I have a conundrum that has puzzled me for years, I wonder if any of our members would like to help me try and solve it?
My ancestor that started our family line of .'Proud Salopians' was in fact born in 1791 just over the border in Worcestershire, at an early age he joined the 44th Regiment, the question is how did he become an 'Out Pensioner of the Chelsea Hospital' and living in Chester?
In 1803 he married a Shrewsbury girl in Chester, by 1833 they were living in Shrewsbury and produced my great grandfather, hence the 'Proud Salopians' of today.
On his death certificate it states details of above, Chelsea Out Pensioner etc. also that he was receiving a Pension of one shilling & nine pence a day, now to me, that would have been worth quite a lot considering it was 1843 when he died! I have often wondered why.
I do not wish to give any more details on the board as in the past, through publishing what FACTS I have on other sites, I have found unproven details added to our tree.
If any one is interested and is willing to help my E-MAIL address can be obtained through SFHS Vice-President Mr Michael Hulme.
Many thanks Gulielmus.
From the Find My Past website:
The pension records do not just relate to older men: soldiers were eligible for a pension after 12 years of service so relatively young men could be pensioned out. The connection with Chelsea Pensioners is that the pensions were administered through the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the hospital itself.
It may be worth searching the British Army Service Records 1760-1915 collection at FMP for your ancestor - records relating to him may well be there from WO97 or from WO121 (pensioner's discharge documents).
Steve
I asked a non-member of SFHS who is an expert on military issues and he came back with the response below. If you want to provide more detail then let me know and I'll pass it on to my friend, who I'm sure will deal with it confidentially.
Regards
Phil
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This is very difficult as the name of grandfather is not given. He's probably in the Chelsea Pensioners on FindMyPast so ask for his name and where he was born.
The Chelsea Pensioners had inpatients (the old sweats in red tunics who were destitute retired soldiers) and mostly outpatients. The latter never set foot in the hospital, but drew a disability pension for wounds or disability contracted during their service, which was directly attributable to the Army accepting responsibility. They were administered as "Chelsea Oupatient Pensioners" but lived at home.
Many thanks to all three of you who replied to my post.
I certainly did not expect to find, that in general, all soldiers would have received a pension at this period in time, rather disillusioned at this, there was me thinking we had a hero in our family, especially at one and nine pence per diem.
In the past I have found reference to information being available on 'Findmypast' and WO 97 but regret I have not been able to glean anything from it.
Phil, I will put together what details I have and do appreciate your offer to pass these on to your friend.
Regards to you all
Gulielmus.
Michael,
Could you forward my emal address to Gulielmus, so that he can forward the details to me in due course.
Many thanks
Phil
Hello Phil
That has been done.
Mike
Hello Michael, Many thanks, have received your e-mail and will communicate with Phil off the board.
Regards Gulielmus.
Once again a very big thank you to those who answered my request for information,especially to Phil Poole and his friend,
Both have given me great details on my gt,gt,grandfather that I had been looking for over many years without any success.
Conundrum no longer.
Gulielmus.
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I think almost all ex-servicemen were called Chelsea Out Pensioners. In 1843 there was a bill going through Parliament about them and it was said there were 76,000 out pensioners.