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My sincere thanks to Elizabeth Anne Smith who told me how to use ancestry properly and enabled me to find my grandfather army records. Many thanks to everyone who helped. Kathy

Gary You are a star. I will write to them today. I would love to know about his service history but did not know where to find out. I will also go to Kew as soon as I get the chance. Many thanks for all your help Kathy

Ann Thanks for the advice. I will try Kew when I get a chance. I work fulltime so I hope they are open on Saturday. Many thanks for the reply Kathy

Hi Kathleen, you could write to the archive section of the Royal Fusiliers Museum at the Tower of London. I would write a short letter stating what you know - name, dates of service etc and service number (you can get this from his medal card). Include a sae and send to: Royal Fusiliers Museum HM Tower of London London EC3N 4AB Unfortunately, the Museum states it cannot answer email or telephone enquiries regarding archives. Gary

His attestation paper and hopefully a summary of his service if he received an Army pension from his service before WW1, will be at Kew. Often, though these papers were amalgamated with WW1 records, so it depends what you have, as to whether there will be anything more.

Gary Thanks for the information. Obviously a man who knows what he is looking at. Do you no where I can go to find out which of the 2 regiments my grandad was in? Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I am a little closer to knowing about my grandads life. He died in 1916 when my mother was a very small child and other than a photo of him in uniform I know nothing about his life. sincere thanks kathy

Janice Thanks for the nudge. I work fulltime so I can only look at the site a couple of times a day Kathy

Ann, I tried the site but could not make head or tail of what I was looking for or at. I found it very confusing as I know nothing about the army or the structure of the regiments. But thanks for the tip Kathy

Kathleen, For the period you are interested in, there were only two regular battalions of Royal Fusiliers, 1 and 2. The 3rd and 4th Battalions came later, so you can discount those. The 1st Battalion were in India from 1888-1899 and the 2nd Battalion were as follows 1889 - Madras and England (Woolwich) 1893 - Guernsey 1895 - Belfast 1897 - Curragh 1899-1902 - Second Anglo-Boer war, South Africa. http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/007RFus.htm Gary

Nudge for information Janice

sophie I have got his medal card but is only for the time he was in the northants regiment. It shows his enlistment at 24/81914 and discharge 21/2/1916 shortly before he died. No details available for the period he was with Royal fusiliers. Thanks for the suggestion Kathy

Try the regiments.org site it may tell you the movements of the regiment.

nudge

Christine thanks for the site., I looked at it but I am still in the dark. I do not know what regiment he was in and the Royal fusiliers seem to have 3 or 4. I have sent a couple of e-mails to address's given on the site so perhaps they can point me in the right direction. I was hoping that someone who knows about military history had some idea where these regiments were from 1886 to 1901 and why his regiment changed from the Royal fusilier to the Northants regiment. I tried to google the regiment but I was even more confused by all the information that came up. but thanks for the tip Regards kathy

Hi Kathleen try Googling his Regiment - lots come up. This looks a useful site as they have a tracking ancestors section http://www.armymuseums.org.uk/ancestor.htm Good luck with your search Christine

I have just looked at the site which has been released by ancestry. I found the records for my Grandad. I had previously found his medal card but on this site they have a record of him joining the army in 1886 aged 15 when he joined the Royal Fusiliers for 12 years. I also found from this record that he had previously been in the Middlesex Industiral school in Feltham which I did not know. On 1900 record he is rejoining for 1 year but it states that he has previously served in the Royal Fusiliers twice and this time he is joining the Royal reserve Bat. The next is 24/8/1914 One years service army reserve ( special reservists) this says Royal Fusiliers which is crossed out and Northants Reg insertered it says servered royal fusiliers till 23/12/1899 and ist home counties reserve to 15/12/1901 one year service time expired. This is a great site. I have lots of new details on my grandfather and this explains why he can't be found on 1891 census. Any one got an idea of where I can go from here. How can I found out about the Royal Fusiliers and where he was in 1891. I know he died in 1916 after a medical discharge from the army but where did the Northants regiment go? I have no clue about the military so any suggestions appreciated. Look at the site yourselves you may find some information about your long lost relatives. MY grandfather was John Moorer so he was easy to find as it is a very unusal name. kathy