Week 34 of #52 Ancestors already and the theme is Timeline.  Individual timelines are something I am starting to look at for my ancestors.  I have lots of newspaper reports, probate records and other documents that have been downloaded for many of them and it was only recently whilst I was wondering how to note them so I remember their existence, that I realised I could add them to my family tree on Family Historian 7 as Facts and then they would appear in the timeline for that person.  Another item for the To do list!  I recently did this for a client report and it added more interesting information over and above the usual BMD dates and census returns.

An example timeline which does not include any extra facts and highlights some of which might be sought is as follows:
Phillis FUNNELL (1849-1947)

• She was born on 15 March 1849 in Warbleton, Sussex. Birth certificate purchased from GRO August 2005.  John her father was a Labourer.  She was baptised on 27 May 1849 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• She appeared in the census on 30 March 1851 in Sandhill Lane, Sand hole, Warbleton, Sussex. 
• She appeared in the census on 7 April 1861 in Glaziers Forge, Brightling, Sussex. 
• Her brother John FUNNELL died in 1862 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her father John FUNNELL died by being accidentally killed by the wheel of a cart running over him on 22 May 1863 in Warbleton, Sussex. Information received from N P Hell Coroner for Sussex.  Inquest held 23 May 1863.  Death certificate purchased from GRO December 2006. 
• She appeared in the census on 2 April 1871 in Brewhouse Road, Hailsham, Sussex. 
• Her sister Edith FUNNELL died in 1875 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• She married William John PILBEAM on 4 April 1877 in Warbleton, Sussex. Address: Warbleton, Sussex. Marriage certificate purchased from GRO August 2005.  Witnessed by Lucy Hannah Pilbeam and James White.  Both fathers were Farmers at Warbleton.  John Funnell deceased. 
• Her son William John PILBEAM was born on 30 January 1878 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her son Thomas James PILBEAM was born on 1 March 1879 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• She appeared in the census on 3 April 1881 at Little Rigsford, Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her daughter Caroline Alice (Carrie) PILBEAM was born on 12 September 1882 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her son George Charles PILBEAM was born on 28 November 1884 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her daughter Lucy Ann PILBEAM was born on 25 April 1887 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her sister Charlotte FUNNELL died in 1889 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• She appeared in the census on 5 April 1891 at Rushford Farm, Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her son William John PILBEAM married Mary Ann JONES on 23 April 1899. 
• She appeared in the census on 31 March 1901 in Road, Warbleton, Sussex.
• Her daughter Caroline Alice (Carrie) PILBEAM married Edward FOSTER on 19 October 1901. 
• Her son Thomas James PILBEAM married Edith Mary ELPHICK on 4 May 1904 in Hailsham, Sussex. 
• Her son George Charles PILBEAM married Naomi Elizabeth WINCHESTER on 4 June 1906 in Warbleton, Sussex. Marriage certificate purchased from GRO August 2005.  Witnessed by Arthur Reginald Winchester and Alma Gertrude Winchester 
• Her daughter Lucy Ann PILBEAM married James Thomas HARMER on 22 February 1908 in Warbleton, Sussex. 
• Her brother Owen FUNNELL died in 1910 in Battle, Sussex. 
• Her mother Elizabeth Harriett MESSAGE died of Apoplexy, exhaustion on 4 March 1914 in Giffords Farm, Brightling, Sussex. Death certificate purchased from GRO, December 2006.  Douglas Funnell, Grandson present at the death. 
• Her husband William John PILBEAM died of Apoplexy 1 hour on 26 May 1919 in Little Rushford Farm, Warbleton, Sussex. G C Pillbeam, son present at the death, Blackdown, Punnetts Town, Warbleton.  Death certificate purchased from GRO September 2005. 
• She died of Pyelitis, Myocardial degeneration on 18 June 1947 in Foords Farm, Punnetts Town, Warbleton, Sussex. Address: Foords Farm, Punnetts Town, Sussex. A E Foster, Grandson, Wood Green, Punnetts Town, Heathfield present at the death.  Death certificate purchased from GRO January 2018 
• She was buried in July 1947 in Independent Chapel, Heathfield, Sussex.

It includes timeline for close relatives, ie parents, spouse and children or I can choose to not include them. 
 
