Robert Richards born abt 1788 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, July 30, 2012, 02:59 (4495 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Jenny,
thanks for your reply, altho I'm now a little confused.
The Robert I found was the best fit wrt age from the Brecon Militia's own archives, please re-study the records of the 43 various Richards and I think you'll understand my thinking. Personally I would consider their records to be more likely to be correct & reliable than those from the Hospital/War Office.
http://www.monmouthcastlemuseum-archives.org.uk/regsearch.php?submit=go&srch_surnam...

Only two are Roberts, namely

Richards, Robert
Date of attestation: 1812-11-25
Place of attestation: Brecon
Attested by: Sergeant Parry
Place of birth: Merthyr Tydfil Glamorgan
Age at enlistment: 27 years 300 days
Occupation: Collier
Height at enlistment: 5 feet 3½ inches
Physical description: Complexion fresh; eyes hazel; hair brown; face round
Record of service: Transferred 11/12/1813 to Waggon Train

So this Robert was age nearly 28 in late 1812, so born abt 1774, so not fitting your records at all.

OR

Richards, Robert
Date of attestation: 1807-12-23
Place of attestation: Llandilo
Attested by: Principle
Place of birth: Monmouth Monmouthshire
Age at enlistment: 18 years
Occupation: Sailor
Height at enlistment: 5 feet 4 inches
Physical description: Complexion fresh; eyes grey; hair brown; face round
Record of service: Corporal 26/09/1809

So this Robert was age 18 in late 1807, hence born abt 1788 which fits perfectly.

Personally I'm happy to think that "sailor" should read "nailer" and this is either a transcription error (I've seen much worse eg "ship steward" when the census form clearly reads "shepherd" !) or perhaps he was just misheard when asked during his enlistment.
Also, this was his occupation when asked in 1807 as a young man, its not impossible he was a sailor then, albeit briefly perhaps. In later years when he was a Pensioner it's possible that he had actually become a nailer by then, maybe since living with his shoemaker brother ?

It's a shame these archives don't include Stephen, altho I see there are no records for his much earlier enlistment period. I suspect this is because Robert was enlisted at the start of the long & bloody Peninsular (aka Napoleonic) Wars, a period of heightened & continuous Army recruitment until the wars' end at Waterloo in 1815.

You mention his height being in error, I wonder why ?. If you think this seems too short compared to nowadays, please note that due to poor diet etc people were all much shorter then. The two Roberts above are equally short, as indeed are most of the 43 Richards' in the Militia lists above; the tallest is only 5'9" and most abt 5'6". If you study British Army uniforms in museums etc they appear very small even from years later upto WW1. My father is of South Wales stock, he was abt 5'6" like all his siblings & parents, most men his age in my Forest home town appear this height too and used to think me very tall at 6' (due to my English mother's very lanky line).

My search of TNA archives gave the following which I thought correlated with your FMP findings ?

ROBERT RICHARDS
Born MONMOUTH, Monmouthshire
Served in Brecon Militia
Discharged aged 40
Covering dates 1807-1829
Held by The National Archives, Kew

ie Robert was enlisted in 1807 and discharged in 1829, aged 40; giving his birth abt 1789 and age 18 on enlisting. This all fits your records very nicely.

STEPHEN RICHARDS
Born MONMOUTH, Monmouthshire
Served in Wiltshire Militia; Monmouthshire Militia
Discharged aged 42
Covering dates 1792-1816
Held by The National Archives, Kew

ie Stephen was enlisted in 1792 and discharged in 1816, aged 42; giving his birth abt 1774 and age 18 on enlisting.

Do the CP records you have give more detail than this, or indeed are they different ?? As I asked earlier, does the data you obtained from the FMP site give more/different information than this ??? As I said earlier while trying my best to help you I'm trying to learn more too, every little helps.

In my opinion the quoted birthplaces are only to be considered as guides; as with Census information this is often incorrect, either due to a careless approach by the official recording the information(they may have not asked but just assumed, or they may not have asked properly eg "where are you from?" rather than "where were you born?"); or by the enlisting soldier not knowing or being unsure or unwilling to say with accuracy. Such errors are common, I have seen one of my ancestors apparently vary in birthplace thro' the Census's from "Lydbrook Glos England" in 1901, back to "Not Known" in 1881 and then "Aberdare Glamorgan Wales" in 1861 !! The replies given were never checked or corellated.

I hope this makes more sense now, sorry if I wasn't clear before.