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Joseph Dunkerley in the Militia This article was published in The Manchester Genealogist, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2007, 319-324. A more complete account of Joseph's life and times can be found here. The Problem
I think the first time I saw a reference to Joseph Dunkerley was on the Family Search website. A Family Group Record listed him and his wife, Hannah Spencer, together with eight children, one of whom was my great great grandfather, William. It took quite a while to establish to my satisfaction that Joseph was my ancestor, the route passing through the various censuses, culminating in that of 1841 that shows the full family group. A real curiosity of the Family Search records was that it showed the two oldest children were born in Bristol in 1810 and 1813, yet the later children, like Joseph himself, were born in Oldham.
Eventually I engaged the services of a professional Bristol researcher who located Joseph and Hannah’s marriage reference; the wedding took place at St. Paul’s church, Bristol, on 27th July 1809 and both were listed as ‘of the Parish’. I puzzled for some time as to what might have taken Joseph from Oldham to Bristol and, considering the historical context, began to suspect that it might have been to do with the Napoleonic Wars. Part of my suspicion was fuelled by various comments made by William Rowbottom about regiments ‘beating up’ in the Oldham area during the period 1793 to 1799[1].
The Quest
Searching on the National Archives website I discovered there they hold documents relating to the Lancashire militias that were raised at that time and eventually I arranged to visit Kew and inspect them.
The relevant archives are under the War Office (“WO 13”) files. A number of files are available, mainly showing payments made to members of various militias between 1794 and 1816. For example, militias of potential relevance to my search for Joseph Dunkerley were raised in Cheshire, Derby, Lancashire and Lancaster. Initially the most interesting file appeared to be number 4419, relating to the Oldham Volunteers (1799 to 1808). I searched these with the help of my wife on 3/4/2006 and although we found a John Dunkerley and a Thomas Dunkerley we found no Joseph.
On 1/6/2006 I resumed the search, starting with file number 3538 that relates to the Lancaster Regiment, Oldham. In this a John Dunkerley was in the 6th Company of the Oldham Regiment of Local Militia, and he volunteered in 1814 in Oldham. This information comes from an unusual page showing the localities where some of the men were recruited and, besides Oldham, men enlisted in Rochdale and other local towns. In October 1809 a Private Joseph Dunkerley was in Captain Travis’s Company, but he is too late for ‘my’ Joseph Dunkerley, who had married in July of that year in Bristol. The Oldham Regiment of Local Militia was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Lees. From 2nd to 19th October 1809 they assembled for training in Manchester. At the same time there was also a Private Joseph Dunkerley in Captain Crompton’s company.
I next looked at files 2517, 2518 and 2519 that relate respectively to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments of the Royal Lancaster Militia. The 1st Lancaster was stationed at various places in sequence, including Weymouth, Plymouth and Exeter. I later learned that these postings were to face the threat represented by a massing of troops in northern France for an attempted invasion. As did the other militia regiments whose records I examined, they carried out local marches (presumably as part of their training and fitness preparation); the 1st marched to Dorchester, Bridport, Axminster, Honiton, Exeter, Chudleigh, Ashburton, Oakhampton, Tavistock, Totnes and other places. (I smile when I think of so many Lancashire accents resonating across south-west England!) In 1807 the 1st Lancaster had a Thomas Dunkerley, but no others of that surname. In 1809 there was a Daniel Dunkerley from Oldham.
The 2nd Lancaster regiment was at Colchester and Sunderland in 1805, but also visited Carlisle and Dalkeith. It was at Sunderland and Tynemouth in 1805/1806 and also at Warrington.
Having had no success in finding ‘my’ Joseph, I skipped file 2519 for the 3rd Lancaster and instead turned to files 1161-1169 relating to the First Royal Regiment of Lancashire Militia, files 1188-1196 for the Second and 1214-1221 for the Third regiments of the same name (note – these are the Lancashire not the Lancaster militia). These all apparently started up in 1800 and disbanded in 1808 as part of the response to the Napoleonic alerts. I began by looking at selected files from the First and Second Regiments. In the First, a John Dunkerley was a Private in Captain Levy’s Company and earned 1/- a day in 1804/5. A James Dunkerley was a Corporal in Captain Gartside’s Company; he earned 1s-2¼d per day at the same time. At the same period there was also a Thomas Dunkerley and in 1808 a Corporal James Dunkerley, but no Joseph. The First Lancashire seems to have been in the Lancaster-Garstang area.
