Charles Bentley (abt. 1762)

Born about 1762 in Kilbride, County Offaly, Ireland

Descendants

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Biography

WO 97/1142/26 CHARLES BENTLEY Born KILBRIDGE [Kilbride?], Offaly

Served a total of 21 years 295 days (so he must have been about 32 when he joined to army, about 1794)

14th Dragoons; served for 240 days In 1794, they were sent from Ireland, where they'd been based, to the Low Countries. War had broken out with France in 1792. He must have stayed with them until some time in 1795.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Countries_theatre_of_the_War_of_the_First_Coalition

16th Foot Regiment; served for 1 year In 1795, this regiment appear to have been involved in the Maroon Wars in Jamaica.

• See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Maroon_War

30th Foot Regiment; 30 July 1796 - 31 July 1808; 12 years 2 days During this period they were Marines, fighting in the Mediterranean under Nelson, culminating in Egypt in 1801. Wikipedia (Aug 2018) says:

In March 1801 the regiment moved to Egypt to repel the French invasion and took part in the Battle of Mandora and then the Battle of Alexandria later that month. The regiment returned to England in 1802 and formed a second battalion in the following year. In 1805 Charles's unit was home in the Tullamore area. In January 1807 the 1st Battalion sailed for India where it remained throughout the war.

Records in Australia say his daughter Mary was born about 1801 in Egypt, which matches this well. Her mother Bridget (surname unknown) must have traveled with Charles.

• See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mandora and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alexandria

2nd Garrison Battalion; 1 August 1808 - 9 September 1812; 4 years 39 days At about this time, the 30th entered the Peninsular war in Portugal and Spain, the campaign which made Wellington famous. It could be that Charles was already injured or otherwise unable to serve in that type of action. It seems this battalion was a new garrison battalion, formed from older ones. It would have been in Ireland most or all of this time.

1st Garrison Battalion; 10 September 1812 - 24 September 1816; 4 years 15 days. It seems this 1st garrison battalion was another re-numbered one formed from older ones, and originally stationed in Ireland and called the 3rd, then moving to Malta in 1813.

Discharged in Malta, aged 54 in 1816, whereupon he was unfit due to "lameness of the left leg and arm". This was about one year after Waterloo, and Charles had been in the military since not long after the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars.

The military records say he was 5 foot 5 inches, had black hair (at 54), hazel eyes, and a dark complexion. He was a weaver by trade.

In 1823 in the so-called Tithe Applotment records, a Charles Bently appears in the Main Street of Clara Town, in the north of Kings/Offaly, near the Westmeath border.

Sources

This entry was started by descendant Andrew Lancaster. For this generation a lot of the information in the Lancaster family was collected in the 20th century by Richard Lonsdale Lancaster.