John Sherwood
W.W.1.
1782 to 1860
John Sherwood was born abt 1782 in Whitchurch in Hampshire; he was the son of George Sherwood and Sarah. He married Sarah Long in 1803.
1841 census shows John and his family resident in Charlton, Andover.
His occupation is given as labourer. 1851 census describes John as a pensioner of Chelsea living at Hounsdown, Eling.
Although, in the 21st century, we regard "Chelsea Pensioners" as scarlet robed in-pensioners at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea (a retirement home and nursing home for retired members of the British Army) historically the term applied more widely - to both in-pensioners and out-pensioners.
During the reign of King Charles II, the Royal Hospital was still under construction, so he introduced a system for distribution of army pensions in 1689. The pension was to be made available to all former soldiers who had been injured in service or who had served for more than 20 years. By the time the Chelsea Hospital was completed, there were more pensioners than places available in the Hospital.
Eligible ex-soldiers who could not be housed in the Hospital were termed out-pensioners, receiving their pension from the Royal Hospital but living outside it. In-pensioners, by contrast, surrender their army pension and live within the Royal Hospital.
In 1703, there were only 51 out-pensioners. By 1815 this figure had risen to 36,757. The Royal Hospital at Chelsea remained responsible for distributing army pensions until 1955, following which the phrase "out-pensioner" became less common, and "Chelsea pensioner" was used largely to refer to "in-pensioners".
John’s army discharge document (which is not easy to read as the writing is quite faint) states that on 10th October 1808, aged 18 years, he enlisted at Andover for unlimited service with the 56th Regiment of Foot. He was discharged on 6 June 1827 after 18 years 256 days service. Of that period, 17 years 12 days (26 June 1809 to 7 July 1826) were spent on service in the East Indies. The reason for discharge appears to be because he was wounded. (Hence, presumably, him qualifying for a pension with less than 20 years’ service).
His conduct as a soldier was good. His personal description is given as 37 years of age, 5ft 7 1/2ins tall, brown hair, hazel eyes and dark complexion. Interestingly he was still a private, even after nearly 19 years’ service. This might have been because at the date of discharge he was still illiterate – making his mark rather than signing his name. The reverse of the discharge document gives details of the pay he drew on discharge (though very difficult to read).
Unless the Battalion Muster Rolls can be tracked down we will not know whether John served with the 1st or 2nd Battalion of the regiment. However, certain things can be construed from information in the discharge document. But first it is interesting that John enlisted with the 56th Regiment of Foot whose county affiliation was West Essex, rather than the 67th Regiment which had a Hampshire (South Hampshire) county affiliation. (See next para for likely answer)
The 1st Battalion comprising 1000 men set sail from the Isle of Wight for India in April 1805, arriving in Bombay in the August. The 2nd Battalion also comprising 1000 men departed the Isle of Wight for India in June 1807 and arrived Madras in the December, before transferring to Bombay, where both Battalions were stationed during 1808. During that year it was decided to augment the 1st Battalion by 300 to 1300 NCOs and men. The strength of the 2nd Battalion was not similarly increased. So, at the time of John’s enlistment in October 1808 the 1st Battalion of the West Essex Regiment of Foot was recruiting but not the 2nd Battalion, nor the 67th South Hampshire regiment.
In August 1809, companies of the Battalion were shipped from Bombay to Madras at short notice and under great secrecy, in an attempt to make a show of force to avert a possible mutiny of the Indian regiments. This was successful, with any violence being averted, and the regiment received the thanks of the Governor in Council.
With the return of Napoleon to France in 1815 the 1st Battalion was dispatched again to Mauritius to reinforce the garrison there against the possibility of revolt by the French population, where it remained for many more years. In the meantime the 2nd Battalion remained in India to fight as part of the Poona Subsidiary Force during the Third Maratha War (1817-18). In 1817 the 2nd Battalion transferred 600 of its men to the 65th Foot. It then returned to Kent to disband, sending men from its Battalion companies to Mauritius to join the 1st Battalion.
After commanding the regiment for 21 years, General the Honourable Chapple Norton died was succeeded in the colonelcy by Lt General Sir John Murray Bt from the 3rd West India Regiment. It is his name that is given on John’s discharge certificate.
In July 1819 the whole regiment returned to Port Louis in Mauritius where, on 16 August it was inspected by Major-General Darling who said “the inspection has afforded me real satisfaction. A finer body of men than compose the regiment is perhaps nowhere to be seen. They are clean, and soldier like in appearance, well-appointed and in no respect deficient...”
For the next 6 years the regiment was stationed successively at Port Lois and Mahebourg . In 1826 after upwards of 20 years’ service abroad it embarked at Port Louis for England. After landing at Portsmouth in June the regiment marched to Cumberland Fort and, in September, embarked from Portsmouth for Hull where it joined the depot companies. In January 1827 the regiment quitted Hull for Manchester where John’s discharge was signed on 26 May.
Common soldiers could marry while in service. But in those days it was common practice for soldiers to have relationships with local women. It is therefore quite likely that there are Anglo-Indian Sherwood’s somewhere in the world and Creole Sherwood’s in Mauritius.
‘THE POMPADOURS”
This Regiment adopted for its facing colour (collar, lapels and cuffs), a shade known today as "Rose-Pompadour", the favourite colour of the Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XIV. Their smart appearance soon earned the Corps its nickname of "The Pompadours" or "The Saucy Pompadours", a nickname which has lasted to modern times.
The 56th Foot, together with the 12th, 39th and 48th Regiments, was awarded the battle honour "Gibraltar, 1779-83", with the right to bear on its Colour a "Castle and Key" with the motto "Montis Insignia Calpe" (the sign of the Rock of Calpe - Calpe being the ancient name for Gibraltar). The Key is symbolic of Gibraltar being the key to the Mediterranean. The "Castle and Key", continue to be part of the badge of the Royal Anglian Regiment. In 1810 an expedition was mounted into the Indian Ocean, with a strong detachment of the first battalion as well as various other units, and the Île Bourbon was taken on 10 July. The same detachment then saw action at the capture of Mauritius in December, the last French territory remaining in the Indian Ocean. A force of militia volunteers sent as recruits to the 56th arrived as a garrison in Goa in mid-1810. It joined the first battalion in 1811, and the Indian Ocean detachment returned to India later that year. To mark the regiment's services in India, it received a new pair of colours as a gift from the Honourable East India Company.