1876, a trying year for a Royal Engineer

A Georgian courtroom in England, were those for the military in Malta similar?

The events of 1876, affected not only William McKay but also his family. They were dependent on him and his rank in the Royal Engineers of the Malta Garrison to provide them with food and housing. What happened to Henrietta and the children, 5 year old Florence Annie, 2 year old Henrietta Maud and 6 year old William (if he was with them in Malta) when Corporal William McKay deserted on January 28, 1876?

Did William senior take his family with him when he absconded from the military or did he leave them behind? Wherever they were it must have been an anxious time for Henrietta while she was caring for her young children. But why had he run?

William wasn't at large for long, by February 4th his record stated that he was awaiting trial. The trial itself was noted as happening from February 15th to March 31st, which seems like a long time to me. He was convicted of "Desertion". Which cost him his G.C. (?) pay and pension. That wasn't all, he spent from April 1st to July 1st in prison. What happened to his family in the meantime?

Unfortunately, William's military record was silent about his family but I was able to find out more about his crime by accessing records of the War Office through Fold3. On the first charge William was found guilty of "Desertion Fraud misapplys money for payment of company". The sentence was 336 [days in jail?], reduced - which I interpreted as reduction in rank and stopped - which I thought was a stoppage of pay. The second charge was also fraud. In that case it was: "misapplys meat for patients in hospital. Allows meat to be stolen". Fortunately, he was found not guilty of that charge. He was in enough trouble as it was.

In spite of his sentence, he was only in jail from April 1st to July 1st, 1876. On July 2nd his record stated that he was a sapper, the equivalent rank to a private in the army. Had the engineers dangled the possibility of getting out of jail at a reduced rank for him to see the light or had he thought of what his incarceration was doing to his family and pleaded to get out of jail before his sentence was done? Were his family reduced to living in the barracks now that he didn't have his NCO status with its access to larger living quarters?

At least those family living arrangements wouldn't have lasted long as they said good bye to Malta and were on home ground in England by the beginning of 1877. I believe that the McKay family was included among those noted in Regiments of the Malta Garrison - The Royal Engineers' entry for 1876 which stated: "No. 24th Coy: On 21 Dec 1876, 2 officers, 4 officer's children, 1 officer's female servant, 4 sgts, 3 drummers, 76 rank and file, 13 soldier's wives and 20 children embarked on the P & O Steamer Nepal. They disembarked at Southampton on 31 Dec 1876."

Sources:

Find My Past – British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Records of William McKay enlisted 23^rd July, 1863

Fold3 – WO 86: Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad Piece 025: Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers (1867-1877)

Regiments of the Malta Garrison – The Royal Engineers https://www.maltaramc.com/regmltgar/royalen.html

Images:

Georgian courtroom Georgian courtroom in the Shirehall, the Quarter Sessions were held here 1778 - 1861 and the petty Session until 1971. It is now a museum.

By Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13106878

A soldier's family living away from home

Garrison Church, Valletta

 Life as a soldier's wife was not for the faint of heart. It was even more difficult for those posted overseas. Away in a foreign land; their lives were tied to the fortunes of the unit with which their husbands served. So it was for Henrietta, the wife of a Royal Engineer. According to the Regiments

of the Malta Garrison of the Royal Engineers the 32nd company of the Royal Engineers arrived at the garrison on Malta in September of 1869. It appears that they joined another company in the St. Francis Barracks, with the married soldiers' quarters being in St. Francis Ravelin.

William McKay's records show that he was in Malta from 1869 while those of Henrietta McKay indicate that she was still in England but she joined him later as their first daughter was born in Malta at the end of 1871. Did they occupy the married quarters in St. Francis Ravelin once William's wife joined him?

The Regiments of the Malta Garrison described the living quarters of the Royal Engineers in the following way: "St Francis Barracks Floriana was a two storied building with four large rooms, two on each floor and two small ones. There were no night urinals, urine tubs being still used by the men. These were not only offensive, but it was also impossible to keep the floor around the tubs clean. The married quarters at St Francis Ravelin were situated in a block of buildings which was well lit and ventilated. At each end of the block, was a quarter for a non-commissioned officer: each of the other quarters only had one room. These were too crowded for large families, who were often granted a second quarter, when these became available. NCOs had larger quarters in St. Francis Barracks."

The barracks didn't sound like great surroundings in which to bring up a family especially considering a prior entry in the same source about the health of the engineers. Out of 170 men 6 had been admitted to hospital for Delirium tremens in 1869. Even the married quarters sounded like a tight squeeze. But where were William and Henrietta and their growing young family housed during the time that he was posted to Malta?

The 1872 baptismal record for Florence Annie McKay gave the family's abode as Floriana, not the married quarters of Ravelin. Even the 1874 baptism of Henrietta Maud didn't see them moved to the married quarters. It seems that the marriage had to be acknowledged by the army before access to those quarters could occur. At least William was a corporal so they would have been in the larger NCO quarters. Not ideal, but maybe livable as it was the norm for that place and time. The later 1870s would bring more trying times. 

Sources:

Find My Past – British Armed Forces and Overseas Browse - Garrison Church, Malta: Baptism Register 1860-1886 WO 156/596

Regiments of the Malta Garrison – The Royal Engineers https://www.maltaramc.com/regmltgar/royalen.html 

Images:

By Continentaleurope at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47520458