Royal Artillery Muster Rolls

[JB]

After a fruitless search for my GGGG GFather in the Royal Artillery 4th Battln based at Leith in 1798 I eventually tracked him down to the RA 3rd Battln Detachment in Woolwich. A very enjoyable experience wading through hefty & dusty description books, discharge papers and muster rolls at The National Archive Kew.

I ran out of time and have not completed my search of the muster rolls for his whole service period (1798-1802). However I wonder if anyone can help explain the following annotations made in red against some of the names on the muster roll

One entry in Aug 1799 against my ancester's name is "Guard". Would this mean he was on guard duty or perhaps in the guardhouse?

Another entry in July 1800 against his name is "Employed". Would this mean that he had become a gunner and was now employed rather than being trained? Seems unlikely to me if he enlisted in 1798.

In October 1800 his name has the annotation "Duty" which I think seems quite straightforward.

Annoyingly for all the other months that I have managed to view there are no red entries against his name.
Interestingly his enlistment details show amongst other things he was a weaver before joining up; he was 5ft 6ins and could read and write.
Gunners earned the princely sum of £1-19- 4¾ in the 1790s.
Intriguing questions I still need to research - How long did it take to get to Woolwich from Edinburgh? Did his new wife also go to Woolwich or stay behind in Leith? Why was he discharged unfit for service after such a short period?

[Currie]

Hello JB,

Can’t say I’ve ever seen one of those documents although I’d guess he would be more likely to be on Guard Duty rather than being guarded. Someone who has accessed the records of one of theirs from around that time might have a better idea.

I went looking for some sort of documentation on completion of Muster Rolls and the closest I could find related to Local Militia 1812. Possibly not much help but it contains all sorts of detailed instructions on completion of forms, marching, saluting, you name it it’s there. You might find it interesting.

The Local Militia Paymaster; or, Military Friend, by George Thomas, 1812.
http://www.google.com.au/books?id=1pUNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1

It’s difficult to read online but once downloaded it’s not a problem although it can be a bit of a struggle for a slowish computer like mine. The following guide is for a much later period.

Guide To the Military Examination, by Thomas Martin, 1855.
http://www.google.com.au/books?id=JVIBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1
and
http://www.google.com.au/books?id=H1IBA ... =titlepage

London to Edinburgh, by land or by sea? Try searching Google Books “full view” for “London to Edinburgh” and "Edinburgh to London”. You can almost guarantee that any journey descriptions will be pre 1860s.

Hope this helps,
Alan.

[LesleyB]

Hi JB

How long did it take to get to Woolwich from Edinburgh?

The obvious way to go would be by sea in those days, I think - both are ports. Couple of days maybe? Not sure - I would need to find some documentation. There certainly was a good bit of movement between Leith and London with regular sailings. These were advertised in the Scotsman among other places.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... 1372/pg_13

In evidence before a parliamentary select committee in 1819 Peter Hedderwick, a noted designer of fast sailing ships, stated that the shortest passage time he knew of between London and Leith on a course of 460 miles was fifty to fifty-four hours.

Best wishes
Lesley