Thankyou, you're welcome, and I think that it's useful and desirable to preserve and document such interesting snippets of history.
If you succeed in finding the regimental records and war diary they will probably make very interesting reading.
He certainly experienced some fascinating times and historical events.
Perhaps the events of the Indian Mutiny may have contributed to his promotion to the Colonelcy of the regiment.
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I forgot to mention that the previously attached document is from the East India Register & Army List 1855.
It apparently says that he was commissioned into either
the British, or the British Indian Army in 1825.
That sounds reasonable when compared to the 1805 birth date given for him above in his newspaper obituary, which suggests that he was about 20 when he was commissioned.
The other details in the obituary match well with the following information.
I have him on 3 consecutive censuses in Scotland, post retirement, 1861, 1871, and 1881, and it's definitely him.
I also have a possible mention of him in...
The India office and Burma office list 1864, on page 56.
BENGAL RETIRED OFFICERS
1825 Mackenzie, Lt. Col. H., 15th Dec. 1859
Which once again matches well with the Obit and census, and army list information, with one exception.
In all 3 censuses his Surname is spelled as McKenzie, not a problem, it's clearly him.
The problem is that in all of the censuses his year of birth is given as 1816, and if he was commissioned in 1825 he can't have been commissioned at the age of 8. !
Since in 1881 he had a 27 year old wife to whom he had probably been married to for at least 3 years, judging by the age of his 3 year old son, I at first suspected that he might have understated his true age by about 10 years in connection with a courtship.
Obviously a frisky old boy, whatever his true age was.
However he is also listed on the 1861 census as having been born in 1816, so that theory doesn't appear to be correct.
There are only 2 other possible explanations that I can think of, both of which may be wrong.
Firstly that the age given in the newspaper Obituary was wrong, which seems unlikely since all of the other obituary details are correct and are confirmed by the information on the 3 censuses.
BTW - Re all the locations mentioned, check them on a map, they're all pretty close to each other and they all match the location information given in the obituary.
Secondly, that there were 2 people, ( possibly related ), both called Hugh Mackenzie, who both served in the same regiment in the same era.
I'll leave you to figure that all out.
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1861 census 7th April 1861
Piece: 799 Folio: 1 Page: 20
Registration District: Melrose
Civil Parish: Melrose
Address: St Dunstanes, Melrose
County: Roxburghshire
MCKENZIE, Hugh Head Widower 45 1816 Rosekeen, Ross and Cromarty
Lieut Col H C Army Reo Sert - ( exact transcription quote ) Reo is probably Retired
can't figure out what the rest might mean.
MCKENZIE, Mary J Daughter Unmarried 15 1846 England Scholar
MCKENZIE, Sarah A Daughter Unmarried 7 1854 India Calcutta Scholar
WEARS, Margt Servant Unmarried 43 1818 Domestic Servant Montrose, Forfarshire (Angus)
MATHISON, Elisabeth Servant Unmarried 27 1834 Domestic Servant Selkirkshire
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1871 census 2nd April 1871
Piece: 70 Folio: 2 Page: 11
Registration District: Kiltearn
Civil Parish: Kiltearn
Address: Fowlis Mains, Kiltearn
County: Ross and Cromarty
MCKENZIE, Hugh Head Widower 55 1816 Lieut Colonel Late B Bengal Army Retired Rosskeen, Ross and Cromarty
CAMPBELL, Isabella Servant Unmarried 48 1823 Cook Knoidart, Invernessshire
ROSS, Annie Servant Unmarried 22 1849 Housemaid Kilmorack, Invernessshire
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1881 census 3rd April 1881
Piece: 137 Folio: 8 Page: 30
Registration District: Forres
Civil Parish: Forres
Address: Park Mount Randolph Villa, Forres
County: Moray
MCKENZIE, Hugh Head Married 65 1816 Lt Col Retired Rosskeen, Rossshire
MCKENZIE, Edith S B Wife Married F 27 1854 England
MCKENZIE, Hugh G F Son 3 1878 Forres, Moray
SMITH, Elizabeth Servant Unmarried 23 1858 Domestic Servt Cook Forres, Moray
LAING, Mary Servant Unmarried 21 1860 Domestic Servt House Maid Forres, Moray
BARIN, Agnes Servant Unmarried 16 1865 Domestic Servt Nurse Keith, Banffshire
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Randolph Villa still existed up to at least 1993.
It's moodern address was, and possibly still is.
RANDOLPH VILLA
37 ST LEONARDS ROAD
FORRES
IV36 1DW
It was offered for sale in 1871.
Inverness Advertiser Friday, 17th November 1871
Forres - Randolph Villa, for sale
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Curiously it still had a military connection in 1915.
