Further information on the 1871 Worldwide British Army Index

An introduction by Roger Nixon

Soldiers were ‘owned’ by the army and could serve for their lives but were generally ‘worn out’ after 21 years and discharged to a Chelsea service pension. That said, men were often discharged to an invalid pension after shorter periods of service where invalidity was attributable to service. A term of engagement might have varied from time to time but many men served 12 years and then took a free discharge without a pension or re-engaged for a further nine years to complete a full term so that they might apply for a Chelsea pension. Not a few soldiers purchased their discharges the cost of which varied subject to, among other things, their length of service. Men discharged for dubious conduct or desertion retained no rights whatsoever.

As already stated the primary aim has been to construct an index confirming the whereabouts of an army subject on 2 April 1871. However, the index also usually indicates where a man was located for the whole of April and in many cases for the whole of June Quarter 1871. In a few instances where the pay lists cover wider date frames men may be shown as early as January or as late as December 1871. In a few instances it has been necessary to resort to pay lists other than for the June Quarter where records have not survived or been available. Officers, surgeons, non-commissioned officers and other ranks including boy soldiers and recruits are included, as are the male and female staff of army schools. School staff sometimes includes NCOs and private soldiers so it is worthwhile to countercheck these when searching.

Great effort has been made to achieve precision and uniformity. However, many problem were encountered whilst transcribing names of commissioned officers as many had hyphenated names which were not clearly indicated whilst, in some instances, names were shown with a hyphen when, in fact, none was justified. Moreover, some pay lists also failed to indicate the first initials of an officer. In an effort to present the correct details the nominal style given in the published Army Lists of commissioned officers has been used as a benchmark where any doubts existed. A great percentage of first names of other ranks were entered in the records in abbreviated form. No efforts have been made to alter abbreviated personal names so Hy Smith (Henry Smith) will be shown as Hy Smith and not otherwise. Army clerks were often sparing in their tasks on this front added to which abbreviations may differ between regiments: One showing Hy and another Hny. A very small percentage of men had aliases. Many men who erred enlisted to thwart arrest by the civil power. When doing so they used a false identity knowing once that once subject to military law the civil authorities would probably not pursue them further. Many such subjects probably completed a term of engagement without the Army being aware of their true names. However, men who had been serving upwards of 10-12 years who intended to remain in service and to eventually apply for a pension often admitted to a mis-statement of name to avoid losing their pension rights. Mis-statements were generally accepted by the Army and an entry would have been made in their records recording the details. Where indicated both names are entered in the index.

One area which has been altered is that of rank descriptions. Here, these have been brought into modern usage thus Color Serjeant will be shown as Colour Sergeant. All abbreviations of rank eg Capt. have been updated to show the title in full. All regiments have been fully described as well eg the 51st Foot will be described more properly as the 51st (2nd York, West Riding, The King's Own Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot except in additional notes which use a condensed form. It is recommended that researchers firstly search for a full name and tick the name variant boxes when commencing a search. Searches of the 1861 Worldwide Army Index may also prove helpful.

Lastly, every pay list was written up by a different person and executed in a unique hand: Sometimes more than one. Apart from all the usual problems associated with transcribing older hands some of the most problematic instances concerned birthplaces, especially those located in Ireland and in Wales. Great effort has been expended to try to identify place names. Not all were totally successful and a double question mark ?? has been added where identification proved difficult. Needless to say many personal names were also very challenging – particularly those of the Malta Fencible Artillery. Again, opinion was always sought either by looking at similar records or by consensus but some have been virtually impossible to properly interpret so may be suspect or remain incomplete but form a miniscule percentage of the whole index. Please note that indigenous subjects of the Ceylon rifles have not been indexed: Only British officers and NCOs. Neither are British subjects serving in 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22n, 23rd, 24th & 25th brigades of the artillery in India. Records of these units may be held at the British Library.

My thanks to Dr Liz Evans and Rosalie Spire for their support in providing technical assistance and support during the construction of the 1871 Worldwide Army Index. Also to military historian Denis Bateman for help to identifying military locations, determining regimental ranks, names and styles and for his patience and dedication in helping to solve all manner of military queries.

Note: All War Office pay list records mentioned in the 1871 Worldwide Army Index can be further researched at the National Archives, Kew, UK. Please consult the National Archives website for visitor information before starting a journey.