deeply lamented wife of Colonel Charles Highmore Potts died in 1865. Charles died in Worthing in Sussex in 1883. He was born in Carlisle in 1795, and his career in the Green Howards had taken him around the globe. He seems to have survived his insolvency, and only his military career was recorded in death notices in newspapers. This from The York Herald 24 February 1883. Another distinctive name in the registers is that of Samuel Lindenbergh (with or without the h). When Samuel was in Cork the regimental Padre baptised a daughter Isabella daughter of Private Samuel and Jane Lindenbergh 30 August 1840. By 1842 the Lindenberghs were in Malta and Samuel was now a Corporal and they had another daughter, Emma. By 1848 Samuel was a Drum Major and they were in St Vincent and had another daughter , Livinia. This snip has come out rather tiny, but is from an Army Muster Book for 1814 - 1815. At the top of the column for names it says "Boys". The third name down is Samuel Lindenberg and records that he joined the 19th Regiment of Foot at Trincomalie. This is quite interesting as there is a Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, and the 19th Regiment of Foot were stationed there at the time of the Kandy Wars and there was a wonderful Colour Serjeant Calladine of the Green Howards who kept a diary of his time there. But back to Samuel Lindenberg. There is a record af an army marriage of a Samuel Lindenberg in Trinidad in 1835 to Jane Kelly, who sounds Irish. How did she get to Trinidad? They then came back to Cork, went to Malta and then St Vincent in the Caribbean or the Windward Island of the Lesser Antilles. Finally there is an entry in the Registers of Chelsea Pensions payable in the colonies that a Samuel Lindenberg was admited on the 9th April '50 and his residence was in Montreal. In the Canadian Immigrant records there is a Samuel Lindenberg who arrived in Quebec in 1851, saying that he was born in Ceylon and was aged 50. This is part of the 1861 census for Quebec which shows Samuel Lindenberg aged 59. He is not with wife Jane, but someone called Elizabeth McDowell born Ireland aged 40, and then a whole list of children born in Canada. Canadian records also have the deaths of some of his children. This is another Canadian record, this time his death on the 18th April 1880. All these are just little snippets of a life of adventure, daring, danger, possibly disease, but a part of the political history of our ever changing world. Starting in Ceylon, ending in Canada, travel arrangements care of the Green Howards, Princess Alexandra's Own Yorkshire Regiment, the 19th of Foot. I can have many happy hours working my way through these registers. Perhaps more another time.
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