Skip to main content

OF COASTGUARDS AND ALLOTMENTS: LESSER KNOWN RESOURCES




Richard Scantlebury describes his experience with some Coastguard and naval resources and found a Ruby or two.  Richard's blog illustrates another benefit of this Ruby study.  Project volunteers not only visit new corners of the world but also new corners of genealogical data with the result that as they share these new sources, the Guild's entire membership can benefit. 

 Ever since the early days of my family history research which prompted my One Name Study of Scantlebury I’ve had more than a passing interest in the Royal Navy and Coastguards mainly because both my Great-grandfather John Bartley Scantlebury & his father John were Coastguards. Sometime after I volunteered with the Ruby one name study I had a look to see if any Rubys were Coastguards using  the following site: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/Coastguards.  Basically it has used occupations from various censuses to create a coastguard listing. I found Reuben Ruby in the 1861 Census in Hound Hampshire, so I decided to follow Reuben’s career as a coastguard. Using Family Historian, I started to get hints from Find My Past for a military source I was unfamiliar with, so I investigated.

Basically, what I found is that The Navy Act of 1795 established a mechanism for Royal Navy crews to be allocated a portion of their pay to a named relative, which could be claimed at monthly intervals even if the ship had not been paid. Men desiring to allot their pay had to sign an order specifying where, to whom, and from what date.
This taken from one of the allotment declaration books sums it up : 1 

This is the front page for the declaration book for HMS Ranger upon which Simeon Ruby served from Jun 1849 till Oct 1851 as a Boatswain: 2

The declarations are searchable at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-united-kingdom-records-in-military-armed-forces-and-conflict

If the allotment was to be paid to the ratings wife her name with her place and date of marriage are included or if to a child, then the child’s name and place of baptism are given.
This is the entry for Simeon Ruby a boatswain on the HMS Ranger: 3

It’s worth remembering that prior to the 1861 Census, crews of the Royal Navy Fleet were not included in either the 1841 or 1851 unless they were not on board a ship. Prior to June 1853 ratings were employed on a casual basis usually for the duration of the ships commission which tended to be a period of 4 to 5 years probably something similar todays gig economy; this changed when the Admiralty introduced continuous service engagements so that ratings could sign on for periods of 10 years, perhaps with a view to serve continuously for 20 years thus becoming entitled to a long-service pension.  Prior to Find My Past transcribing these allotments,  finding Royal Navy ratings careers could prove difficult,  almost impossible as one had to find the ship in which the rating would have been included the muster roll but now with these allotments plus any medal rolls that task has become a little easier.

 Richard Scantlebury and the Ruby Team.
1.  British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795 - 1852. National Archives of England. ADM 27 - Navy board, and admiralty, accountant general's department: registers of allotments and allotment declarations.  Accessed at Find My Past: https://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/british-royal-navy-allotment-declarations-1795-1852

2. A List of Persons. British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795 - 1852. National Archives of England. ADM 27 - Navy board, and admiralty, accountant general's department: registers of allotments and allotment declarations.  Accessed at Find My Past. https://search.findmypast.com/record/browse?id=s2%2fgbm%2fadm27%2f102089247%2f00374

3. Simeon Ruby. 1849. British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795 - 1852. National Archives of England. ADM 27 - Navy board, and admiralty, accountant general's department: registers of allotments and allotment declarations.  Accessed at Find My Past: https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=S2%2FGBM%2FADM27%2F102089247%2F00375&parentid=GBM%2FADM27%2F000041516

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PASSING THE TORCH

Thank you to Paul, who took on a project that was untried and became a rather large initiative.  His post below is an excellent summary. It is just a fact that without Paul the bumpy start to this concept would never have achieved what it did.  My own contributions never met their unrealistic goals - oh sure I will cover every Ruby in Canada - and due to many shifting priorities, my commitment regretfully decreased as time progressed but Paul persevered and never gave up the goal - Kudos! Peggy Chapman This is the final note from me as project manager for the initial stage of the Ruby One-Name Study, started by the Guild of One-Name Studies as a means of demonstrating what Guild members could do when working together in a tight timetable to celebrate the Guild’s 40 th birthday in September 2019. We started this project early in 2018 when three of us, me in Florida, Peggy in Canada and Karen in Australia had a few video-conference discussions to figure out how best...
2 comments
Read more
Learnings from the Ruby study   #1 – Impact of the new GRO index One of the first things to do when starting out on a new One-Name Study is to construct some core data sets.   Apart from being a requirement set by the Guild, there are several other reasons why it makes sense to do this. 1.      These lists act as helpful checklists as one reconstructs families 2.      They can also be a useful reminder of the scale of the study in different countries and thus possibly aid in decision-making about where to start 3.      As one notes which individuals from each data set have been included the notes can be used as a means of checking progress and ultimately for answering the question, “How will you know you have finished?” The initial Ruby team constructed core data sets for several countries: notably Canada, England and Wales, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and the USA.   The original England ...
3 comments
Read more

Outside your geographical comfort zone? Some tips to help in a one-name study.

In my own one-name study, I have been to different countries both virtually and in person to conduct research.   The effort to date has been primarily in the Channel Islands, pre-confederation Newfoundland, Canada, England, a very little bit of France, and some beginning research in the United States. I am fortunate to have a reasonable degree of fluency in French, which I have used quite a bit in old Jersey documents, although the Jersey dialect itself, known as Jèrrais , is definitely beyond me.   Thank goodness a lot of old documents followed the Norman tradition of “standard” French.   The Ruby project presents quite an interesting experience for those who have not strayed far from home in their one-name study research.   It is unlikely that any version of Ruby has its origins in the United Kingdom, despite a longstanding presence in southwestern England and in parts of Ireland.   Preliminary reading suggests that for both these areas, th...
1 comment
Read more