Robert Peat Hamilton Pte 29555 16th Canadian Inf (Manitoba Regt) born Forres 16/08/1881 enlisted Valcartier Age 33
Killed in Action F & F 22-Apr-15 Son of the late Mr William Mackintosh & Helen Ann Peat Hamilton, of Forres, Morayshire, Scotland.
Address also Randolph Villa, Forres.
Husband of Mary Hamilton, of 37, Murieston Crescent, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Morayshire Roll of Honour: Page: 169: Occ Solicitor. MI: Fc523. Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres M. R. 29 Panel 24 - 26 - 28 - 30 FG 26-5-15 2/2 Courant 28-5-15 1/1 FG 29-5-15 1/1
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There was a sad footnote to the Colonel's life though.
THE LONDON GAZETTE, MARCH 11, 1884.
Page 1256
NOTICE.
THE estates of Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Mackenzie,
presently residing at Parkmount, Forres, were
sequestrated on Thursday, the 6th day of March, 1884,
by the Sheriff-Substitute of Elginshire.
The first deliverance is dated the 6th day of March,
1884.
The meeting to elect the Trustee and Commissioners
is to be held at twelve o'clock, noon, on Wednesday, the
19th day of March, 1884, within Charleson's Hotel, in
Forres.
A composition may be offered at this meeting; and to
entitle creditors to the first dividend, their oaths and
grounds of debt must be lodged on or before 7th July,
1884.
All future advertisements relating to this sequestration
will be published in the Edinburgh Gazette alone.
MACKENZIE and GRANT, Solicitors, Forres,
Agents.
Sequestration is the Scottish legal term for banktruptcy.
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BTW - Civil registration of births/deaths/marriages didn't start in England and Wales until 1837.
Scotland had, and still has, it's own BMD registration system, which started in 1854/1855, and so you should be able to find civil registrations for the marriage to the 1881 census wife and for the birth of the 1881 census son.
I can't see an English marriage registration, so the marriage almost certainly took place in Scotland.
Only get LONG VERSION certs, they contain more information than short version certs.
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Re Mary J. Mackenzie or Mckenzie born England circa 1846.
2 points, firstly census dates and ages are often approximations and can be out by a year or two.
Secondly, births were registered by the quarter of the year in which the birth was registered and parents had 6 weeks in which to register a birth so a birth in one quarter might not be registered until the following quarter and if the birth took place near the end of the year it might not be registered until the first quarter of the following year.
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Searching between 1844 and 1848, there are three possible birth registrations, 2 in England and one in Poona in India, a military birth registration.
You can get English birth certs from the local registration offices, or from the UK GRO = General Register Office.
The local offices will probably be quicker, but military/Indian birth certs can only be obtained from the GRO
In either case, the local offices or the GRO should be able to eliminate the incorrect cert based on the parent's names and occupations and they probably won't charge a fe for the incorrect certs, nor hopefully will they charge a search fee.
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Civil registration event: Birth
Name:MACKENZIE, Mary Jannet
Registration district: Kensington
County:London
Year of registration:1845
Quarter of registration:Jul-Aug-Sep
Mother's maiden name:Not available before 1911on birth registration summaries,
but will be listed on the birth cert.
Volume no: III
Page no: 316
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/communityandlocallife/registrarsservi...*****************************************************
Civil registration event: Birth
Name:MCKENZIE, Mary Jane
Registration district: Maldon
County:Essex
Year of registration:1845
Quarter of registration:Apr-May-Jun
Mother's maiden name:Not available before 1911
Volume no: 12
Page no: 158
Maldon registers are now held by Essex, Chelmsford.
http://www.essex.gov.uk/Births%20Ceremonies%20Deaths/Pages/O...http://www.essex.gov.uk/Births%20Ceremonies%20Deaths/Births/...*****************************************************
Registration event: Birth
Name:MCKENZIE, Mary J
Mother's name: Not available before 1966 on the registration
summary but will be listed on the birth cert.
Regiment: 22nd Foot ( different regiment, but Hugh didn't
join the Bombay regiment until later )
Place :Poona
Country:Indian Subcontinent
Year:1848
Volume : 915
Page: 77
Record source: GRO Regimental Birth Indices (1761 to 1924)
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http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/fees.asphttp://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/most_customer...*****************************************
No sign of wife Edith in 1891, remarried perhaps. ?
However, could this be son Hugh G.F. listed as Hugh G.T., a boarder at a private school. ?
1891 census
Piece: 467
Folio: 2
Page: 22
Registration District: Dollar
Civil Parish: Dollar
Address: Burnside House, Dollar
County: Clackmannanshire
MCKENZIE, Hugh G T Boarder aged 13 Scholar born 1878 in Forres, Moray
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