I am currently tracing my family history and am researching the following names:
• Le Vien (Manchester)
• Godbert (Manchester)
• Wilson (Manchester, Westmorland and Cumberland)
• Fallowfield (Cumberland)
• Green (Dorset, Somerset and later North Wales)
• Woodland (Somerset, particularly Coalfields)
• Hensman or Henman (Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire)
• Deighton (Bedfordshire)
• Litchfield (Bedfordshire)
Thomas Woodland, born c 1783 in Somerset, is my great great great grandfather. He joined the 28th Regiment of Foot in Fermoy, Ireland, in 1804 and fought at Vitoria, Spain, on 21 June 1813 where he was severely wounded in the left thigh ‘whilst in close action with the enemy’. He recovered to fight at Quatre Bras and Waterloo in June 1815 and along with all others who served, was awarded the Waterloo Medal.
He went on to serve in Corfu, Greece, with wife Elizabeth (‘Betty’) where they had two sons (George and William) and a daughter (Eliza). Their first son, George Woodland, is my great great grandfather. Thomas Woodland was discharged from the army in May 1824 for being ‘worn out due length of service and severely wounded’; he served 22 years 302 days, his service being advanced by two years for being ‘a Waterloo man’.
On return to the UK he became a Chelsea Pensioner (probably an out-pensioner) but sadly died within a year. Thomas and Betty had a further son in the UK (John) but she is listed as ‘widowed’ at John’s baptism in 1825. Betty married Robert Saunders in 1828 and had two further sons and a daughter.
Betty was Irish and I think her maiden name may have been Quin; if so, she may have been born in Queens County in 1785. I cannot find any marriage to Thomas.
My family tree is held on Ancestry, FindMyPast and Genes Reunited but the ancestry tree is private. Happy to hear from any one who can shed further light.