68th regiment of foot 1850-1870

lpearce · Post by **lpearce** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:52 pm

We are trying to find information on Thomas Walker b. 1840 . We know he married Sarah Hutchinson b. 1844.

We can find no record of either in the Scottish and English census or any death certificate.
From his sons marriage certificate we know Thomas had died by 1890 and that he was a Sergeant Major in the 68th Foot.
His son Christopher was born in 1861 in Rangoon, Burma and his son Thomas in Jamaica 1869.

Does anyone know if the 68th regiment of foot were stationed in Rangoon and Jamaica during this period?
We thought as he was a Sergeant Major we should be able to find some information about his military record but have had no luck.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
Les

apanderson · Post by **apanderson** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:14 pm

Hello Les,

Welcome to Talking Scot!

I can't answer your question but I'm sure someone will - or at least suggest the right direction to go in.

In the meantime, it might be worthwhile having a look at this site:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com

It's primarily a WW1 Forum but there are a few experts who have knowledge on wider military fields.

Good Luck,

Anne

Post by **Pandabean** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:19 pm

Hi Les,

A warm Welcome to TalkingScot

. I am not too clued up on pre WW1 regiments but hopefully David will be able to help you with an answer.

I did a quick check for the 68th Foot and they appear to be the Durham Light Infantry. Information can be found at the link below:
http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/068-758.htm

Also this website seems to list where they were stationed during their history. It seems they were in New Zealand in the 1860s after being in India. However the 1st btn seems to have went to Burma and been there for several years.
http://www.lightinfantry.org.uk/regimen ... foottl.htm

1857 - Indian Mutiny - 1st Battalion despatched to India via Egypt and the Red Sea, but on arrival sent to Burmah, where it remained several years. 2nd Bombay European Regiment becomes 106th Bombay Light Infantry.

Post by **Pandabean** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:29 pm

Quick note. I had a look on that Regiments Website and looked up the 1st Btn and found they were in Burma in 1857. This seems to be a more up to date list of the places they went to as it runs pretty close to the recent day

http://www.regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/068-1.htm

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu May 10, 2007 7:34 am

See Andy's post above for the location of the regiment in 1857 - 1883, - Burma, which fits with the Rangoon birth of 1861 of Christopher.

1869 for the Jamaica birth of Thomas, however, just doesn't fit with the locations shown for the 68th of Foot...........

At that time the 68th were a single battalion regiment, so that he couldn't have been transferred between battalions.

Do you have the actual registration document for Thomas' birth?

David

lpearce · Post by **lpearce** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:34 am

David
Thanks for that.
I cannot find a birth certificate for Thomas, but have the 1871 and 1881 census giving 1869 and Jamaica, also the 1901 says Jamaica.
Christopher's 1890 marriage certificate says his father was deceased and had been a Sergeant Major in the 68th Foot.

In 1870 their mother Sarah dies in Perth, so by 1871 Thomas, Christopher and their sister Sarah b.1867 Perth are living with their grand parents in Perth.
Incidentally their grand father’s 1843-marriage certificate says he is a private in the 68th foot and the 1871 census as a Pensioner Chelsea

There is no other sign of their father Thomas, would their be any way of finding regimental records of Thomas as he was Sergeant Major?

rivergazer · Post by **rivergazer** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:41 am

Hi

Just a chance he might be found on this link:

http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet

lpearce · Post by **lpearce** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:11 pm

That was really useful.
It has given me the Army Return of births and Baptisms reference for Christopher's birth in Rangoon.
For some reason it does not list the year but gives a reference Vol. 40 page 133.

How can I get a copy or more details of this?

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:21 pm

lpearce wrote:That was really useful.
It has given me the Army Return of births and Baptisms reference for Christopher's birth in Rangoon.
For some reason it does not list the year but gives a reference Vol. 40 page 133.

How can I get a copy or more details of this?

I'm not sure if findmypast.com can fix a copy for a price.

In any case, it might be less expensive to order from GRO, - see http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ ...... I'm not sure if you need to follow any special procedure to order a certificate from the Army Return of births and Baptisms.

While you've found the Rangoon reference, how about the Jamaica one

David

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:05 pm

lpearce wrote:.....snipped..............
There is no other sign of their father Thomas, would their be any way of finding regimental records of Thomas as he was Sergeant Major?

Absolutely.

There's nothing on-line on the TNA Catalogue, - that doesn't mean that there aren't any records for Sjt.Mjr. WALKER, just that TNA haven't yet added soldiers with his discharge date to the online records.

Sooo..... you either need visit The National Archives at Kew, or engage the services of a professional military records researcher.

David