Records of Hanoverian soldiers

[Brett Hendey]

My mother was descended from a family that arrived in South Africa in 1883 from Baven, near Hermannsburg, in the Province of Celle in what is today Lower Saxony.  This family, the Backebergs,  was a branch of one that had lived on the same farm in Baven as far back as the 1100's or 1200's, which always passed to the eldest son in succeeding generations.  A family member told me that other sons mostly joined the army and favoured the cavalry ("Die Hussaren").   Interest in the military on the part of the South African settlers was shown when at least four of the Bakeberg men (the spelling adopted by the 1883 settlers) joined the local militia regiment, the Border Mounted Rifles, and served with it during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

Because of my interest in military history, I have been looking into the activities of Hanoverian soldiers in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the period when Britain and Hanover shared a Royal Family.  My question is, what chance is there of finding the Backeberg name recorded in regimental histories of that period, and also on medal rolls of the Napoleonic Wars?  Put another way, are there researchers who would search for such records, and what is the likely cost given that it would be based on a surname only?

My apologies if this enquiry seems naïve.

Brett

 

 

[paul wood]

Brett,

Any one who collect KGL will tell you that very often the spelling on the roll and the spelling on the medal are often quite different. I have just scanned through the KGL Waterloo roll, no exact match of Backeberg but in the 2nd Light Dragoons KGL there is a Private Frederick Baggenberg which could be conceivably be a misspelling of Backeberg.

Will check the peninsular roll to see if I can find any matches.

Paul

 

 

 

Not really any matches on the Peninsular Roll (which was for those still alive in 1848).  There must be muster rolls for the KGL lurking somewhere in Kew (if they haven't been  lost or destroyed) however researching them could be a very costly business as researchers tend to charge based on time spent and it could be a very time consuming business which at the end of the day may draw a blank especially given the spelling variations on the rolls.

I hope this is of help.

Paul

 

 

[Brett Hendey]

Paul

I am very grateful for the trouble you went to in order to respond to my enquiry.  Your reply is much as I expected of British records for the KGL.  Interestingly, I read recently about the only battle casualty skeleton recovered by controlled excavation in the 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo was that of a KGL soldier who came from Hanover, Friederich Brandt.

I still wonder about the possible existence of records of the Hanoverian regiments that were present at Waterloo, and the possible existence of a roll for the Hanoverian Medal for Waterloo.

Regards

Brett

[Ulsterman]

There is a Hanovarian Military History/ Research Society, headquartered in Germany, that has access to a lot of obscure records. There might well be a Hanovarian medal roll, just nobody has transcribed it. Same with the Laganzalza medal and the Hanovarian Legion records (which are apparently at Windsor). 

[Brett Hendey]

Ulsterman

Thank you for that information.  I am encouraged to take my search further.  Any evidence of a Backeberg in uniform during the Napoleonic Wars would allow me to justify to my wife the buying an appropriate medal to represent this fact!  Unfortunately, I did not inherit from my long-dead grandparents the ability to speak and read German, so the quest ahead will be a difficult one.

Regards

Brett