Description

[004547] [Enlistment Certificate; Substitute]. A Colourman Enlists in the British Army. London: No Publisher, 1796. First Edition. 8vo. Unbound. Ephemera. Good. Part printed part manuscript enlistment notice, approximately 165mm x 210mm in size

Lightly browned, otherwise fairly clean

Enlistment certificate, of John Gavaux, a colourman from Bethnal Green, here swearing that he is a “Protestant … [has] no rupture, nor ever was troubled with Fits; that I am no ways disabled by Lameness or otherwise, but have the perfect Use of my Limbs; and that I voluntarily inlisted myself … to serve His Majesty King George the Third as a private Soldier”

Gavaux joined as a substitute for a James Powell. The 1757 Militia Act meant that men were selected by ballot to serve for three years in a local militia, which was an attempt to create a national military reserve. If you were selected, but did not want to serve, you could pay someone else to do the service for you