Seventh Dragoons

One my Great great aunts married in 1873 a man called Herbert Alfred James Boulton. He remained untraceable with no other records but marriage and the christening of their son, (he was dead by 1881, so I had few guides as to age, let alone anything else) Then recently I saw a transcription of the christening of their son, when father's occupation was 'Soldier, 7th Dragoons'. This was very encouraging (for one thing, it seemed unlikely he had just decamped leaving my aunt to falsely describe herself as a widow) But I am puzzled as to how can I get any further, even with a name and regiment. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks Adrienne, but my curiosity is not so much about the Dragoons per se. Rather, I was hoping for leads to the equivalent of enlistment records, or indications if they were serving overseas between about 1873 and 1881. I haven't found a death record for my man, which could possibly be because he was not in England - or not. As far as I can see, they were sent to Egypt in 1882, but the year before that my aunt was already describing herself as a widow

 

This may or may not be of interest Liberty:

The Royal Dragoon Guards Regiment website informs no service records are held for (amongst others) 7th Dragoon Guard for the period 1860-1920. The surviving (my underline) records of these Regiments are held at the National Archives at Kew. It goes on to recommend Robert (Bob) O'Hara a professional researcher who actually lives in Kew as an experienced researcher in the Military Archives. He has a website BOH and an email searcher@searcher-na.co.uk

Of course it goes without saying a fee will be charged and his website covers this point and offers a without obligation quote for its service.

 

I think you are going to have to be content with pinpointing where the Dragoons were from about 1780 - 1881 . There are several books about this regiment that might be available through your library system and listed at the end of this link . I expect you have a subscription to FMP Newspapers and there are lots of references to the 7th around Norwich C 1873, makes me wonder if the Norfolk Archives might have some general information. There seems to be references to Volunteers which I believe were quite often recruits who served locally but did not necessarily go overseas with the regiments.

 

Bob, Britjan
Thanks for your suggestions. I don't think, Bob, I am prepared to plough through records at Kew (let alone pay anyone else) for what is not much more than a niggling question, to which the answer may not be there.
Britjan - the Norwich connection is intriguing. My 'aunt' was from the Norfolk side, and the marriage was certainly in Norfolk (not entirely sure which church without checking - quite possibly Norwich) However, the son was born and christened in Lancashire, so the idea of local-based Volunteers isn't so clear cut.

 

Have you thought about checking the birth certificate for his son to see if he was stationed in Lancashire at the time of his birth? There's also the British Army Index from 1871, which is held online at FindMyPast - they also have some of the Medal rolls from various conflicts in regards to the British Army (and it's various offshoots).

I used birth certs to follow my Scottish 3g-grandfather's path across England (son born in Portsmouth, daughter in Kent), as part of the 79th Cameron Highlanders. Both the certificates for his children state that he was living at different barracks in England - the difference in their ages, about 4 years, then suggested possible deployment and return. I then used a medal roll (which had a convenient "note" added) to discover that he'd died in India, during the Mutiny Wars in 1858.

 

I have seen that the 7th Dragoons had quite a link to Norwich, as Britjan indicated. Moreover there was quite a to-do when they were posted from there to Manchester in 1873 (images on the web). It indeed looks as if Herbert was posted with the regiment, my 'aunt' married him shortly before the posting, and had their son in Bury, Lancashire. Address at the christening suggests that she (if not he) was living in a civilian address.