The Second Lancashire was in Essex in 1804, staying in barracks near Ipswich and Colchester. There is some evidence they were also at St. Albans, Purfleet and Braintree, and in 1807/8 they were at Hull. However for the years I browsed, I found no Dunkerleys in this regiment.
I then turned to files 1214-1221 for the Third Royal Regiment of the Lancashire Militia. Like its sister regiments this was an infantry unit. I soon found there was a Joseph Dunkerley in this regiment and began tracing his military career through the various years. Would I find any evidence that this particular Joseph Dunkerley was the one I was seeking?
I had limited time available and skipped files 1214 and 1215, but 1216, mainly for 1802, showed the regiment was then stationed in Preston and Liverpool. The commanding officer was apparently Sir H. P. Hoghton Bart., and there were about 83 Privates in each company. File 1217, covering much of 1803, shows that in May the regiment moved from Preston to Chelmsford in Essex and in July were encamped at Rettendon, south of the city. By August they were at Languard Fort near Felixstowe and Captain Butterworth had taken over a newly-forming Company in which Joseph Dunkerley appeared as a Private with 22 days credit ‘in lieu of beer money’. As pay was made up to the 24th of the month, Joseph must have enlisted on about the 2nd of August; I have a copy of his baptismal record from the parish registers so, if he was ‘my’ Joseph, I was able to calculate that he would then have been 19 years old. At the time there were 93 Privates in his Company, whereas there had been only 61 in July, suggesting that Joseph enlisted during an active recruitment drive. In October he earned £1-11s – a shilling a day[2] and there were then 91 Privates in the Company; this appears to have been a full complement and the regiment eventually had about 9-10 Companies, or a full complement of about 900 men.
Joseph must have taken to army life rather well, for on about the 7th of December 1803 he was raised to the rank of Corporal and then earned 1s 2¼d a day (plus his allowance ‘in lieu of beer’). Early in 1804 the regiment moved to Woodbridge Barracks, about 8 miles from Ipswich; the Regimental Colonel was Wilson Braddyll[3]. A larger move followed in June, to the Portsmouth area. At this time the regiment was under orders, together with others, to carry out suitable marches round its territory. By December the men were at Plymouth, where they stayed for some time. Perhaps Joseph did not enjoy his time at Plymouth, or perhaps he enjoyed it too much – at all events on 9th August 1806 he was reduced to the ranks! In fact no less than six Corporals were similarly treated at about that time; something was going on. The number of Privates in the Regiment at that time varied from 870 to 882.
Early in 1807 the regiment made another move – one that I was very excited to see. They went to Bristol, which is where ‘my’ Joseph had married on 27th of July 1809! At this time there were 877 Privates in the regiment but, following Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805 and the consequent reduction in the threat of a French invasion, clearly a decision was then taken to downsize. During September many men left service – among them Joseph – such that by 24th September there were only 563 Privates left and by 24th December, when the regiment was at Gosport (Portsmouth) it comprised only 485 men.
The entry relating to Joseph Dunkerley’s demobilization is in WO13/1221 for the period 25th June 1807 to 24th September 1807. He is number 89 on a list of ‘Privates who have been entitled to, and have received, the full Rate of Pay for Broken Periods from the Day of Commencement of this Accompte (Account)’. ‘Joseph Dunkerley to 13 September 81 days’ and under the column heading ‘Remarks explaining the cause of broken Periods’ it shows that he was a ‘Volunteer Paid for 13 September inclusive’. There are several pages of names for ‘broken service’.
