Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Another William Hughan, Soldier.

The New South Wales Police Gazette from late 1850 carried a notice for the desertion of a soldier from the 11th regiment of Infantry. His details were as follows:

REPORT OF A DESERTER FROM THE 11TH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY. DATED AT SYDNEY, THIS 7TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1850.
Man's Name: William Hughan
Age: 20 years and 10 months
Size: 5 feet 9 inches
Fresh complexion
Grey hair, dark brown eyes
Time of desertion:1 October, 1850
Place of desertion: Sydney NSW
Date of Enlistment:3 May, 1848
Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, West Derby.
Marks" W:H on right arm.
Trade: labourer
Jacket: regimental
Breeches or trousers: regimental
-W.K Bloomfield, Lt. Col 11th Regiment. "


There was no other mention of this William Hughan, so presumably he was returned to his Regiment without further drama.
From the Police Gazette information, we can see that this William was born c. late 1829-early 1830. He should therefore appear on the 1841 census return for either England or Scotland. I will be returning to do further investigation on this Hughan soldier in the near future.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

William Hughan's Army Record




Above is William Hughan's army service record as supplied by The National Archives, U.K. It shows that he served with the 19th Regiment of Foot (the Green Howards) from April 3, 1796 until May 24, 1811 (a period of 14 years and 356 days), although a note in pencil on the bottom of the page states " claims service from February 7, 1793". William transferred from the 19th Foot to the 12th Veterans and served with them from 1811 to 1814, a period of 3 years 91 days.

Timeline of Service by the 19th Regiment of Foot (the Green Gordons)
1793 Flanders
1793 England
1794 Flanders
1795 England
1795.08 France: Brittany
1795.08 England
1796 India: Madras
1799 Mysore war
1800? Ceylon
1803 Kandian war
1803 Ceylon
1809.01 Travancore rebellion
1809.02 India
1810.12 Mauritius (4 coys)
1811? Ceylon?

Margaret Hook, mother of Thomas Hughan's two daughters

At last... after years of pondering the mystery of who was the mother of Thomas Hughan's two natural daughters, Jane and Margaret, the a...