I can see many uses of this timeline in the pursuit of my family tree:
What bits of information are missing from a person’s timeline?
What other useful information might be available for an ancestor?
It will also highlight areas an ancestor might have lived when dealing with gaps in census records for example or when trying to find where somebody was married when there is as so often, more than one choice.
If producing reports for family members it just makes it more interesting reading too.

​Back in May I wrote a blog about Cotton Weavers in the Salford area and one of these was John Thelwell.  This week’s theme is Service and John Thelwell took part in the Napoleonic War.
 
John Thelwell was born in Gorton, Lancashire and enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery in 1813 aged 20.  He joined the most famous troop of horse artillery in the British army: “A” Troop, otherwise known as “The Chestnut Troop”, raised in 1793 and named after its chestnut-coloured horses with which it had served with distinction through the Peninsula War.  In the year that John Thelwell joined the Troop it was in its fourth year of fighting its way from Portugal, through Spain, to southern France.  
 
On 21st June 1813 it fought at the key battle of Vitoria, which effectively won the war in Spain for Wellington.  The ensuing pursuit of the French army back to and over the Pyrenees saw the Troop in action at engagements at San Marcos, La Rhune, Nivelle, Nive, St Pierre de Grube, Gave d’Oleron, Orthez, and La Reole.  An end to the relentless fighting finally came in April 1814 with Napoleon’s abdication and exile to Elba.

But with Napoleon’s escape, “A” Troop found itself back with Wellington’s army in Flanders and was in the thick of the fighting at Waterloo.  On the morning of the 18th June this Troop was posted with two guns on the Brussels road looking down towards an abatis (a pile of wood blocking the road) next to the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, a key position in the battle of Waterloo.  The other four guns were placed to the right of the Brussels road, on the ridge, with a deep hollow way to their rear.  This sunken lane was clogged with the limbers and horses of the Troop.  At Waterloo the Troop had a nominal strength of 167 men:
Captain Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross and four other officers
2 Staff Serjeants
3 Serjeants
3 Corporals
5 Bombardiers (the artillery equivalent to a Lance Corporal in the infantry)
81 Gunners – these men loaded and fired the guns
57 Drivers – these men rode and held the horses which pulled the guns and limbers.
6 Artificers (farriers, saddlesmiths, etc.)
1 Trumpeter

​The Drivers did not fire the guns but waited with the limbers which pulled the guns, this would
have been Driver Thelwell’s job.  They needed to be ready to withdraw the guns at a moment’s
notice and to also bring up more ammunition when needed.  Each limber was pulled by 3 pairs
of horses, each pair having one driver.  John Thelwell would have worn the distinctive
Tarleton helmet of the Royal Horse Artillery, carried a light cavalry sword slung from a belt,
carried a short whip to control the horses, and worn a special boot reinforced with iron rods to
stop his leg being crushed should his pair of horses come together.  The Troop had 6 guns and
as well as the 36 horses needed to pull these, there would also have been at least another 36 for the ammunition wagons, plus numerous other horses as spares and for various other wagons for the artificers’ equipment etc.  As noted above, at Waterloo the Troop’s limbers and carts were tightly crammed into the sunken lane at the rear of the guns.  This, then, is probably where John Thelwell was stationed for the battle.
 
Upon La Haye Sainte falling to the French, the Troop came under musket fire from the farm and the four gun section was moved further along the ridge to the right.  These guns were then charged by French Cuirassiers and the gun crews ran to the hollow way to escape or threw themselves under the guns for shelter.
 
Around this time both the guns on the Brussels road were disabled.  Of the four remaining guns three were also disabled later by artillery fire, leaving the Troop with just one serviceable gun.
The Troop lost 8 men killed (plus an unknown number wounded), and 27 horses killed or lost.
 
In 1816 all soldiers of the British Army at Waterloo were awarded the Waterloo Medal, the first of its kind in that it was awarded to all ranks.  “Waterloo Men” were also rewarded by being credited with an extra 2 years of service (which was beneficial in terms of pay and pension).
 
This information was provided to me by Martin Aaron of Waterloomen.com
 
John was based in Ringmer at the Barracks during 1818 when he met Phillis Funnell my Great x 4 Grandmother and her son John was born 6 November 1818.  By 1821 he had left the Army and married his first wife Nancy Potts back in Lancashire.  I am now researching his life back in Lancashire.