There is no doubt that the ordinary rank and file did marry, these wives were considered "Off the Strength". Wives who were "on the strength" lived inside the barracks, fed free on army rations, and could enrol their children in the regimental schools. Separate married quarters were only provided in 20 of the 251 stations, which sent returns to the Sanitary Commission in 1857. Marriages were consummated and babies were born in communal barrack-rooms, in the presence of other soldiers, screened by a flimsy curtain usually no more than a blanket strung up around their bunk. These conditions, though difficult, involved less heartbreak and suffering than those endured by the couples who married "off the strength." The wives of these marriages were neither allowed in barracks, nor granted separation allowances, nor entitled to accompany their husband's abroad (though this rule was sometimes evaded.) Undoubtedly these women suffered considerably from the regulations imposed by the army. Unofficial accommodation often known as 'married patches' comprising whatever small huts that could be cobbled together sprung up around encampments.

Considering that the only concession to married couples in barracks was that they were allowed to drape a blanket around their bed for privacy it is surprising, that there seems to have been little problems with love triangles. In spite of the harsh living conditions, marriages were sacred and God help a common soldier making advances toward another's wife. Such acts usually resulted in death. The Regiment would investigate, determining that the deceased did indeed violate or attempted to make improper advances, then ignore the incident.

Reviews of the lists of dependents for a regiment of the British line shows that many women carried the maiden names of other soldiers in the same regiment. It would appear from this that marrying the daughter of a colleague in the same regiment might have been a common occurrence.

The wives of the Regulars served a very necessary function. They washed, cooked, mended uniforms and served as nurses in the time of battle or sickness. They also helped keep the morale of the men up. The women were expected to cook the meals for the company, clean the mess and wash the company laundry. At times the accepted women of the regiment were permitted to work for the Officers as well. Their additional duties were to be paid but it seems unlikely that they would have ever actually received any money for their work other than for sewing etc. for other men in the company.

When you have men and women living together, you have children and the British Army was no exception. The Children, like the wives, were fed out of the Regimental stores, and were generally well treated, although rarely provided any formal education. Formal education was usually the domain of those boys who were enlisted When old enough, they, like their mothers would help with camp chores. In some cases the schoolteacher was the wife of the Battalion schoolmaster but not in every case.

Army widows of the day, and based on the high rate of casualties, there were many of them, were given a month to mourn their loss and find a new husband within the Regiment or she would have to leave the camp. On Foreign Service the widows had little choice but to remarry or be left in a foreign country without family and friends.

 Girls

The British sense of chivalry of the time precluded the enlistment of girls into the regiments. Although the British colonial army did not enlist girls into the regiment they did however on occasion take them in providing them with shelter from the age of babes to 14 years of age. If abandoned or orphaned by the loss of their father in action, they may have been taken in by other army families that volunteered to care for the child.

At the age of 14 Girls either chose a husband, with their fathers or guardians approval, or were turned out of the Regiments encampment. The girls could also be apprenticed.

Childhood ended abruptly at age fourteen. When a boy's 14th birthday was at hand, the lad was given a choice of enlisting (for life) and serve as a drummer until he reached his full growth, when he became a regular soldier (this was a good source of recruits), or be turned out of the camp. Some soldier-fathers apprenticed their sons in order that they might have a better life, but most encouraged their sons to follow in their footsteps. When in Foreign Service, being sent back to England was not an option, unless the father could afford to pay the passage, which was highly unlikely.

Some were enlisted from 9 years of age (7 years for drummers and fifers) and they were paid 'men's' wages from their 15^th birthday. They could receive their pension from the age of 29years at 10/ 6d per week.

Money and family income had much to do with the recruitment of boys into a regiment; the British army went to great lengths to look after the children of servicemen. A soldier about to go into action was assured that the regiment would extend every care to his family should he be killed until such time as the child was of age. A boy whose father had been killed or died on active service could expect to be taken into the regiment where he would be paid and educated. The mother or guardian would collect the money due to the lad so as to supplement the family's income.

Invariably some boys were coaxed into the army by family members simple so that they might receive his pay. The wage only a meagre one of 3s per day was none the less a wage. There is some evidence to suggest that a boy by the name of Francis Spencer was recruited into the NSW Corps as young as 7 months of age, however he doesn't appear on the paybooks until he is seven years old where he appears as a drummer. Another boy recruited in Australia was the son of Major Ross of the Royal Marines. Alexander Ross was actually recruited as a Lieutenant of Marines at the age of nine. Major Ross was reputedly using the opportunity to supplement the family's income.

Schooling was available in most regiments to those children who were entitled to an army provided education. The New South Wales Corps provided children stationed on Norfolk Island between 1788 and 1814 with a regimental school.

 The following was taken from CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL, 14 MAY 1859. English soldiers are a lamentably ignorant body of men in relation to school-matters; and many of them, not merely privates, but sergeants and corporals who have won good fame by years of hard fighting, are glad to attend the barrack and garrison schools. None are obliged to do so; it is optional with all. The schoolmistresses teach needlework and industrial employments to the girls, and wholly conduct the infant training. A hope is in many quarters expressed that cooking will be among the useful things taught to these soldiers daughters - a teaching that may by degrees have its the influence on the soldiers themselves. Besides the school tuition, arrangements are now gradually being made for the formation of barrack libraries and reading-rooms, where the men may spend, in a rational way, the spare hours which else are so likely to be wasted in vicious indulgences.