James Winton  


COMMENTS ON THE CAREER DOCUMENT
1. Volunteers and Militia. Major John Bolton of the of the Keep Military Museum, Dorchester tells me that "volunteer corps" were small local units raised by towns for local protection. They were very much private armies, with no central control until the mid nineteenth century. They raised their own funds and chose their own uniforms. The Militia regiments were not regular soldiers but something of a conscripted "Home Guard", but they could be called to serve away from their home district. They were used to take over non-combatant army service such as guarding prisoners of war so that the fully trained soldiers could go "to the line". They were also the source of volunteers to fill vacancies in the regular army. The post of Adjutant in both organisations would be responsible for training the force. The Adjutant would sometimes be the only regular soldier in the force. In October 1805 James obtained an Adjutant Commission with the 2nd Corps of Dorset Volunteers and resigned on the 24th of December 1806. Major John Bolton of the Keep Military Museum in Dorchester, Dorset, informed me that they have no records of the Volunteers during this period but he did know that the 2nd Corps was raised in the Wareham Corfe Castle area of Dorset. (In this area is the village of Acton. Is this a home of the Acton family associated with James?)
2. As James Winton joined the North Middlesex Militia he may well have resided in that area. He was 25 years of age so could have been married or newly widowed. Within three months he was promoted to lieutenant in the 3rd Essex Militia and a year later obtained an Ensigney in the
 
17th Regiment of Foot by volunteering for the line. His papers say "without Purchase", so maybe he was not a rich man. But I note from Burkes L G that Sir Henry Seton 4th Bt. of Culbeg Stirlingshire (d.1788) was a Captain in the 17th Foot. So maybe some family influence? I saw commissions in the WO25 file costing £900.
3. With the threat of war with France over, there was a" general reduction" in army size and James was reduced to half pay (against his inclination) in April 1803. His "C.V." states that in August 1803 he was appointed Adjutant of the 2nd Regiment of the Shropshire Militia. Peter Ducker curator of the Shropshire Regimental Museum sent me some information on the Shropshire Militia. The 2nd Shropshire Militia, also known as the Supplementary Militia, was set up in April 1798 and disbanded in September 1799. In 1803 it was reformed and an extract from the London Gazette dated the 25th of February 1804 lists Richard Lyster as Colonel and James Winton as Adjutant and Brevet Captain in June 1803. Some of the Shropshire Militia served in Scotland or Ireland to free regular soldiers to fight overseas. The Army Lists 1803 to 1816 shows James on Irish Half pay. On the 1st of August 1805 the 2nd merged with the 1st Regiment of Shropshire Militia at Ipswich. It appears that James lost his position. One of the Lieutenants listed in the London Gazette was Edward Acton, Gentleman. I note that James's son George de Winton who married Elizabeth Brewster of Womborn in 1863 christened his daughter born 1871, Edith Acton de Winton. Wombourne is just over the Shropshire border. The Acton family of Acton Burnel, Salop and Acton Scott, Salop appear in Burkes Peerage and dates from Sir

Edward Acton 1st Bt. 1643-1659. The use of the name would indicate some family connection. There was an Acton staying with the Wills/de Winton household in the 1881 census in Ryde Isle of Wight.
4. For a while in 1807 James Winton was an extra recruiting officer in the London District "under the Authority of the Commander in Chief" (who was that?). Later he was appointed Adjutant to the 3rd Cambridgeshire Regiment of Volunteer Infantry also known as the Wisbech United Battalion of Volunteer Infantry. Philip Saunders Cambridgeshire Archivist was unable to find any information of the Regiment during this period and he was surprised and puzzled to learn that the regiment was on permanent duty in Huntingdon in 1808. There was a very large French prisoner of war camp at Norman Cross Huntingdonshire between 1795 and 1815 and the 3rd Cambridgeshire could well have been there replacing the regular army. He sent me copy pages of the History of Wisbech by William Watson who was appointed colonel of the 3rd by the Earl of Hardwicke in 1807. There is no detailed information on the 3rd other than that the Battalion consisted of six hundred rank and file. In 1908 an Act was passed to allow corps of volunteers to transfer themselves into local militia. A bounty of two guineas was given to each volunteer so most of the men and officers transferred. James Winton's
 
WO 25 states that he was Adjutant of the 3rd and extra recruiting officer London District 1807, 1808, and 1809. In the Boyd's index of marriages for Cambridgeshire the only James Winton listed, as married could not sign his name, hardly an Adjutant. So James did not marry in these years. I have copies of the articles in the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal dated the 4th of June and the 8th of October 1808 and they just record compliments made to James Winton by Col Sir Edward Baynes and the presentation of a sabre from the officers of the regiment by Col Watson.
The PRO Kew document covering James Winton's military career WO 25 788 illustrates his army career as written above, gives his age on first appointment to" his Majesty's service" as 25 and his years of service as full- pay 12, half -pay 18. If the Militia is considered His Majesty's service then his birth year would be 1773. Otherwise it was 1774. The document states that he was on half pay from 1802. The Army Lists 1802 list him as on full pay to the 27th of October 1802. And 1803 to 1816 on IRISH half pay?? 1817 till his death in 1851 shows English half pay. The document is dated 15th December 1828 so he is listing his early service as an ensign and lieutenant in the Militia as full pay (were they paid in the Militia?) and his years as Adjutant and Recruiting Officer. It appears he had no active roll in the army after 1828.
Anthony Whitty