Nelson & His World

I've been asked to contact this forum by somebody who has just read Jack Tar and said he couldn't put it down (well, I'll do anything for anyone who says things like that...).

Chris's great-great-great-great grandfather was in the Royal Marines and he has found out the following information from birth and marriage certificates:

John Milham (or Millham) was born about 1790/92 in Sussex. He may have joined the marines as a private around 1804. In 1818 he transferred to the Royal Marine Artillery as a private based at the Haslar barracks, where two of his children were born. He was promoted to corporal in the Royal Marine Artillery by 1831 and was living at Crown Street in Portsmouth.

He was a Greenwich pensioner in the 1841 census, and died in 1859 at Gillingham in Kent. Greenwich Pensioner was also printed on his death certificate.

I'm sure that John Milham can be traced, but I haven't time to look into it further. I have given Chris a few pointers, but some of you on this forum are brilliant at finding out details. I also always say to people that it's pointless repeating research if somebody has already done it. Can anyone help with more information about John Milham? I'll pass the details on to Chris if so. Many thanks,

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Hi Lesley,

Hope this helps,

John Milham was born on the 2nd September 1792 at Udimore,Sussex, to John Milham ( B 11th July 1763- 15th September 1844) and
Susanna nee Allen.
He married a Mary Maria Slape on the 17th February 1807 at the parish of St Bartholomew the Great, London.
Interestingly the 1841 Census shows him a Agricultural Labourer married to Mary and children
Mary Sarah Milham 1821
Charity Julia Milham 1827
James Joshua Milham 1831
Matilda Elizabeth Milham 1835
William Henry Milham 1837
Hester Ann Milham 1842

The 1851 Census shows him a Greenwich Pensioner aged 59 with a additional son, Thomas born 1842

Referance to his death certificate is as follows
Name John Milham
Year of Registration 1859
Quater Apr-May-June
District Medway
County Kent
Volume 2a
Page 208

His Grand Parents were William Milham and Elizabeth Sealy and would appear to have come from Brede, Sussex



Cheers,

You might want to chase up the Parish records for Udimore, Sussex as Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates were not issued until 1837 onwards.

Here's the two born in Portsmouth,

Charity Julia Melham, Christening 2nd March 1828, St Thomas, Portsmouth, Hampshire

James Johnston Melham, Christening 13th March 1831, St Thomas, Portsmouth, Hampshire

This is very impressive. Many thanks indeed - I will pass on this information. Somewhere John Milham will be in the Greenwich Pensioner records - which may list his service record. If anyone knows of anything about his service record, that would be useful.

Keep up the good work!

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

You should find something about John Meltham's service career in the Royal Marine Artillery Service Records at The National Archives, Kew in section, ADM 196/66.

Lesley,

It might also be worth checking the archives at the Royal Marines Museum:

http://www.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk/index2.html

Hi Lesley,

Did Chris have a posting on the Parish Chest Forum ?

Regards,

Stephen

Lesley!

It is some time since I tried to trace a Royal Marine in TNA, but for what it is worth, here is my memory.

TNA publishes (or used to publish) two useful guides "Royal Marines; Other Ranks Service" (MRI no 45) and "Royal Marines: How to find a Division". (MRI no 46)

The second is important as the majority of information about a marine is carried in the Enlistment. Embarkation and Discharge books held by his Division. At the time, these were of course Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth - respectively ADM 183, ADM 185 and ADM 184, There is one for the RMA, ADM 193, beginning in 1805. These are mostly ledgers, so to find a man you just have to plough through with known dates as starting points.

The books listed above have fascinating but limited detail. For example, there is usually a complete description of each man at the point of recruitment - age, height, hair colour, home town, occupation, distinguishing marks etc.

Establishing service records are more difficult. I don't recall seing these in the documents listed above (tho' I may be wrong and didn't look at Embarkation records). The problem with ships' muster rolls is that, whereas sailors are listed individually with personal details and information on where they came from and where they went, marines are mostly listed 'en masse' - ie 30 names with nothing except 'for Chatham' or 'Discharged by Admiralty Order' against their names.

Brian

Many thanks to you all for the clues on researching marines, which will be of use to many more people as well. I understand from Chris that he has now registered with this forum, so he'll probably be adding his queries here.

Lesley

http://www.adkinshistory.com

Hello there,

The documentation of some items in The National Archives leave a lot to be desired. I think this was also acknowledged internally. One initiative that tries to address this is "Your Archives"; a wiki infrastructure. I do know that for Royal Marines, some articles have been added. It is a good way for members of the public to add metadata to the catalogue, so that other people can better navigate the contents of the archive
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Category:Royal_Marines_personnel

With regard to Greenwich, if he was an in-Pensioner, you could try trawling Kevin Asplin's listing of entrants, which you can access via the links page of the following website
http://sites.google.com/site/greenwichadmiraltyinpensioner/home
There are a limited number of certificates of service for in-Pensioners that have survived.

I see from Kevin's website that a R M A Gunner, John Melham, was present at the attack on Washington, which suggests that he was in the RMA prior to 1818
http://www.britishmedals.us/files/rmwashington.html

Good luck!

Thanks for your post, GP, and welcome to the forum!

Anna, thank you for your kind words.

It appears that John Milham was awarded a medal (M/143) with Algiers 1816 clasp.
It would also appear that he was an out-Pensioner, so most Greenwich records will therefore be irrelevant, I would imagine. (I've checked the list of in-pensioners 1824-1853 and he does not show up there).

So, I would recommend checking the Marine-specific records.

Best of luck with your research

Upon receipt of a private message, I can pass Chris an image of John Melham on a subsistence sheet for 1814. He was in the artillery company attached to the 2nd Battalion of Royal Marines

There are a few people with a similar surname in the RMA at this time.

I came across John Milsom age 18, height 5 feet 6.25 inches
Joined on 1 Sept 1824, Transferred to RMA 04 Nov 1825
He came from Bradford, Wilts - source is ADM 158/152

Neither person appeared in ADM 158/77

Just to say a Big Thankyou to GP for the information he has supplied for me to carry on my research on my GGGG Grandfather John Milham, Again Thankyou
( P.S I have been doing research in other areas and did not realise the new messages)

Best Regards
Krismil