Genealogy Chat

From Ancestry

Moneypenny Hugh S Jan TB Dolphin but pardoned for Army service 1761 L

Please, does anyone know if this means he was pardoned for service in England or he was transported and then pardoned for service in America or transported, pardoned and returned to England for service?

I have had a good 'Google' and checked Ancestry's blurb for the record set but cannot find anything explaining the phrase.

Many thanks
Chris

i think it was a case of offender could join the army or be transported for a petiod of time particularly if soldiers were neede at the time. but i may be wrong i am sure i heard or read it somewhere

Hi Rottie

I too remember hearing a NA lecture about Hulk prisoners who could elect to do service rather than be transported so my feeling is that this is what Hugh did.

However it is that the fact he is included in the 'Emigrants in Bondage' records that made me then doubt it as I thought the record set was for those who were actually transported.

And just to make it more difficult to work out what happened...1761 is not available in the record set 'Middlesex, England, Convict Transportation Contracts, 1682-1787' or the Hulk records or criminal registers. He is also not in the 'British Army Service Records 1760-1915'.

This may be one that I put to one side as thankfully he is not my direct line but as he may have been married to my 6xGGrandfather's sister he caught my interest.

Many thanks for your reply.
Chris

As the blurb you have checked states, the collection is of people who were transported.
So what's your thinking here - that he was transported back to the UK, was pardoned, then went back to N. America to serve as an American provisional in the Seven Years War (or the French & Indian War as the Americans called it).

mgnv

My thinking

Either... That he elected to escape transportation by going into the army, which was an option given to men and they had the right to reject, but then why would he be in the transportation register which, like you, I read as being for those actually transported?

Or....He was transported and served his time in the Army in America. He would then have had to return to England if he is to be the man I think he may be.

Or.....He was transported but then was returned to England to serve his time in the Army here, which seems far more unlikely to me.

I don't think he was transported, served his time, came back to England and then went back again to America. Although anything is possible I suppose.

Knowing nothing about America's history doesn't help so I think my next step is to have a good read and see if I can see a likely scenario based on the history at that time.

Many thanks for pointing out a further area of research.

Chris