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Jacqueline, thank you, you have confirmed that Daughter Jane was born in Ireland 1839 which is what i thought. You say that you would give more credence to Army Officials who were literate but i have shown they were incorrect when they say he joined on 2nd October 1809. he was fighting the French in the West Indies and was awarded a medal sometime during January / February 1809. No Jacqueline i am not fully au Fait with the workings of the Royal Chelsea hospital, please enlighten me.

Potty, you comment that Caltha is a loch, i wonder if Caltha is a misread and it should be Caltra, a Irish person suggested this to me, it is a shame that there was not a more complete description of which Castletown it was as i have a gut feeling that this could be where he married his wife and where their children were born.

Alan, where did you get Luke's Army info from?

This is what the National Archives have:

Reference:WO 121/216/164
Description:
LUKE JENNINGS.
Born CALTHA, Galway.
Served in 13th Foot Regiment; 1st Royal Veteran Battalion.
Discharged aged 39 after 20 years 05 months of service.
*******Residence or place where pension paid stated in document.
See film image 340.
Date: 1826

The images for this can be viewed on FMP - is that where you obtained the info?

There is another Luke Jennings who also served in the 13th Foot


Reference:WO 119/64/387
Description:
LUKE JENNINGS.
Born CASTLEBLAKENEY, Galway.
Served in 13th Foot Regiment.
Discharged aged 33.
Covering dates give year of enlistment to year of discharge.
Kilmainham Reference: B2999.
Date:
1807-1821
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record
Language: English

Or, are these two records for the same man? Discharged aged 33 in 1821 would be 38 in 1826, or could be 39 depending on DOB.

This site has info on Kilmainham, which was the Irish equivalent of the Royal Chelsea Hospital.

http://www.rhk.ie/history.aspx

This site shows several Townships, etc named Caltra that are in the Castleblakeny area:

http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/asp/parish.asp?id=26415

Alan, I see (from google searches) that you have followed the Caltra link already, with no luck. I think this is going to be a brick wall.

Hi Potty, yes you have the same source as me, if he was discharged in 1826 after serving 20 years and five months, then that confirms he joined the regiment in 1806, the census in Manchester states that he was 80 years old and his death certificate the following year 1862 states that he was 81, both confirm that he was born in 1780 or 1781. I still think Caltha should read Caltra, they may have misread the r in Caltra for an h. I find the Other Luke Jennings Very interesting, two men with the same name, in the same regiment both born in Galway, seems strange, One born Castleblakeney and one born Caltra Or Caltha. The 1821 was the year that my Luke was admitted to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Find it all very confusing.

Yes, i have hit a brick wall, too many castletowns to be of any help, but i would like to thank you for the links that you sent me Potty. regards

Potty just realised there is a wonderful chance to find out his address from your post, it says : residence or place where pension paid stated in document , see film image 340. You say the images for this can be viewed on FMP ? can you tell me what FMP means ? cheers.

FMP = FindMyPast, another genealogy site:

www.findmypast.co.uk/?

As FMP and GR are owned by the same company, the records might possibly be on this site.

Alan, if you haven't viewed the images of the Army Records, where did you get the info that he was admitted to Chelsea Hospital. By the way, the Royal Chelsea Hospital isn't a hospital in the sense that it has patients who are sick or injured - it is a home for retired soldiers, as was Kilmainham. Try googling both to get more info. Also, there are google hits for the Royal Veteran Battalion.

This does have the following records for Luke:

Luke Jennings Napoleonic War Records 1775 - 1817 Collections fromGreat BritainRegiment1/13th Foot


Transcription

Luke Jennings Peninsular Medal Roll 1793-1814 Collections fromGreat BritainYear1793-1814Regiment13th Foot
This record also has an image - you will need to have the right subscription to this site or buy credits to see the detailed info.

In 1851 this man said he was 63 years old, and I would be more inclined to rely on what he said then, than ten years later, when his memory may have been failing

The Royal Hospital Chelsea is the home of the Chelsea pensioners, who I would have thought virtually everyone was aware of

Hospital in this case does not mean a medical establishment, its name comes from the word hospitality

If you'd googled the establishment, you'd have had masses of factual info about it

The man was paid 15shillings on discharge on 24th April, 1826, being 10 days' marching money to KILLALA - his intended future residence

He enlisted on Christmas Day 1821 in the First Royal Regiment of Veterans, when his age was 35

The reference to a wife and two children and Castletown is NOT for Luke Jennings.

Those details are for a DIFFERENT man

The date of 1809 refers to his joining the 13th Regt.

It is entirely possible that his prior service was with a different Army Unit.

Hullo again Potty, i got his medal record by buying Credits on Gr, it shows me that he won his medal with two bars for the battles against the french at Martinique and Guadaloupe in the West Indies in 1809. The info for his admittance to Chelsea comes from an Ancestry.com document, the heading reads : UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioners Who served in Canada 1743-1882, he fought in Canada in the Anglo- American war of 1812.

It states that he was admitted on 28th 11. 1821, it also gives his death as 7th march 1862 in Manchester. it gives his residence as Roscommon with a B underneath and a number 2999 which could be his army number, i have given a stab at roscommon because the handwriting is not clear. I have a copy of his death certificate which says he died 6th March not 7th but near enough for me.

Thank you Jacqueline, that is wonderful info, will look up Killala, that may be where he Married his wife Jane, i know that his son Thomas, my great Granddad was born in 1828, so i may now have a chance of finding out where he was born, thanks again.

PRIVATE LUKE JENNINGS born in the Parish of CALTHA in or near the Town of GALWAY was enlisted at ?? in the County of KILDARE on 25 Dec 1821 at the age of 35 in the FIRST ROYAL REGIMENT.

He had served in the Army for the space of 20 years and 145 days after the age of 18.

He had been in the 13th Foot for 16 years and 24 days and 1 R ? Battn for 4 years and 121 days.

He made his mark and was described as being about 39, 5' 5", brown hair, grey eyes, fresh complexion and a labourer by trade.

His discharge was 24 April 1826 at ATHLONE.


On the next page it states that he received £1 17s 6d which was 25 days marching money to Castletown Be? Ataven ?

He had a wife and 2 children. They are not named.

78493

The record you were looking at Jacgueline was for a Nicholas Lynott going to Killala.



This is what the image for this document reads.


Chelsea Pensioners' discharge documents 1760-1887 Transcription
Print transcription View image Attach to tree
First name(s) Luke
Last name Jennings
Birth year 1787
Birth parish Caltha
Birth town Galway
Birth county GALWAY
Birth country IRELAND
Service number -
Rank -
Regiment Royal Regiment of Veterans
Attestation year 1826
Attestation day 24
Attestation month April
Attestation age years 39
Attestation age months -
Attestation corps Prince Albert's (Somersetshire Light Infantry) - 13th Foot
Discharge corps Royal Regiment of Veterans
Document type Discharge

Thank you Alviegal, wonderful to have a description of him, i will amend my family tree again. But must admit i am sorry that his residence was not Killala because there is only one, there are loads of Castletowns and i will never know which one and so i will not be able to ever visit it. Many thanks for all your assistance.

So, alviegal, are you saying that you think that the info shown alongside the man's details are not for that man?

Notwithstanding that, his age is clearly recorded as 39, which matches with 1851 census when he said he was 63

The info about Castletown has other word(s)following, which could be Ben Ataven (or something like that)

Alan


Why don't you take out a 14-day free trial to FMP, and look at the info yourself. You could download the copy documents, and keep them for posterity