Quote
DESERTED,
On the 21st of March last, from Lieutenant Dawson’s Recruiting Party, of his Majesty’s 33d Regiment of Foot, commanded by the Rt. Hon. Major-General Lord Charles Hay1, station’d at Bradford, in Yorkshire,
Corporal JOSEPH TANKARD,
BORN at Bradford, twenty-four Years old, five Feet seven Inches and a Half high, brown Eyes and Hair, fresh Complexion, straight and well made, and by Trade a Weaver. Whoever apprehends and secures the said Deserter, in any of his Majesty’s Goals in Great-Britain, and gives Notice thereof to the commanding Officer of the 33d Regiment, quartered at Hilsea Barracks, near Portsmouth; or to John Calcraft, Esq; at his Office in Channel-Row, Westminster, shall receive Twenty Shillings Reward, over and above what is allow’d by Act of Parliament, for apprehending these infamous perjur’d Defrauders of their Country and Regiment.
— Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 08 May 1759 source
I bet he was signed up at a pub, took the singing bonus and legged it at the first opportunity. And I’m sitting here in 2024 thinking “Mate, c’mon, Joe Tankard? You fell for that?”