Hebden 1803 Muster Role

The Craven Muster Roll was produced in 1803 in response to the 1803 Defence of the Realm Act, when the threat of invasion by Napoleon made it necessary to prepare the whole of the active male population of the country between the ages of 17 and 55 for military training. It contains the muster for the wapentakes of Staincliffe and Ewcross. It is a useful document as it lists and categorises most males in the area together with their occupation.

The document is entitled: "Divisions of Staincliff and Ewcross [in the West Riding] of the County of York. The enrolment under an Act of Parliament made and passed in the fourty-third year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Third intituled an Act to enable His Majesty more effectually to provide for the defence of the Realm during the present war and for indemnifying person who may suffer in their property by such measures as may be necessary for that purpose and to enable His Majesty more effectually and speedily to exercise his ancient and undoubted prerogative in requiring military service of his subjects in case of invasion of the Realm – And also of another act passed the same session of Parliament to amend the said last mentioned Act.

The act referred to required the compilation of lists of all men between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five, arranged in four categories:

• Class 1: unmarried men under thirty with no children living under ten years of age.
• Class 2: unmarried men between thirty and forty-nine inclusive with no children living under ten years of age.
• Class 3: married men between seventeen and twenty-nine inclusive with not more than two children living under ten years of age
• Class 4: others not included in the above classes

Thus we can deduce that William Birch listed below, at the time of the compilation of the roll was a married joiner aged between 17 and 29, with no more than two children under the age of 10.

Certain categories of men were exempt from military service, and these were specifically noted in the lists: judges, infirm persons, clergymen, medical men, Quakers, persons serving in the army, navy marines, militia and volunteers, Lords Lieutenant, Deputy Lieutenants, constables and peace officers.

The following is a transcript of the muster roll for the township of Hebden which contains 59 entries. It can be sorted by any column ascending or descending by click on the required column header.