(Unfortunately I was unable to complete Week 44 -Topic: Spirits).

My Great Great Uncle John Lyle 1789 – 1822 was born in Paisley, Scotland and died of yellow fever in Jamaica. At that time he was Colour Sergeant in the 91st Regiment of Foot.

The son of a weaver and farmer, he was initially a weaver but enlisted at Paisley on 24 August 1805 when he was 18. Scottish military records are very detailed – he was 5 feet 3 inches in height, which increased to 5 feet 7 inches in the next 6 years.; brown complexion, gray eyes, brown hair and a round face.

We do not know what caused him to enlist – perhaps he was bored, perhaps attracted by the enlistment bounty ….. He rose in the ranks quickly, becoming corporal a year after enlistment and Sergeant seven years later.

John fought at Waterloo – and survived.

He married soon after enlistment but his first child a son was not born until 1810 after the Regiment returned home on leave (?) after serving in the Peninsular wars against Napoleon for several years.
Did his wife followed the Regiment? Conditions would have been difficult even though as the wiie of a Sergeant she would have had some standing among the women. After Waterloo they remained in France for some years and in 1818 their third child was born in Valenciennes.

It is not known if John’s wife accompanied him when the regiment was posted to Jamaica in 1822, but John died there only 3 months later. The Regimental Returns for June-July 1822 show that following John’s death, a quite reasonable sum for those days was retained “. .. for the benefit of his three orphan children left with the regiment.” Despite searching for years I have been unable to determine the fate of the children.

A much fuller story is at https://nancyvada.me/john-lyle-of-the-91st-foot/