Aberdeenshire Militia
The men described in this document all
signed up to be a part of the Aberdeenshire Militia in 1809. This was the height of the Napoleonic Wars
and the raising of militias was common.
This record shows an extract from a list of men who joined
the 4th Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Fraser. The 4th Regiment’s headquarters
were in Fraserburgh, but as can be seen from the list there are men who came
from all over Aberdeenshire to join.
The list is fascinating because it also has descriptions of
the men. There are different columns for
complexion, hair and eye colour. The
entries for complexion vary greatly from ‘black’ to ‘sallow’, ‘dark’ to ‘fair’. There is also another record where a man was
described as ‘wan’! There are a number
of men on this page who are described as ‘sanguin’ – they must have been rather
ruddy faced, perhaps not surprising as most of their professions are given as
‘labourer’.
Hair colour also varies from ‘dusk’ to ‘fair’ to ‘black’
with eye colour going from ‘blue’ to ‘grey’ to ‘hazel’ to ‘black’.
Not only does the list describe the men, it also lists the
parish and county the men were born in.
The vast majority were born in Aberdeen County, though there is one born
in Kincardine. The list also shows if
they have formerly served and gives details of who with. The place of residence given at the date of
enrolment is very interesting as it shows just how far people travelled – one
man gives his residence as Kintore, a distance of around 40 miles away.
The militia records are therefore a valuable source for
finding people before the census years.
Bear in mind they are not indexed, so it can mean reading through lists
in order to find someone. But once you
do, not only will you find out where he came from but also a description of
what he looked like!
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