“Hello, Kate. I came across a
William SPROULE from the Castlederg area who was born circa March 1836. British
Army Service Records (from Findmypast.co.uk retrieved 25 Sep. 2013)”
This is how it began in
2013. Now I think I have at last
placed our William Sproule, soldier.
The message had come
from Clare Lawler Kilgallen who is one of the good people who send me Sproule
information. Clare had found a British Army Service Record on Findmypast, and
it had a great deal more information about William Sproule the Soldier:
- First name(s): William
- Last name: SPROULE
- Parish of birth: Carmon [Termonanamongan]
- Town of birth: Castle Derg
- County of birth: Tyrone
- Now residing in the Parish of St. Micheals in or near the Town of Lichfield in the County of Stafford
- Age at attestation: 39 years
- Staff Sergeant Married with five children
- Previously served 21 years in the 54th Regiment
- Attestation soldier number: 9926
- Attestation Date: 11 March 1876
From this information
we know that William Sproule was born in about 1837, in the parish of Carmon.
Now this was our first problem, as there is no parish of Carmon! But we do know
Termonamongan well, and it is a parish which is indeed near to Castlederg.
Clare Lawler Kilgallen had more information for me. This came from the National Archives in the UK, reference WO97.It was an earlier military record for William, an earlier ‘Attestation’ when he was just 17. This tells us that William was:
- Born in the parish of Carmon [Termonanamongan], near the Town of Gortnagross, in the County of Tyrone
- Aged 17 years 6 months
- Trade/calling: servant
- Enlisted at Cookstown on 26 November 1853
According to this he was born round June 1836. Can we find any Sproule
families in that area to which William the Soldier might belong? Yes, loads of them! In the
mid 1850s the vaste majority of Sproules in the whole of Ireland lived in that
very area, they lived in a 15 mile radius of Castlederg. And Sproules are
plentiful in the Termonamongan to Castlederg area, including a Sproule family in Gortnagross. William is also a very
popular Sproule name of that time. There were too many possibilities as to who
William might be, and as yet, there were no definite leads.
So William the Soldier
from Carmon was parked for quite a while.
Then I saw another William Sproule, also a soldier, who had military details that, after a bit of research, began to look very familiar.
This was on a
gravestone, not in the Castlederg area, nor indeed was it in Tyrone at all. This gravestone is in County Down, in the graveyard of Saintfield Church of Ireland, County Down. The transcription of the gravestone
of this second William, had:
“In loving memory of William Sproule, late Quater
Master Sergant 4th Batt, R I R, and formerly 2nd Dorset Regiment, who died 1st
July 1894, aged 57 years, also his daughter Annie Chambers Kelly, who departed
this life 25th January 1951, Inscribed by her loving son and daughters, William
Sproule 01/07/1894, 57 years, NT 78-00. Born 1837”[1]
This William of County
Down was also a soldier and, like our William the Soldier of Carmon, he was born in 1837. But this William was not in the 54th
Regiment like our William the Soldier of Carmon. He was in the ‘4th
R I R’, and the ‘Dorset Regiment’.
He had a daughter
Annie Chambers Kelly mentioned on the gravestone. Perhaps ‘Chambers’ was her mother’s
name. Sure enough, in Irishgenealogy.ie I found the record of the marriage of William Sproule, soldier, and Jane Chambers;
1 Mar 1865
William Sproule full age, Sergeant 54th Regt, Ballymena, father Samuel
Sproule Farmer, Jane Chambers Spinster, of Ballymena, father James Chambers,
Shoe Maker
And there it was,
Sergeant 54th Regt! This was beginning to get very exciting! Our 2nd
William Sproule, Soldier in County Down, was also from the 54th Regiment, as was our William the
Soldier of Carmon.
A quick search of the 54th Regiment revealed that in 1881 the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot was amalgamated with another Regiment to form the Dorset Regiment. Not only that, but the 54th Regiment was stationed in Ireland in the 1850s when our young William Sproule of Carmon had signed up![2]
 |
| From a post by Matt McNamara on The Curragh History Facebook Page |
Do we have any more
clues?
In his attestation of
1876, the first William, William the Soldier of Carmon, was married with 5 children. How many
children did the 2nd William the Soldier have in that same year, 1876?
We have the births of the children of William Sproule and his wife Jane Chambers in Irishgenealogy.ie, they had:
- William Sproule born 20 Feb 1866 in Ballymena
- Annie Chambers Sproule born 1868 in Farnham, England (Not in Irishgenealogy.ie)[3]
- William Gausset Sproule, born 16 Sep 1869 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
- James Chambers Sproule, born 17 Dec 1872 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
- Martha Jane Sproule, born 7 Mar 1874 in Mount St, Ballymena, Antrim
- Mary Sproule, born 5 Jul 1875, Ballymena, Antrim, Ireland
So in 1876, William of County Down had 6, not 5, children. But, of course, he had 2 sons called William! The first little William must have passed away.
 |
| First son William, Irishgenealogy.ie |
 |
| Second son William, Irishgenealogy.ie |
So William the soldier of Carmon and William the soldier of County Down both had 5 children in 1876. The records all match - this has to be one and the same person.
William Sproule was born in May/June 1837, he signed up for the army on 26 Nov 1853 in Cookstown when he was 17, and he had a successful career in the army. He lived in Mount St in Ballymena, where he died 1 July 1894. William Sproule is buried in Saintfield Church of Ireland, County Down.
William was born near Castlederg, near the ‘town of Gortnagross’. There is no town of Gortnagross, but there is a townland of Gortnagross.
We also know from his wedding registration that William Sproule's father’s name was Samuel Sproule, and that he was a farmer.
And this brings us right to the door of the Sproule family of Gortnagross. In 1837, when our William Sproule the Soldier was born, we find Samuel
Sproule of Gortnagross, the farmer.
But as always, there
are problems!
References:
[1] Gravestone inscription from Northern Irish Gravestone Inscriptions, Ulster Historical Foundation[2] Information on the Dorsetshire Regiment and the 54th Regiment from '54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot' on the site of the National Army Museum; Curragh History Facebook Page, post by Matt McNamara; 'The Dorsetshire Regiment' on the site of the National Army Museum
[3] Record of the birth of Annie Chambers Sproule, England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 Ancestry.com,
Name Annie Chambers Sproule
Registration Date 1868
Quarter of the Year Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration Place Farnham, Surrey, England
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