"Mulch Pay" in the army

Guest

Hi All,

Can anyone enlighten me as to the exact meaning of "Mulch Pay", it's a term I have seen used occasionally with regard to some soldiers of the 24th having received it, but have no idea what it might be.

Cheers
Bookworm

Subject: mulch pay Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:50 pm

hi bookworm.
Sorry I cant help , I have never heard of it .
cheers 90th.

Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18

Hi Bookworm.
I think it relates to paying of dept or if a soldier’s dependents fell on hard times back home.

G.

Guest

Hi 90th & Mr G,

Thanks for trying, I can't expand on it as nothing else is said other than the man "received Mulch pay in July 1880". I doubt it was for family as the man had none, that only leaves debt. I'll keep trying and see what I can find out and I'll let you know if anyone can tell me exactly what it was.

Cheers
Bookworm

Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18

Bookworm. This is could be one of those unsolved mysteries, but I hope between us we can find the answer.

G.

Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18

Bookworm. Have you had any luck with this "Mulch Payment" Mystery? I have spend hours looking coming up with nothing apart from gardening tips.

Guest

Hi Mr G,

Nothing yet but I'm still trying, will let you know if I manage to find anything at all.

Cheers
Bookworm

Subject: Re: "Mulch Pay" in the army Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:19 pm

I have been trying various search engines to find out what Mulch Pay is, but nothing.

Posts : 36 Join date : 2009-09-29

Never heard of this, is the spelling correct?

Regards

Keith

Subject: Re: "Mulch Pay" in the army Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:50 pm

Is it handwritten ?- is it possible you have misread what it says . I spent ages trying to find out what one of my ancestors did , i read it as " bucksetter " , only much later did someone point out it actually said " bricksetter " ! Surprised

Guest

Hi All,

The pay & muster sheet is in fact a typed transcript, if I had only ever seen one example I might be prepared to think its possibly a typo error, but its not the only example or even from the same source, and since all have transcribed it as Mulch I have to accept that this is in fact what it says.

Cheers
Bookworm

Guest

Morning All,

You'll be pleased to know the puzzle has been solved thanks to the knowledge of Julian Whybra. He replied to my e-mail last night to let me know that the trancriptions I had received from various sources had all mis-spelt the word, and that it should in fact read "received MULCT pay" which meant the man had received a fine which had been deducted from his wages.

Apparently this was a term that was in common use in the Army and Navy at that time, I was aware of the word (having scoured my dictionary) but had discounted it, as all of the previous entries for any fines on wages in this particular case has simply stated "fine £x for..........." followed by whatever the offence, then it suddenly changed to "Received Mulch Pay"

Many thanks to you all for trying to help
Cheers
Bookworm.

Posts : 747 Join date : 2009-10-18

Well done Bookworm!! So do you know Julian Whybra on a personnel level? His book “England's Sons” was the first book I purchased when my interest in the Zulu War began. Excellent book and he completed it for the right reasons. Wink

Posts : 1093 Join date : 2009-01-14 Location : East London

Mystery solved :lol: Its not what you know. Its who you know.

Guest

Hi Mr G, OH2

I don't know Julian personally but we have corresponded occasionally for several years.

I'm sure you will be pleased to know that 'England's Sons' (7th edition) will be coming out next year with all of Julians latest updated research, containing a great deal of newly found information, a must have for anyone seriously interested in this subject. (personally I can't wait for its release).

Cheers
Bookworm

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

Bookworm. Would this second book be in hardback. ?

Guest

Hi SD,

As yet I have no idea, I've only recently got the news of the 7th edition being done.

Cheers
Bookworm

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