As i have already found out in my ancestry research my great-great-great-great grandfather (is that the right number of greats?!) Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment in the middle part of the 19th century, serving in India. This i discovered from the baptism certificate of Sarah Ann Genner dated 1854. However his wife, Mary, appears in the 1861 census living in Stroud and married to someone else. So we can assume Richard died sometime between 1854 and 1861. (Divorce was an option but was pretty unlikely for the time and the people involved.)
The 84th Foot was involved in the Bengal rebellion in India in 1857 which i have been tracking using online archived editions of the Times newspaper. A 14th July 1857 news snippet for example mentions part of the regiment going to the fort at Cawnpore. This was later the scene of a siege and massacre at the hands of Nana Sahib. Of course it doesn't mean Richard was involved in this battle as only part of the regiment was deployed there. Although some casualty lists are given in the Times so far i have been unable to find his name, the lists tend to concentrate on officers anyway and Richard was only a private! There has been a book published on the history of the regiment so perhaps that may give some more information. I am continuing the investigation anyway, i suspect this will be a long-term project.
Although i am interested in the circumstances of Richard's demise i am more interested in where he came from and Mary Genner's origins too. On the census she listed her birthplace as "Madras" so perhaps she was the daughter of Europeans in India, maybe her father was a soldier too. Finding out where Richard came from would be very interesting. His regiment (York & Lancaster) indicates he could be from the North.
11 comments:
I have just renewed my interest in the Genner/Jenner family because of an enquiry through ancestry. I have a date of burial for Richard Genner 28th June 1854
Hi Paulette, thats very interesting!
Can you tell me more about your search for Richard Genner? I did a search on Ancestry but didn't find any record of his death, was it outside of the UK?
Are you related to Richard?
Hi Chris
This is my husband's side of the family tree. He is David Pearce, and Richard Genner was his 3xg.grandfather. Olive Morris was his grandmother.
I did a bit of research on the family sometime ago, and through the Indiaman Magazine found Richard's burial. I also joined FIBIS, and found Richard's marriage to Mary Macglen 1852, she later married Thomas Butler in 1857 Mary's father was John Macglen, but unfortunately I no nothing of Mary's mother.
Regards Paulette
sorry, yes the burial and the marriages were in Madras
Hi Paulette,
thank you very much that is very interesting! I am the grandson of Olive's sister Gladys Morris (later Grant).
Did you find out where Richard Genner came from originally?
I started off my family history research a couple of years ago though i admit i have not done much with it for the past year due to other things getting in the way.
Chris
like you I came to the conclusion he came from 'up north', because of his regiment, but the 1841 census, although not reliable, shows nothing, although he maybe already in India by this time. The age of death is 36, so his birth would be 1818. Paulette
The other possibility is that he came from Stroud like Thomas Butler but it probably will be very difficult to find out for sure. Oh well one day maybe!
I have been looking at my family tree and the Jenner/Genner connection. I am related through my great-grandfather Albert Morris (the brother of Olive and Gladys).
I recently went to the British Library to look at the British-Indian records. Unfortunatly I saw no record of the marriage between Mary and Richard and the only birth record for the three children (William, John, and Sarah) I could find was for Sarah Ann. There was a bit of conflicting information- Sarah Ann's birth record showed that her father was in the regiment you have identified but on Richard Genner's burial record he is in Her Majesty's Highlanders. Regarding Mary Maclean, in her marriage record her father is listed as William Maclean (sorry I couldn't find her marriage to Richard and I only saw that her father is listed as John Maclean on this post). However, her age is 31 years with an estimated birth date of 1826, and the census records show that she is born in Madras.
Sorry got the records mixed up! Richard was in 84th Regiment whenn he died but when Sarah was born he was part of Her Majestys 74th Highlands.
Hi Emma thanks for the information, i need to update this article. I am a grandson of Gladys, got no idea what relation that makes us!
I've now updated this original article with the updated information gained since on my new blog here http://mixing-and-matching.blogspot.com/2012/02/research-my-family-tree-genners.html.
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