Benjamin Ginn of the Royal Artillery d. 1867

Benjamin Ginn was born in Hertford in 1796, son of a Benjamin dealt with in a later post. He was a direct descendant of Robert Ginn of Anstey in my post of 25th June.  His father died when he was 11, his mother in 1810.  Ben was orphaned at an early age.

Ben was a labourer.  On 9th April 1811 he was at Ware, perhaps at one of the markets, when a recruiting party of the Royal Marines attracted his interest.  Ben undoubtedly thought that he had nothing to stay in Hertfordshire for, and he was probably right.  So young Benjamin Ginn, aged 15, fair haired and of all of 5ft, joined up.  He had been lured by a bounty of £12, for which he signed, only to find at the barracks that they took most of this away from him for clothes etc.  Ben was marched to Chatham, and he was allocated to the 103rd Company of Marines (the "Red Marines" - later the Royal Marine Light Infantry).  

                                     Royal Marine circa 1805

Chatham had its own unit of marines, divided into companies.  The men were allocated to ships on a rota system, piecemeal, with men coming from a whole series of companies.  The only way that you can compile a marine's service record is to trace his ship, and this is extremely difficult before the Victorian period.  At present then, I do know what Ben did during his time there.

All that I know of Ben is that he served some two and a half years with the 103rd.  He most probably saw a little sea service, our naval forces being overstretched at the time by both the Napoleonic and Anglo-American Wars.

Ben was discharged from Chatham on 2nd November 1813, it was said that he had a lame arm.  We are not told the cause.

Ben went straight home to Hertford.  He probably did not have much choice, his settlement being there, and the local parish officers encountered on the way probably moved him on quite sharply.  He was certainly back in Hertford by December, because on the 14th of that month Ben joined up again, this time becoming a Private in the Royal Artillery.  He was still only 17, but had grown a bit, both the RM discharge and RA recruitment forms showing him to be 5ft 6/7 ins. tall.

                                   Royal Artillerymen of 1812

Napoleon abdicated in 1814, being sent to Elba, escaping, and ultimately being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.  Ben seems to have missed all of that.

 At some point, while single, Ben spent some six months in Gibraltar, being in Ireland in the early 1820s where he married Jane Robinson at Templebrady in 1823 (as to which see WO 69/581/6  at National Archives).

Between 1825 and late 1831 Ben and family were stationed at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.  They subsequently returned to the RA Hedquarters at Woolwich, for Ben's health was failing.

Benjamin Ginn was discharged to pension on 3rd March 1837, he was 41.  The army medical board had decided that he was unfit for further service as he was suffering from "chronic rheumatism and deafness", the latter presumably caused by the firing of the guns.  At that time he was 5ft 7ins tall, still light haired, with grey eyes and a fair complexion.  He had served in the RA for nearly 24 years and at discharge was a Gunner and Driver.  His conduct throughout his service had been "exemplary" and he could now sign his name, which he had not been able to do in 1811.

After his discharge, Ben was employed (until at least 1841) as a servant at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich which was built in 1802 and is shown above as it is today and (in a slightly more rural setting) as it was below in Ben's day. He lived in quarters there with his family.  By 1851 he was at Jackson’s Lane, Woolwich, described as a bricklayer's labourer.  He died in 1867, aged 71.

It would seem that Jane was in the workhouse at Plumstead in 1881, stated to be 80 and born in Canada.  I have presumed that the latter statement was an error caused by all the stories she had to tell of Nova Scotia, unless she was a soldier's daughter.  Jane’s death was registered in the Woolwich registration district in 1883 with her age being given as 86.

Benjamin and Jane had a good number of children, born in various places:

Martha -she married Hugh Hawthorn in 1846.  He was  a soldier.  In 1851 she was a widow, living with her parents and her daughter Eliza J. aged 4.  Hugh Hawthorn must have died, because in 1862 she married again as Martha Hawthorne to James Cockeyne.  In the 1871 census, her mother, Jane was living with the Cockayne family.

William - see next post

Sarah Ann - married John Cooper in 1850.  He was a Corporal/Bombardier in the RA.  In 1851 she was living at home, either awaiting a place in barracks or because her husband was abroad.

Susan - shown as a servant in the census until 1861.  In 1864, she was at Pancras where she married John Harding, unsurprisingly known to be a Master Gunner in the Royal Artillery.  Not yet found in 1871, in 1881 they were in Plumstead with a host of children.  By this time John was collecting his army pension.

Benjamin - the second of that name, Benjamin Jnr was attested for the Royal Marines at Chatham, on 26th October 1861; he was 23.  He was 5ft 10ins tall, of swarthy complexion with hazel eyes and brown hair.  He was stated to be a Wheelwright.  His initial enlistment was for 12 years, but he re-enlisted for a further term in 1870.

I do not know where Ben served, but I do know that of his 16 years service only 7 years was spent at sea.  He served in HMS Formidable, Frederick William, Agincourt and Hercules, the latter for over three years. Ben never rose further than Private, though his conduct was always very good to exemplary.  He contracted TB, recognised by the Marine MO in early 1878, on 19th March 1878 being invalided out of the Corps. On 7th April 1878 he died at Melville Hospital, Chatham; he was 39.  It is not believed that he ever married.

David James - on 11th January 1869 he joined the Metropolitan Police.  He married Eliza Elizabeth Ann Halls at St Michael's Church, Plumstead on March 2nd 1879, but it is not believed that they had any children (though I could be wrong!).  Eliza died in 1903 and David in 1923.

A Mary is also untraced (likely died young) and a John died in infancy