The coincidence of finding this Joseph Dunkerley demobbed from a Lancashire regiment in Bristol in the first half of 1807 when I know that ‘my’ Joseph Dunkerley was married there two years later ‘of the Parish’ is great enough for me to feel confident that I am dealing with the same person. Following the birth of at least two (possibly four) children in Bristol the next available information shows that Joseph and Hannah were living in Oldham Workhouse in 1816. Several of their children died at about this time. In the end Joseph and Hannah survived to become the founders of a family that now reaches from England to California.
In later years Joseph worked as a ‘Watchman at a Cotton Mill’ (when he is likely to have been armed). I had previously suspected that he might have acquired his knowledge of firearms as a result of military service, and that now looks likely. However at the same time he also worked as a shoemaker and I now wonder if this was an occupation he learned while a member of the militia. A more complete account of Joseph's life and times can be found here.
The Context
What was the historical context of these militias that were raised in the north and sent to the eastern and southern coasts of Britain? Following the French Revolution of 1789 considerable sympathy developed in England, notably in the industrial areas, for the idea of freedom of the working man; the governing classes were alarmed. Things were not helped when ‘the terror’ began in France and that country declared war on Britain in 1793. Trade became more difficult as Napoleon adopted a policy to blockade Britain, so that there was hunger and social unrest; William Pitt suspended Habeas Corpus. As sentiment turned against France and work was scarce it became easy to recruit young unemployed men into the army and many men joined up from 1793 onwards. Years of hunger and difficult working conditions followed marked by bad harvests and widespread riots in 1799.
There was a short-lived peace with France in 1802 (the peace of Amiens), but this broke down in May 1803 and in 1803/04 Napoleon had 100,000 troops encamped at Boulogne with 2,300 ships in attendance, awaiting an opportunity to invade England. The very real threat of a Napoleonic invasion – probably at least as serious as the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 – provoked a fervour of patriotism and in 1804 over 400,000 men volunteered for service. Raising regiments of volunteers in the industrial areas therefore fulfilled three useful purposes. First, it allowed a home-defence force to be raised in case of a successful landing by the French. Second it provided an occupation and some relief for idle hands and hungry men in the restless industrial towns. Third it engendered patriotism and allowed dissatisfaction to be directed against a common enemy – the French.
Of course, when men were demobbed, especially – in their thousands – after Waterloo in 1815, hardship and dissatisfaction were likely to result, and did. In the meantime demobilisation in 1807 did Joseph no favours for the following years saw continued hardship, distress, rising prices, strikes and other unrest among cotton weavers, and riots. Years of protest, machine breaking and the protest of Peterloo in 1819 followed. Better times did not come to Oldham until the first years of the 1820s.
The Opportunity
The existence of the names of thousands of men from the Oldham and other areas of Lancashire in War Office files at Kew is worth knowing about. The records are quite soiled but easy to read and it is thrilling to handle original documents. I would suggest that any family history researcher who can identify men of military age from the period of the Napoleonic wars should seriously consider consulting these fascinating files.
Notes and References
[1] ‘The Most Dismal Times: William Rowbottom’s Diary Part I, 1787-1799’, 1996, Oldham Education and Leisure Arts and Heritage Publications. ISBN 0 902809 29 6.
[2] I am not sure if the expression ‘taking the King’s shilling’, meaning joining the army, comes from a token one-shilling coin pressed into the hand of the new recruit on enlisting, or from the daily rate of pay. Perhaps it was both. Certainly at this time of the Napoleonic Wars Privates received one shilling per day.
[3] Col. W. G. Braddyll, according to information from the internet.
Acknowledgements
I must thank Rosemary Brown for finding various parish entries for me, which were fundamental in helping me reconstruct Joseph’s origins and family. I must also thank Maxine Lodge for the intuitive suggestion that Joseph and Hannah might have married in Bristol. Thanks too to my wife for help at the National Archives, and other support.
Much further information on Joseph Dunkerley and many other aspects of the Dunkerley Family of Oldham is on my website at: http://dunkerley-tuson.co.uk.
Written by: Philip M. Dunkerley
Member of the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society, No. 16644.
Revised: 29th August 2007.
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