Case Study 1 of 3
Background:
David Quarrier was recorded on the 1851 Census as an in-Pensioner, and also on his death certificate. He died at Greenwich.
Preliminary internet Trawl:
David Quarrier's name came up on Kevin Asplin's website as an 1841 entrant. The medal roll for the Naval General Service Medal (1847) was interrogated (link via Wikipedia entry for NGSM to the DNW website's medal roll portal), and a Greenwich in-Pensioner of this name received a medal with a Java clasp. Most importantly, the Medal Roll advises that he was a sailor, with the rating of Carpenter's Crew.
Data from the archives at Kew:
The General Register of Pensioners (ADM 73/46) can be consulted for the basic details on a sailor. We know from the Medal roll that his entry id was 7018, and this will help us to find the relevant page of the Register.
More importantly, we know that he is a sailor, so we can use ADM 29.
This series is a number of books containing Certificates of Service.
The originals are held securely, and microfilm images of these original documents can be consulted by any visitor to Kew. (You do not need a visitor ticket to view the microfiche, whereas you have to have a reader ticket before you can view the originals.) [Edit: these have been made available online by Ancestry since 2014]
There are alphabetic name indexes on microfiche. There is one microfiche which contains images of index books ADM 29/97-99 (A to R from 1802 to 1868), and a second microfiche roll with images of index book ADM 29/100.
The following details were recorded in the index on the microfiche:
Quarrier, David 26 393
These record details were also available via the Catalogue
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/AdvancedSearch.mvc
The next step is to view ADM 29/26 on microfiche, or to order a copy to be sent to you from Kew. Page 393 will contain a Certificate of Service for this man.
Certificates of Service were recorded for in-Pensioner and out-Pensioner applicants.
For more information, please read Bruno Pappalardo's book "Tracing your Royal Navy Ancestors".
It would be great if The National Archives could digitise these certificates, and to digitise the out-Pensioner & in-Pensioner books.
Hopefully someone from FindMyPast or Ancestry will consider this as a future project.
[Edit: these have been made available online by FMP since 2016]
Update:
Gaining admission to Royal Hospital Greenwich was an over-subscribed activity.
The names of persons applying for entry appears in the ADM 6 series. It has come to light that some of these are transcribed.
The Catalogue was searched, using the following criteria:
Show results with... all of these words:
Quarrier
Search within:
ADM 6
The results show that David Quarrier applied for admission on 19 Nov 1840, 03 Dec 1840 and 17 Dec 1840
Case Study 2 of 3
Background:
William Whyley was recorded on the 1851 Census as an in-Pensioner, and also on his death certificate. He died at Greenwich.
Preliminary internet Trawl:
William Whyley's name came up on Kevin Asplin's website as an 1843 entrant. The medal roll for the Naval General Service Medal (1847) was interrogated (link via Wikipedia entry for NGSM to the DNW website's medal roll portal), and a Greenwich in-Pensioner of this name received a medal with a Copenhagen clasp.
Data from the archives at Kew:
The General Register of Pensioners (ADM 73/46) stated that he had served 13 years and 9 months, with his last ship as HMS Grampus. The next General Register of Pensioners (ADM 73/47) stated his death year, and also recorded his old entry number and the new entry number (7878 and 1200 respectively).
Working chronologically backwards, the pay book for HMS Grampus was consulted for 1813-5. It showed that Sergeant Whyley was disembarked in Portsmouth, and spent time in Haslar Hospital, before receiving a medical discharge from the Marines, subsequently obtaining an out-pension in October 1815. The HMS Grampus pay book for the period 1811-2 gave his embarkation date of 12 February 1812.
The pay & subsistence records of the Marines on shore (ADM 96 series) were useful in determining his previous ship.
Document ADM 96/324 (men subsisted by other Divisions 1812) stated that he arrived at Portsmouth on the 7th February, embarked on 11th February, and previous ship was "E.L.C" (established on Land at Chatham?) This document recorded that he was in the 82nd Company, and his rank was Sergeant.
Document ADM 96/308 (shore subsistence for 60-89 Coys) was consulted. The Q4 sheet states William disembarked HMS Elk on 21 October 1811, and was (subsisted on shore) at Chatham for the rest of the year. He was recorded as having the rank of Corporal.
He embarked HMS Elk at Chatham on 4th November 1804. The purser has a note that with effect from 9 December 1807, he will be a Marine Second Class (therefore his pay will increase). There is also a note that he was promoted to Corporal on 1st Aug 1807 (ADM 35/2787).
He disembarked HMS Calcutta on 24th September 1804 at Portsmouth, and was transported to Chatham on 4th October (ADM 96/244 Chatham Marines subsisted at Portsmouth Jul-Sept 1804). On 21 November 1802, he embarked HMS Calcutta; his birth place in the ship's pay book was recorded as Melksham, Wilts.
He embarks HMS Latona on 24th May (ADM 96/214 Chatham Companies Apr-Jun 1802). His time on HMS Latona is brief; he disembarked on 17 October 1802 (ADM 96/220 Chatham Companies Oct-Dec 1802).and his company number is recorded as 65 (ADM36/14538).
From 26 February 1801 to 5 May 1802, he is on the pay books of HMS Asia (ADM35/50) where there is a deduction under the column “beds” with reference to the Ardent. The Asia was being readied for commissioning when William and several other Marines were entered on her books and they were actually taken on that same date directly from Chatham Barracks on HMS Leyden (ADM32/15302 Leyden muster books and Leyden’s logs) to Lowestoft Roads where William was transferred to HMS Ardent preparatory to her sailing with the fleet to Copenhagen. He is shown as a supernumerary on the Leyden and Ardent being paid for all this time by the Asia. The Ardent muster book (ADM36/13890) shows him and other supernumeraries marines were transferred with to HMS Defiance on order of Lord Nelson. That notation is not absolutely clear and he was not found on the Defiance’s musters so was possibly reassigned to an associated ship. In any case by 7 August 1801 his appearance is noted on the Asia, “From Supernuy List No 274 Late Defiance”
The Description Book pages for the 65th Company (Chatham Division) were consulted (ADM158/5), as were the 1800 Q4 shore Subsistence lists for Chatham Division companies (ADM 96/192). Despite enlisting in Bath he was sent to the Chatham Division where he was entered from 9 December 1800. The Government’s naval priority at the time was to send a powerful fleet to the Baltic to counter a new threat from Russia in alliance with Sweden and Denmark threatening Britain’s access to timber and tar so necessary for ship building.
Case Study 3 of 3
Background:
John Robinson was a recipient of the Naval General Service Medal with a clasp for the Egypt campaign of 1801.
Preliminary internet Trawl:
Several persons of this name came up on Kevin Asplin's website as Greenwich entrants. The medal roll for the Naval General Service Medal (1847) was interrogated (link via Wikipedia entry for NGSM to the DNW website's medal roll portal).
The Catalogue was searched, using the following criteria:
Show results with... all of these words:
John Robinson
Search within:
ADM 73
Data from the archives at Kew:
There were several certificates in ADM 73 which looked useful, so the boxes were ordered, and the certificates were read through.
The following document made a mention of HMS Active, therefore we seem to have found our man.
Below is a reproduction:
THESE are to Certify, that John Robinson 61
(Candidate for Pensioner to Greenwich Hospital) is borne on the Books of Her Majesty's Ships above-
mentioned, the Age, Bounty paid, Time, Qualities, Discharge and Cause thereof, as there expressed;
the above Ships being all those mentioned in his List
This Certificate given on Admiralty Letter, dated 6 Sept 1838