The Chelsea Pensioner records - Charles Fitzhenry

Document two of this three part series relates to Charles Fitz-Henry.

Charles was born in St Pancras Middlesex (the north London part of Middlesex). He enlisted for the Royal Inniskilling Fusilliers in Armagh (Northern Ireland) in February 1883 aged 19.
He was a gasfitter when he enlisted for a period of "seven years before the colours".
Charles was 5 foot 5 and a half inches tall and auburn haired. He was Church of England.

By 1885 he had been promoted to the rank of drummer, in June 1896 to Lt Corporal and finally in February 1898 to Corporal. In January 1890, having served exactly seven years in the regular army he was discharged into the Army reserve, where he served from another five years. During the time in the regular army he had two periods of Home Service, and served in the Strait Settlement 1884-85 (what is now Singapore, Malaysia and Borneo) and in South Africa from 1885-1889.
His habits were temperate and his conduct was good, according to his commanding officers.
His next of kin was his father John Thomas Fitz-Henry of 2 Wilson Street Grays Inn Road

More about about Charles:
Charles was the son of John Thomas Fitz-Henry and Sarah Fenner. He and his two older siblings were all baptised on 17 January 1864 at St Bartholomew's church, Grays Inn Road. In what appears to be a mild rebuke by the curate, the dates of birth for each of the children were given in the margin on the register (November 1853 for Emily Fitz-Henry, March 1856 for John William Fitz-Henry and January 1862 for Charles Fitz-Henry.)

Charles married Harriett Rebecca Streete in 1891 (after his discharge from the regular army) and they had daughters Annie in 1892 and Emily in 1896 and sons Charles John in 1903 and Dennis in 1913. In the 1891 census, his occupation was "Government viewer of small arms" so even after he left the army, he continued to have an interest in military matters.

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