British Military Records: Difference between revisions

"Muster Rolls and Pay Rates" were monthly accounts that were kept of military enlistment and pay schedules.&nbsp; They were kept for privates up through officers and may contain valuable information such as "good conduct" awards, punishments, special assignments, and the like.&nbsp; A commanding officer made every effort to list everyone on his muster rolls since the number of men determined his funding. The records usually list each person assigned to a ship or regiment at the muster date, his age on joining, the date he joined, the place where he joined, and sometimes information such as a dependent list (in later army musters) and birthplace (on sea musters from 1770). Muster records for the Royal Artillery are the earliest, beginning in 1708.&nbsp; Other army musters exist for 1760 to 1878. After 1790, they were kept in bound volumes.<u><ref>Hamilton-Edwards, Gerald (1977). In Search of Army Ancestry. Phillimore, p. 73.</ref></u>&nbsp; Navy musters cover 1667 to 1878. Naval musters contain "alphabets" (indexes organized by the first letter of the surname) from 1765.