I recently discovered that my Great (x3) Grandfather, Samuel Hayes, served in the 47th Regiment of Foot from 5 December 1808 thru December 1832. Medal rolls indicate he served in 2/47th during the Peninsula War, with entitlement to the MGSM with Vittoria and San Sebastian clasps. The lack of the Barrosa clasp suggests he was in one of the battalion/centre companies.
I'm heading to Kew on 2 Oct to dig through the 2/47th muster rolls. I also have a number of books on order including Harley's "Veteran", "The Spanish Ulcer: a History of the Peninsular War", "A Commanding Presence: Wellington in the Peninsula 1808-1814", "Wellington and the Siege of San Sebastian 1813", "Vittoria 1813", Wylly's "Loyal North Lancashire Regiment", and others that cover the First Anglo-Burmese War.
I'm interested in finding other primary sources that might shed more light on the locations and travels Samuel undertook while in service. For example, are there any records of the vessels that transported the 2/47th to Gibraltar, Cadiz etc.?
Any pointers to sources (or additional books that would be of use) would be very much appreciated as I dig into this previously-unknown aspect of my family history.
Hi Mark,
I wrote a blog post on researching soldiers from the Napoleonic period which may help point you towards other records:
The names of vessels are sometime recorded on the regimental returns, if they happened to be at sea on the right date. You can sometimes find embarkation reports if you know the rough date of sailing but I've found the records to be a bit patchy.