Thank you Sue and Averil, the mystery deepens, he is listed in the NA Catalogue Index as having served in the Independant Company of the 26th-this is itself puzzling me since the Cavalry have Troops not Companies, furthermore a countbak from his date of discharge reveals that he enlisted c. May 1790 if the 26th was not raised till 1795 where was he those five years. He does not appear in the muster Rolls of either the 26th or the 23rd but in 1807 he is in Guernsey with the 11th RV and stays with them when they move to IOM 1811 ne stays with the detachment when it is transferred to the 5th RV and when he is discharged in 1816 he returns to the Island (Elizabeth was a Malew girl). Do you know if the 23rd. transferred their records to another Regiment on disbanding. The staff at NA were not able to tell me and they did not know where records for Independant Companies would be. That was my last visit to the NA since I shall be coming back to the Island to live next month so will probably see many of you at IOMFHS meetings.
Thank you again