My Grandfather William John Edwards took his discharge from the British army in Halifax (around 6 weeks before the boer war broke out (1895-6) I believe. Then Married Alice Maude Murley 1n 1897. I am trying to find his army records . Any help would be appreciated. Thank You
Bryan Edwards

Hi Bryan,

I see you've been searching on your Edwards and Murley grandparents for quite some time.

Do you know what rank your grandfather Edwards had in the British Army? It can be difficult to find out anything in the case of a private (I know from experience in the case of my own grandfather). There is a much better chance if he was an officer.

I'm mainly writing because I was intrigued by the Murley connection. I gather from other posts I have seen that you think Alice Maude was d/o Thomas Murley and Sarah Pike, of Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. I think it is possible that Alice had a sister Lillian E Murley who married Thomas A Shortt of Dartmouth / Halifax. This Thomas Shortt had a sister Mabel who married my great-grandfather Robert Henry Edwards (this was an Edwards family of Scottish descent, rather than your Welsh Edwards); it was RH Edwards' second marriage. I know a grandson in Halifax of Thomas Shortt and Lillian Murley.

Some of the connections above are in my genealogy pages at http://www.cordes.ca/genealogy/ . Feel free to write to me at the address available there.

Regards,
John Cordes
Halifax

As far as I know, all discharge papers are at the Public Records Office in Kew, London. Those for discharges before 1855 have been filmed by the LDS & are available to borrow for a small fee at a FHC.

Depending on when the discharge was, the papers are filed either by date of discharge or by regiment or alphabetically. See the National Archives info sheet at
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/?WT....
and for officers:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step...
for other ramks
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step...

Hope this helps, Josey