| Notes |
- John King enlisted in the Royal Artillery on 11 August 1797 aged 18. He went on to serve 40 years and 14 days. He was eventually discharged because of chronic rheumatism on 14th July 1841 in Woolwich. By January 1847, when his daughter Elizabeth was born, John was a pensioner in his late 60s. During his service he had reached at least the rank of Sergeant and had worked as a farrier.
On the 1851 Census, John appears as a Chelsea Pensioner aged 71 and living in Pettistree, Suffolk with his 38-year-old wife of Caribbean origin (though a British Subject) Arabella, two sons and two daughters. John (18) was a wheelwright. Francis (16) was an apprentice to a coachsmith. Margaret and Elizabeth were ‘at home’. John's status in old age means that he must have served as a soldier. Could he have met his exotic young wife whilst on active service in the West Indies?
By 1861, John (81), Arabella (48) and their youngest child Elizabeth (14) had moved about a mile away from Pettistree to Wickham Market. The older children had left home and the Kings had taken in a lodger, Edward Birch, a millwright of 26, from Falkenham, near Felixtowe. John was still a Chelsea Pensioner.
John's daughter Lizzie married in 1869 when he was about 89 and his wife, Arabella, only 56. He appears on Lizzie's marriage certificate as a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery.
Neither John nor his wife appear on the 1871 Census. It would not be surprising for John to have died before the age of 91. Could Arabella have remarried and taken a different name?
In June 2006, Jenny Compton wrote, ‘When my grandfather W.W.Abel died, amongst his stuff was a discharge certificate from the army. On it were the details of (John King’s) service. He joined at a young age as, I think, a drummer boy and went to the Peninsular War where it is recorded he was present at Vitoria, Badajoz and Salamanca. He served well and was eventually discharged because of illness. He may well have been elsewhere in his army life of course and met Arabella. My father gave this certificate to the Royal Artillery museum in Woolwich. I saw it on a few occasions.’
On 11 Sep 2025, David Ash wrote to his father Brian as follows. ‘I have found the original document of the complete military service record of your g.g.grandfather, John King, husband of Arabella Dougherty (the one born on St Eustatia) and father of Lizzie King who married John Abel (1840-1915). It’s a fascinating piece of evidence which I am transcribing so that we can all read it. It proves that he served 44 years in Her Majesty’s Royal Regiment of Artillery, rising to the rank of Sergeant; that he took part in the Battles of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, Vitoria and Salamanca (I have stood on that battlefield) & the Retreat from Badajoz in Spain; that he was of good character and in good standing with his officers; that he was invalided out of the army because of rheumatism and poor eyesight at the age of 62.
‘I also know from other sources that your great grandmother, Lizzie King, was born after his discharge from the army when he was in his late sixties. His wife, Arabella, was 33 years younger than him. They were married in 1832 when he was 52 and she was 19. Their first child, John, was born 3 months after the wedding. I don’t know when he died, but I can tell you that he was still raising a 14-year-old daughter, your great grandmother Lizzie, when he was 81 and living in Wickham Market in Suffolk as a Chelsea Pensioner. This entire branch of the family keeps throwing up fascinating surprises. It was John’s father-in-law, John Dougherty, who was the ‘Clerk of Cheque’ at Woolwich Arsenal whom we discussed yesterday. There are more military connections which I have yet to explore.’
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Abt 1780 - 
Military Service
