Thursday, December 13, 2012

Military Pay Lists

Findmypast some months ago put online an index of people in the 1861 military pay lists. 245,000 men are listed. This is just a snap shot of who was in the military at that particular time. I was missing a few people between the 1851 and 1861 census. I was wondering what happened to David Scoggins who was born in 1833 in Badingham. He was in the 1851 census and then he just vanished. There is a David Scoggins listed as being in Hazaribagh East Indies in the 77th foot (East Middlesex Regiment) Out of all the military records online there is no mention of him. Next time I make it to the National Archives I will need to trace him through the pay list to see when he joined and when and how he left the military. The pay list are big bulky books that each regiment carried around with them. There not on microfilm. If you want a detailed view of where a military man went in his career then the pay lists will tell you. I sure hope they put some pay list online from the Napoleonic wars. A lot of men disappeared and if they died in the wars the only mention you may find of them will be in the pay lists. There is also a possibility that his birthplace will be found in the lists which would confirm his identity. There are pay lists for every regiment starting in about 1730.