Army 1803 to 1814 - Ceylon

Thomas was baptised in 1780 in Godshill Isle of Wight. He was one of 10 children, all baptised in Godshill. His father was a shoemaker.  When Thomas was old enough he started working as a farm labourer in the 1790s. Life was hard for rural workers in those days - wages were low and work was not guaranteed especially in the winter months. And with a big family every penny counted. At the same time relations between Britain and France were becoming strained, which eventually led to war being declared in 1803. The threat of a blockade led to the Battle of Trafalgar two years later. In the years prior to war a reserve army was raised as a home defence, to free up the regular army for fighting the French. Every county had to supply up to 1000 men to the reserve army - their names were drawn by lots within each parish. If a man drawn by lot didn't want to serve, he had to find someone who was willing to replace him as a substitute. The substitutes didn't do it for nothing - they original man paid the substitute whatever sum they agreed between them. Usually the charge amounted to a few pounds.  Thomas entered the reserve army as a substitute in exactly this way, and the money probably went to assist his family.

In June 1815 the 66th were ordered to  march from Fort William to Dinapore to join the fight with the Gurkhas, a distance of about 400 miles. In the event they travelled by river and eventually were ready to join the fight in November 1815. They finally approached the frontier where the fighting was taking place in February 1816, but never actually saw action. When the Gurkhas saw the overwhelming forces gathering against them, they retreated and gave up the fight. Thomas Woods took part in this campaign. The map below shows some of the locations during this campaign, derived from dates and places in the regimental history, and the muster rolls for 1815.

After the Nepalese war the 66th returned to Dinapore, and on 3rd July 1816  left for Cawnpore via the river Ganges. At that time of year the water level in the Ganges is very low with a lot of rotting vegetation and animal matter in the margins. During their journey to Cawnpore and for the six months they stayed there many men became ill from fever. At one time over 300 were in hospital, and many died.

Early in 1817 the 66th received orders to proceed to Calcutta and embark for St Helena.

Army 1817 to 1819 - St Helena

On 24th March 1817 the regiment sailed for St Helena on three ships, Dora, Moira, and Catherine Griffiths. They reached St Helena three months later at the end of June 1817 to join the rest the regiment guarding the island where Napoleon Bonaparte had been exiled after the battle of Waterloo in 1815. He was interred at Longwood House pictures below and died there in 1821.

Isle of Wight 1819 to 1862

After Thomas was discharged from the army he returned to the Isle of Wight aged nearly 40. He soon married Hannah Boyce in 1822 in Shalfleet near Yarmouth. So he hadn't returned to where he was brought up - he was at the other end of the island in the west. They had two daughters both baptised in Yarmouth, which must be where the family home was, although we don't know what Thomas was working as - probably a labourer. His wife Hannah and daughter Charlotte both died in 1827 leaving Thomas alone with his daughter Mary Ann Woods - who later became the mother of Charles Henry Harris. She was later to live in 1 Barnes Road Fratton, across the road from our Granny when she was a young girl. That story has been told by Val.

But back to Thomas Woods.  Some time in the few years after the death of his wife and daughter, he went to live in Cowes with his daughter Mary Ann.  In 1834 he made a claim in Cowes for poor relief. Mary Ann later left home and by 1841 aged 15 she is working as a servant in Cowes, and Thomas is working as a labourer in Cowes.

Later that same year in 1841 Thomas now aged 61 remarried - this time to a blind  lady called Jemima Jacob, aged 65. Things didn't go well. In less than a year Thomas was up before the courts charged with attempting to kill Jemima by cutting off her head with an axe. Fortunately she escaped to a neighbour's house unharmed. When the case came up at the assizes two months later Jemima declined to give evidence and the case was dismissed. Thomas had been in custody for three months so maybe Jemima thought that was punishment enough. It's clear from the records that part of the problem was that Thomas was a heavy drinker. But if he had really meant to do her harm she would surely not have been able to resist, being blind. 

Their marriage probably continued in the same vein for many years because Thomas was again up before the magistrates in 1849 for a similar offence. This time the magistrates let him off with a warning to curb his drinking, with a warning to Jemima not to talk so much! Newspaper accounts below.

They both ended up in the House of Industry (the workhouse) and both died there, Thomas in 1862, and Jemima in 1860. They were both buried in the workhouse grounds and their names are recorded in a memorial book in the grounds of St Mary's Hospital in Newport which grew from the original workhouse.