Dear Bernard Cornwell I am very envious about your long and well documented family history back to ‘Uhtred’. I have traced one part of my family back to about 1800 but then, they were mainly carpenters and agricultural labourers so had less documentation than yours. However, I wondered if you could provide some military context for one small and remote element of my family history Robert, a former soldier and invalid – although rather later than Sharpe (1850s -60s). I am not very familiar with 19th century British military history except for the Napoleonic Wars and that mainly from historical fiction. (Background is at the end of this message if it helps to make sense of my questions.)

Could you suggest under what circumstances a soldier could be discharged from the army as unfit? Illness or injury, etc, though the British Army, from your novels, seems to have driven their soldiers to death before discharge. I thought that Robert may have been sufficiently injured in military action to be discharged, or may have had a debilitating illness such as tuberculosis.

Any ideas why he would be discharged and later able to emigrate to New South Wales with a clean bill of health? I’m not sure that he was officially discharged, but see 1871 census reference, below.

Could you tell me: the age at which boys could become drummer boys; and the age when youths could join the army as privates?

Could a drummer boy be promoted to or otherwise become a private? Assuming he survived, of course!

Could you suggest what action Robert might have been involved in, in the 1860s, possibly leading to his discharge as incapacitated? He may have taken part in the Crimean War, perhaps as a drummer boy, but I think it was too early for him to have been sufficiently injured to be discharged, to still be an invalid in 1871 and then recover.

Background: One of my great-great-grandmother’s second cousins, twice removed (or something like that), Robert, was born in 1844 in Somerset. His father, William, died in 1846 aged 38. His mother remarried two years later and Robert, aged 7, is living with his mother and stepfather in the 1851 English census. He doesn’t appear in the 1861 census, when he would have been 17, but in 1871 he appears with his elder brother, lodging with his sister and brother in law, back in Somerset. His occupation is shown as ‘former soldier, now invalid’ By 1878, Robert had apparently recovered, married, had a child and emigrated to Australia. The Immigration Board’s assessment on his arrival was that Robert’s ‘bodily health and strength and probably usefulness’ was ‘Good’. Incidentally, he couldn’t read or write, though his wife could do both. I would be very grateful for any suggestions you can offer, or possible references for research. Many thanks for the pleasure of your books. Hanging out for Sword Song in Australia. Elizabeth Smith