Finding Charlotte Doughty Treseder's christening record in Westminster, London, England

In November of 2013, I finally found a christening record for Charlotte Doughty Treseder in St. Margaret, Westminster, Middlesex, England. Her father's name is Paul Doughty and her mother's name is Mary. I'm pretty sure this is the correct record for her. Her marriage bond and allegation was signed by Paul Doughty. Based on his burial record, he would have been in his fifties when Charlotte was born. This could have been a second marriage for him, however. There were no other children of Paul and Mary found in St. Margaret, Westminster.

I didn't know if I would ever find this record for Charlotte. I have been searching for Paul Doughty who I thought may be her father or a grandfather for several years. I've never been able to find his military record which I hoped would give his place of birth. Now, on to find a marriage for Paul Doughty and Mary and their other children.

Military Records at The National Archives in England

I got the opportunity to visit The National Archives at Kew this year. While I was there, a military expert suggested that I use the War Office 31/15 records, Office of the Commander-in-Chief: Memoranda and Papers, 1793-1870. The National Archives catalog gives the following description of these records:

"The Commander in Chief's memoranda of appointments, promotions, and resignations, filed with the original applications for the same, including applications for exchange, and covering letters of commanding officers, Army agents, etc. The papers occasionally include statements of service, certificates of baptism and the like."

I knew that my ancestor, Paul Doughty, had been promoted from an Ensign to a Lieutenant in April of 1794. The person at the Reference Desk at Kew gave me WO 31 box 15 to order. There were two boxes for that time period. I began looking through each of the folders in the first box that contained correspondence and promotion forms. There were letters from many well-known individuals asking for a commission to be bought for a friend, son, nephew or other relative. Other letters were written by Captains or other high-ranking officers requesting promotions for a member of their regiment.

About 2/3s through the box I found a folder with two letters in it. One was dated 25 December 1793 and the other one was dated 22 April 1794, from the Citadel, Plymouth. Captain John Campbell was requesting that his Ensign, Paul Doughty, be promoted to a Lieutenant. Unfortunately, it did not contain any information on his place of birth or family members. His original commission as Ensign in 1783 may have included that kind of information but the letters at The National Archives began in 1793.

There was one clue to be found in the letters. Captain Campbell mentioned William Doughty instead of Paul Doughty. Now I need to go back to the microfilm at the Family History Library for his regiment and see if there are service papers for a William Doughty since there weren't any for a Paul Doughty.

Other military records at The National Archives

The National Archives also has muster rolls for many military regiments. I was able to get copies of some muster rolls for Paul Doughty from the Invalid Company stationed in Plymouth. Here is a copy of a muster roll from 25 December 1800 to 24 June 1801.

Search for Paul Doughty's original enlistment regiment

The Family History Library did not have the resources available for me to find Paul Doughty's enlistment regiment. I was able to contact a researcher in England who does research at The National Archives. I gave her the information I had about Paul Doughty. She was able to search for Paul Doughty in the London Gazette. According to the The London Gazette's website it is the "Official Newspaper of Record for the United Kingdom" and each issue has a Ministry of Defence Supplement that includes "officer’s appointments, promotions and similar within the Services" (http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/). The Gazette began publishing in 1665.

The following information was extracted from the Gazette:
18th January 1780: Sergeant Doughty of 1st Foot Guards to be Ensign in an Independent company of invalids at Portsmouth.

15th April 1794: Ensign Paul Doughty to be Lieutenant in Captain Campbell’s Independent Company of Invalids.

Finally, here was Paul's original regiment:  the 1st Foot Guards.

Quest for Paul Doughty's location of birth

For the last several months I have been on a quest to find information about Paul Doughty. The motivation for finding information about Paul Doughty begins with my 4th great-grandmother Charlotte Doughty. I don't know where she was born or the names of her parents. The search for Charlotte Doughty began in the 1940s and 50s with my grandmother, Helen Hale Winward. My Uncle Leland Winward continued the search without success.

Charlotte married Francis Treseder on 11 March 1810 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England. They were married by license so I requested a copy of their marriage bond and allegation from the Devon Record Office. Paul Doughty is listed on the bond with Francis Treseder. Since our family has been at a dead end in finding Charlotte, I  decided to search for information about Paul Doughty. He could be Charlotte's father, brother, grandfather, or even an uncle. My thought was that if I could find his place of birth, it could lead me to Charlotte's location of birth

I began searching all types of records that could lead me to information about Paul Doughty. The name is very uncommon. A search of army lists at the Family History Library was sucessful in finding Paul Doughty listed as an officer.

The first Army List he was found in was 1785. He was listed as an Ensign with the date of 5 January 1781 as the date of his commission. The next Army List that gave different information about Paul was the 1795 Army List. On this list, Paul was listed as a Lieutenant and the commission date of 16 April 1795.  

In the 1806 Army List, Paul Doughty is on list of Officers of the late Independent Companies of Invalid receiving full pay.

By searching all of the available army lists, I learned that sometime between 1801 and 1805, Paul Doughty retired from the military. In all of the army lists, Paul is listed as serving as an officer in an Independent Company of Invalids stationed in Plymouth, Devon, England. The next step to finding information about Paul Doughty would be to find the regiment where he enlisted in the military. The service records of officers are filed in alphabetical order by the regiment of enlistment. Because the army lists always showed him with the company of invalids, I did not know his original enlistment regiment so could not find his service record.