FRIENDS OF CLAINES CHuRCH
William Trott
THE NAPOLEONIC WARS COME TO CLAINES
1803
By Peter Trott
With the renewal of the war with France in May 1803, Parliament passed the Army of Reserve Acts for England & Wales in the July of that year. The Acts enabled an additional military force to be raised for the “Defence & Security of the United Kingdom and the more vigorous Prosecution of the War”. The Army of Reserve would provide the men necessary to defend Britain from the invasion force Napoleon had began to gather in the Pays de Calais of northern France. The Acts required the recruitment of tens of thousands of men into either a new Army of Reserve battalion or the men could elect to directly join a number of under-
During the summer and autumn of 1803 regimental records show the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 39th regiment stationed somewhere in the city of Worcester; the camp of over 3,000 men must have been quite a sight and one can imagine caused quite a stir in local society. Each county was given a quota of recruits, for Worcestershire it was 588 men. On the 26th September 1803 in the parish of Claines my Great-
Recruitment was carried out on a voluntary basis, with appropriate financial incentives. If the full compliment of volunteers could not be raised a public ballot of parishioners occurred. Only parishioners were included if a ballot was required. The rules for the ballots were very particular and included the opportunity for any person balloted to find a “substitute” to replace them; these men could potentially come from another parish. The rules allowed for each balloted man to receive a bounty of 2 guineas when they joined their regiment; each volunteer or substitute received 1 guinea. There were also payments from the regiment they joined which amounted to over £7 in my Great-
Who were they and what happened to them ?
The following men are named in War Office and Tax Records (see references for source) as being recruited as substitutes, in the village of Claines, into the :
39th (East Middlesex) Regiment
Edward Reed
James Siner (Talbot)
William Trott
Samuel Westwood
9th Battalion of The Army of Reserve
Abraham Coles
Thomas Deane
Job Dodson
George Rawlins
William Squelch
Richard Timmings
It is quite possible these men then went on to serve in active Regiments of the Line.
In October 1803 the 39th Regiment were ordered to leave the city of Worcester and march south to Sussex. Once in Sussex the regiment was stationed in Bexhill and Battle and the recruits were divided between the two battalions. After guarding the South Coast for 2 years those in the 2nd Battalion were sent to Peninsular and subsequently fought at the battle of in Spain. Those in the 1st Battalion were sent to the Mediterranean in 1805 and then to the Peninsular and those that survived fought at the battles of Vitoria, The Pyrenees, Nivelle, The Nive and Toulouse.
What I am looking for and what I can offer to anyone interested.
For the last year I have been tracing William Trott’s life in the 39th Regiment. I am interested in any information relating to his time in the parish of Claines; he lived in later life in Birmingham and his presence in the parish has come as a surprise. I am also working with the 39th regimental museum to transcribe all the records held by The National Archive for the regiment for the period 1803 to 1816. From these transcriptions I am then documenting in detail the lives of the men and officers of the regiment during the Napoleonic Wars. The regiment’s presence in Worcester and surrounding area at this key moment in their history is therefore of great interest. Any contemporary records of the regiment’s presence or the location of this material, in particular local newspapers and early Nineteenth century local histories, would be of great interest. It would be wonderful to demonstrate that the 39th used The Mug House to carry out the ballot for the parish and locate where the Regiment was stationed in Worcester.
Finally, if you are interested in this article, any of the named men or suspect that you have someone who entered the army in this period I would be more than happy to provide more information on how to trace them.
Peter Trott
May 2009
How 10 men from Claines came to be fighting Napoleon!
Battle of Vitoria
1. The Index of the Army of Reserve 1803 transcribed by Barbara J Chambers
2. Monthly and Quarterly Pay & Muster Lists for 39th Regiment (WO 12 & WO17 held at TNA)
3. Canon’s History of the 39th (East Middlesex/Dorsetshire) Regiment
Also see the 39th Regimental Museum website for further information
Also
Napoleon
Duke of Wellington
