HMS NANKIN

[al1934]

This is an interesting example of one of the first Service Certificates to be used in the Royal Navy.

I shall be most grateful if you can please peruse it and give me your opinions on:

1. What is the first entry in the ‘Cause of Discharge’ column?

2. What is the second entry?

3. Why was he ‘discharged’ 17 March and re-entered 18 March – although he remained in HMS NANKIN?

4. What did ‘W’ 17 September 1837 signify?

My interpretation so far:

Richard Hingston joined the RN onboard HMS FISGARD, a training ship at Woolwich. She was a fifth rate wooden frigate with 46 guns and her propulsion was by sail. He was drafted to HMS NANKIN and rated Ordinary Seaman on the same day. HMS NANKIN was actually built and launched at Woolwich in 1850, so she would have been a relatively new ship when Richard joined her. She was a fourth rate wooden frigate with 50 guns and propelled by sail. She played her part in the Second Opium War when Richard was onboard. Tough times for a young Ord!

Best wishes

[jainso31]

Only one entry in Cause of Discharge-Invalided to Hospital and W is presumably Written.the double entry for Nankin is presumably an error due
to discharge at that time not being effected.

jainso31

[Dreadnought]

Hi Alick,

Just moved your thread to this section of the Forum, which is specifically set up for enquiries regarding Service Records, and related queries.

Cheers

[al1934]

Hi Alick,

Just moved your thread to this section of the Forum, which is specifically set up for enquiries regarding Service Records, and related queries.

Cheers

Thanks, Clive.

It seems to have evoked a response, the first since May 2009!

Best wishes

[ekd]

The first letter, in the first word, in 'Cause of discharge' column is an 'M'.
This same 'M' script style is shown in the entries for the months of 'M'arch and 'M'ay in the dates columns.

The W at the bottom may be, or might be, the letters l.o., and not a W.

[jbryce1437]

Hello al1934
Is this the only piece of his service record that you have?
I agree with EKD that the entry looks like Io and wonder if it stands for "Invalided Out".
The only thing that would contradict that is there is no continuity between him being Discharged to Hospital between 18th March 1856 and 14th May 1857 and the last entry date of 17th September 1857.
Do you know if he served beyond 17th September 1857, or where be was between 14th May and 17th September 1857?
Jim

[al1934]

Thank you, jainso31 and ekd, for your valued contributions.

Thank you, also, Jim. This is, in fact, Richard HINGSTON's complete Service Record.

I agree with ekd and Jim concerning the i.o. It may well have stood for "Invalided Out" in those days but it wasn't a recognised official abbreviation in my time.

To explain, I am trying to assist one of his descendants, who lives in Canada and has no experience of RN records. She has visited the National Archives at Kew more than once and cannot get useful interpretations from the so-called experts there.

Today I received an email from her, in response to my having sent her jainso31's observations, in which she writes:

"In 2010 I looked at the NANKIN's Description Book which records that Richard was discharged on 17 March 1856 and that he was "Invalided."


To go back in time (and to make things clearer in my own mind as I write this ~ at some length!) ---- the Hong Kong Hospital Muster Books have records for him beginning "for October 1855" when he was in hospital for 13 days. He was received on 19 Oct 1855.


From Nov 1855 onwards he seems to have been in hospital the whole time, being "victuallized" for the total number of days in each month. By the end, i.e. just before he is transferred to a ship going back to England, he is at the top of the list.


"For March 1856" says that he was invalided on 15 Mar though maybe I misread and it was actually the 16th or 17th. At any rate, this is now his official status, even though he remains on the NANKIN's rolls.


On 12 Dec 1856 Richard was discharged from hospital to the WINCHESTER.

I seem to recall that he had been on the HERCULES hospital ship.


This brings me up to my latest visit to Kew in Sep/Oct when I looked at the WINCHESTER logs. On Dec 12 the ship received a number of invalids from the Hercules and later set sail for England.


At Spithead, on 28 Apr 1857, a steamer came alongside and took away "the sick," Richard Hingston being among them (I assume).


My reader's ticket for the Welsh National Library allows me access to the British 19th Century Newspaper database. In the Daily News for 29 Apr 1857 is a little item about the Winchester which "brought home a number of invalids from the China station, both naval and military. The former were conveyed to Haslar Hospital last night, and the latter to the Military Hospital in this garrison" (Portsmouth).


So, after all this, I am left at Spithead and Haslar. Haslar records at Kew stop at 1855 so I must pursue this before we return to London, in September we hope. From 28 Apr 1857 until 14 May 1857 ~ that final date on his record ~ he was somewhere -- maybe Haslar? Was he discharged? Did he die? "

I hope this helps?

Best wishes

[jbryce1437]

Alick, many thanks for explaining the background to this request.
On reflection the right column may read Invalided to Hospital.
Do you know where Richard was born, as his place of birth could be a clue to where he settled when he left the service and, ultimately may lead to where he died.
I did a search on the Free BMD site (Births Marriages and Deaths) and there are several Hingstons listed.
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
If the entry does read Invalided Out 17th September 1857, where could he have been between 15th May and that date?
Jim

[al1934]

Thanks, Jim

I agree with you about Invalided to Hospital.

I passed your posting on to my friend in Canada but I have not heard back yet. To be fair, she is an experienced family researcher and probably has Richard Hingston's background sorted. I offered to help her a couple of years ago because she was stuck on the Naval side. Since then she has visited Kew a few times and dug out ships' logs and other records.

Between May and September 1857, as she writes, he was maybe in Haslar?

Best wishes

[al1934]

Following is the text of an email which I have just received from my friend who is researching Richard Hingston:

"I've looked through the BMD deaths, keeping in mind that this index isn't complete. While the Hingstons are from South Hams, Richard's father married in Dover and went to Boulogne where Richard was born in 1833. The family came back to England and settled in London, living in Westminster, Soho, Greenwich in the mid-late 1850s (Richard's time in the Navy) and finally Newington.

One of RIchard's Navy records gives Greenwich as his home and indicates that he was "brought up to the sea" or words to that effect. There are lots of Richard Hingstons in Devon but my feeling is that he wouldn't have gone there. But who knows .... The bit of very useful information is that he was born in France, so he can't be confused with others of the same name.

And yes, where was he until that September date in 1857 .... some time soon I'll begin looking into Haslar."

Any ideas will be gratefully accepted...

Best wishes

[al1934]

As a matter of interest, my friend has just written to tell me that she has visited the NA Kew again and:

"I have made more progress with Richard Hingston. Last year I left him on the Winchester which sailed from Hong Kong for England in December 1856 with invalids on board. Press reports noted that upon arrival in England the sick men were taken to Haslar.

The timing was right -- Kew has the admission books for 1857 and there he was! He was admitted to Haslar on 27 Apr 1857 and discharged 18 May 1857, "out of service." Syphilis either secondary or tertiary -- hard to make out the capital letter of the abbreviation but it looks more like an S than a T."

So there it is, the frailties of human nature got him in the end... Not much hope for poor Richard in those days.

Thanks for all your help, Folks.

Best wishes

[jbryce1437]

Alick, pleased you have been able to follow up the leads on Richard.

Jim