Would a known deserter from the army have been welcomed back into British society?

Factual Questions
1

In my favourite movie, Barry Lyndon, the title character deserts from the British army (during the mid-1700s), stealing an officer’s uniform and horse and riding away. He is later captured by and pressed into service with the Prussian army. He distinguishes himself in battle in the Prussian army, becoming friends with his captain, earning a commendation, and eventually becoming a spy for the Prussian government; then, some time later, he returns to Britain and is welcomed into high society, after marrying a rich widow and establishing himself as part of the gentry. At one point he even has an audience with King George.

How plausible is this? Would the British army not have kept a record of his desertion, years earlier, and arrested him? Or had sufficient time passed that they just didn’t care anymore? Or did they not keep detailed records of the soldiers in the British army and which ones deserted? Deserting was a really serious crime back then, punishable by death, and considered deeply dishonorable. Could someone really get away with it that easily?

2

I believe that he enlisted as Redmond Barry, but came back as Barry Lydon. Unless someone recognized him (which is unlikely since he was in different social circles), no one would realize he was the deserter.

3

I think you’re right. Lord Lyndon dies in Spa, Belgium (where Barry meets Lady Lyndon) but I am not sure if they get married there or if they get married in England.

4

Also didn’t he enlist in Ireland? I suppose that made the chance that anyone would connect the dots even more remote.

Apparently Thackeray based a lot of his story on the life of Andrew Robinson Stoney, which seems like quite a tale in its own right.

5

I would think that deserting among the lower classes would not be a big deal among the poor people. The aristocrats would hang him to stop that sort of thing. An aristocrat deserting would be shunned in polite society even if the punishment wasn’t hanging.

6

The British army in that period relied on informers reporting on deserters in return for money. So it would depend entirely on someone making the connection and being willing to cash in.

7

In the days before photographs and complete documentation, how would you tell? As someone pointed out, different name, different social circles, long time.

There’s an interesting movie I read about and I hope to see one day, that I saw discussed in a lengthy review when it came out - “The Return of Martin Guerre”(?). Basically, some youngster goes off to war in France in the 1600’s. Nobody hears from him. About 20 or 30 years later, he returns to his village where his father has just died, to claim his inheritance. He has changed so much nobody can be sure it’s him, or maybe it’s a fellow soldier who learned all the details of Martin’s life over their years together in the military.

How do you know? There’s not photos, DNA, fingerprints; he’s several decades older, and anyone identifying him relies on memories. Could you identify some random classmate from your early high school days over 20 years later?

In the case of the Barry Lyndon story, as long as he had a good cover who would recognize an aristocrat as a common soldier? (They’d just think he looked a lot like Ryan O’Neal, but with only one leg.)

8

Martin Guerre isn’t just a movie, he was a real person. The court documents survived and an account was published by Jean De Coras in 1565. Even more amazingly the real Martin turned up during the trial!