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Hi there,

I am rather stuck with one branch of my family tree, and have been for many years. My 3xGreat-Grandfather John James Quinn was a soldier in India during the 1860s and 1870s, but I have been unable to trace him beyond these few details:

- He was married to Maria (or Mary) and had two daughters, Mary Jane Quinn (born about 1869) and Dora (born in 1871 in Sangor, in modern day Pakistan).

- His eldest daughter is my 2x-Great-Grandmother, and a person of much legend in our family. She married a soldier called John Naggington, a Sergeant-Instructor in the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, and had four children. He later died in 1901, from disease in the Boer War. After this, Mary (who called herself Kathleen and Mollie) descended into criminality to survive. I have tracked many newspaper records of her exploits in Portsmouth. She later married a young ship's stoker called Frank Weller, and died in 1933 (with a doctored age on her death certificate). I have a great deal of information about her life and her children's life, but cannot place an exact birth record. A promising record is a birth in Rawalpindi, India, in 1869 (the year and country she gives on the 1901 census) but the father's regiment is the 19th Reg of Foot. A later record, held at the National Archives, corresponds to a J James Quinn in the 19th Reg of Foot, but I'm not sure what that document says. Her marriage certificate gives the 43rd Regiment of Foot as her father's regiment, but did soldiers really change regiment like that at the time?

- Dora (also known as Dorothea) married another Sergeant-Instructor John Ralph De Vere, and had several children. He died in Cairo and she returned to London, where she died in 1904. She was born in Sangor, India, in 1871 with her father's regiment being listed as the 43rd Reg of Foot. Once again I have much information on Dora but absolutely none on her parents.

- I would love to know if anybody could help me track John Quinn and his wife Maria back any further? I believe John died before 1886, and family legend (for what it is worth) says he died around the time of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. But cannot be sure. No maiden name for Maria has been found thus far.

Can anybody help?

All the best,

Elliott

Was there also a son?

First name(s) John James
Last name Quinn
Birth year 1877
Birth date 24 May 1877
Baptism year 1877
Baptism date 11 Jun 1877
Place Bangalore
Presidency Madras
Father's first name(s) John
Father's last name Quinn
Mother's first name(s) Maria
Mother's last name -
Archive reference N-2-58
Folio 153

Dora's birth

First name(s) Dora
Last name Quinn
Sex Female
Birth year 1871
Place Sangor
Country India
Regiment 43Rd Light Infantry********************************************
Organisation Armed Forces
Source Gro Regimental Birth Indices (1761 To 1924)
Archive
General Register Office
Archive reference REG1
Record's year range 1871
Page 115
Volume 1225
Line number 43

I would have thought you could buy a copy cert to find out MMN

First name(s) Mary Jane
Last name Quinn
Birth year 1869
Birth date 27 Mar 1869
Baptism year 1869
Baptism date 11 Apr 1869
Place Rawal Pindi,St Patrick
Presidency Bengal
Father's first name(s) John
Father's last name Quinn
Mother's first name(s) Maria
Mother's last name -
Archive reference N-1-128
Folio 323
Page -
Catalogue descriptions Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Bengal

As with the son's baptism, only one forename for the father

Thank you Erikah

Unfortunately, I purchased a copy of Dora's cert and there was no mother's maiden name listed.. which is a rather tricky position to be in.

I don't think John James Quinn is another brother, as his father's occupation I think is Civil Service, and we know from his daughter's marriage certs that his last occupation at his time of death was Sergeant 43rd Reg of Foot (as it was when Dora was born).

The birth cert for Mary Jane Quinn puts the father as a Sergeant in the 19th Reg of Foot, and another record from the time puts a John James Quinn as a Sergeant in the 19th Reg of Foot. Not sure if this is the same Mary Jane or the same JJ Quinn, however

Elliott

??
William Andrew
Last name Quinn
Birth year 1875
Birth date 16 Dec 1875
Baptism year 1875
Baptism date 3 Jan 1876
Place Bangalore
Presidency Madras
Father's first name(s) John James
Father's last name Quinn
Mother's first name(s) Maria

Name: W. Andrew Quinn
Gender: Male
Age: 0
Birth Date: 1876
Death Date: 19 Mar 1876
Burial Date: 19 Mar 1876
Burial Place: Bangalore, Madras, India
FHL Film Number: 521864

Wasn't aware you had actual birth certs

Surprised that they don't show MMN, as they came under the auspices of the GRO

Apologies Erikah I should've said

John James Quinn (b. 1875) and William Andrew Quinn (b.-d. 1876) appear to have the same parents, their birth records show their father as being a Sergeant in the 45th Regiment of Foot... but their birth dates look too close to be brothers?

And whether they are the brothers of Mary Jane and Dora, I do not know? What does anyone else think?

All the best,

Elliott

I'm surprised as well, it seems military records overseas didn't bother

John James was born in 1877!!

Oh yes, so John James and William Andrew were brothers - but were they brothers of Mary Jane and Dora?

Gora Quinn ---- dora
Event Type:
Christening
Event Date:
17 Sep 1871
Event Place:
Bengal, India
Event Place (Original):
Saugor, Bengal, India
Gender:
Female
Birth Date:
31 Aug 1871
Birthplace:
Saugor, Bengal, India
Father's Name:
John James Quinn
Mother's Name:
Mary


Tools
Name:
Mary Jane Quinn
Event Type:
Christening
Event Date:
11 Apr 1869
Event Place:
Agra, West Bengal, India
Event Place (Original):
Agra, Bengal, India
Gender:
Female
Birth Date:
27 Mar 1869
Birthplace:
Rawul Pindee, Bengal, India
Father's Name:
John Quinn
Mother's Name:
Maria

"The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) to form the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1881. The regiment went on to become the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908. "

"For the next fifteen years [ after 1866 ] the regiment was mainly stationed abroad with only brief periods spent in the UK. The major operation it was engaged in during this time was in the suppression of the rebellion by the Moplahs in Southern India in 1873"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_(Monmouthshire)_Regiment_of_Foot



Re 19th Regiment of Foot (aka Green Howards):

"The regiment was sent to India following the 1857 Mutiny. In 1868 the regiment was involved in action against tribes in the North West Frontier, and remained in India until 1871."

https://greenhowards.org.uk/about/green-howards-regiment/campaigns-and-wars/

British Army, Worldwide Index 1871

First name(s) J James
Last name Quinn
Service number 1445
Rank Serjeant
Unit or Regiment 1st Bn 19th (First Yorkshire, North Riding (Princess of Wales's Own) Regiment of Foot
HQ location Sagar, India
Year 1871
Country Great Britain
National Archives reference WO 12/3649
Period 01/04/1871-30/06/1871

British India Office Births & Baptisms

First name(s) John James
Last name Quinn
Birth year 1877
Birth date 24 May 1877
Baptism year 1877
Baptism date 11 Jun 1877
Place Bangalore
Presidency Madras
Father's first name(s) John
Father's last name Quinn
Mother's first name(s) Maria

His father is a Sergt. 45 L.F