The Story from the Census and Beyond or “You’re in the army now” part 7

The Indian Mutiny started in the spring of 1857 and continued until 1859. The 1^st Battalion of the 60^th Rifles had been in India since 1856. They were joined by the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions of the 60^th Rifles in 1857 after the mutiny had begun. The 1^st Battalion were involved in many of the major battles of the mutiny. Members of the 1^st Battalion were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during those skirmishes and, later, the battalion raised a monument in Dover to the members of their battalion who lost their lives during the Indian Mutiny.

It was easy to find information about the movements of the 1^st Battalion while they were in India. Unfortunately, I was unable to reconstruct the movements of the 3^rd Battalion through the records. The 3^rd Battalion, or at least those who travelled with George Welch, arrived at Calcutta in November of 1857. According to the muster rolls, there were times that George was present but it does not specify where he was, times when he was at the Fort at Bangalore and also about a month when he was in the hospital. Was he wounded or perhaps felled by disease brought on by the unaccustomed climate? It is also recorded that George Welch embarked for England on April 24, 1860. 

While it would be great to have a connection with a soldier who fought with the 1^st Battalion of the 60^th Rifles, who was involved in battles and perhaps even awarded a medal, there is always a good chance that such a soldier could be maimed in the fighting or even killed. Much better for me that George Welch survived to return to England and specifically to Winchester where my great grandmother, Harriet, worked as a domestic servant. Was it the uniform that caught her eye?  Whatever it was, Harriet and George were married on September 14, 1863 while George was still in the army. He was discharged from the army on November 22, 1864. I wonder if she lived in the barracks with him for that year or continued on as a live-in domestic? 

Sources:

https://doverhistorian.com/2017/06/04/rifles-monument/ 

60^th Rifles Memorial to Indian Mutiny https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1420014 

Ralby, Dr. Aaron. Atlas of Military History: An Illustrated Global Survey of Warfare from Antiquity to the Present Day. Parragon Books Ltd., Bath, UK, 2013