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| Title: Alexander's Service Record Jan 19th 1880 - Jan 19th 1890 | |
| TaylorFamilyInfo > FAMILY HISTORY > Taylor History | Go to subcategory： |
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TinLizzy
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Date Posted：03/10/2009 02:18 AMCopy HTML Very early in my family history research I corresponded with a very nice person who checked the archives for Alexanders service records - attached a synopsis (I have the actual documents) He was (as we can see from that document Alex sent - and Mary's family history report) - not the best behaved sailor but as my friend wrote "he sounds like a fairly typical jolly jack tar" I was surprised at how small he was - only 5 ft. ! Barb *********************** I found AT's SERVICE RECORD, and got a photocopy: 102334 ALEXANDER TAYLOR DoB: 19 Jan 1862, Peru, South America Engagement: 19 Jan 1880 [ie from 18 yrs of age] - 10 years Height: 5 ft. Hair: Brown Eyes: D Brown Complexion: Pale Wounds, etc: several small tatoo marks on left forearm Trade: Barboy Ships: Fisgard (Reception ship on joining) 23-25 Oct 1877 Boscowen (Training Ship for Boys) Oct 1877 to Jul 79 Bacchante Ju1 79 to Sep 82 Excellent Sep 82 to Sep 83 Daring Oct 83 to Jan 88 Excellent Jan 88 to Oct 89 Invincible Oct 89 to 19 Jan 1990 He seems to have been in a bit of disciplinary bother once or twice, with a couple of 7 days in the cells on Bacchante and on Excellent, and went on the run from Boscawen at Portland for 3 weeks or so. His character classifications are rather mixed, but he got a VG on discharge, so he sounds like a fairly typical jolly jack tar. I also had a look at one or two of the relevant ships logs and ship's ledgers, the former being daily accounts of where the ship was, what it was doing, and any noteworthy events, but only occasionally mentioning individuals, and the latter being the monthly or quarterly summaries of pay, etc, to individuals. The ships ledgers from 1878 on have been largely destroyed, perhaps by WW2 bombing. Both log and ledgers survive for HMS "Fisgard", a "sailing ship, wood; stationary ship at Greenwich" used as a gathering base for recruits and men and families in transit. AT was one of a group of about 6 boys who were parceled up into a larger batch and sent off (by rail, I imagine) to the Boys' Training Ship, "Boscowen" at Portland in Dorset. The ledger shows under"Boys Newly Raised" Alexr Taylor Engagement: 19 Jan 80 10 years Rating: Boy 2nd Service No: 102334 3 days pay @ 6d per day; 6UkP credit [enlistemnt bounty?] debits: for clothing issued: u3-10-4dfor making clothes: 4s4d So he left for Boscawen with a 2-6-9d credit! HMS "Boscawen" was a 3rd Rate Training Ship, at Portland, with a total of 712 persons, including 140 1st Class and 402 2nd Class Boys; 18 Bandsmen and Boys, 63 Officers, Petty Officers, etc; and 40 Marines. In the ledger I looked at, AT, Boy2C, was on pay (6d a day) for 67 days, and by the end of the quarter (31 Dec 77) had a credit/ debit balance of exactly nil! No ledgers for any of his other ships have survived. I only skipped through that of "Bacchante" for the last half of the round the world trip - Jul 81 - Jul 82 and Jul to 31 Aug 82. They covered the time in Melbourne, and going on up to Sydney, Brisbane, Fiji, Yokahama, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Suez, Jaffa, Beirut, Palermo, Valencia, Gibraltar, a stop near Corunna to coal ship, and back to England. They came into the Solent, and on 5 Aug a Royal party of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VI I) came on board on 5 Aug for a few hours, presumably to welcome their sons. So your Grandma was right, after all, in that Prince of Wales, Edward, son of Queen Victoria, had been on her father's ship. I'm sorry to say that as I read the service record, AT was in the ship's cells from 9 to 16 Aug, most likely, I imagine, the after effects of celebrating the return home. The crew then cleaned and laid the ship up in Portsmouth. |
