Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 : Resources
Often, a complete service record has not survived in the archives. However, it is possible to create a partial picture from other records and sometimes from other soldiers in the same regiment or unit.
Books
Whilst there are many books on tracing WW1 service personnel, probably the best starting point is:
Tracing Your First World War Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians (2nd Edition) by Simon Fowler 9781399000390, Pen & Sword Books
Pen & Sword also publish a number of other books on different aspects of WW1 research.
Many battalions have published histories, which may be helpful in giving context to a soldier’s service. Knowing the Battalion, it is usually possible to identify the Brigade of which it was part. Many Brigade histories were published in the 1920s, which are now freely available on the Internet Archive and HathiTrust websites.
Finding a Regiment and Service Number
Absent Voter registers – Check both Ancestry and FindMyPast, otherwise held at County Archives (or the equivalent)
Medals – are usually inscribed with names and service number
If the service number is known this can be used in a search on Ancestry and FindMyPast to find matching names and regiments. Note that a service number can be in use multiple times for different soldiers in several regiments.
Weekly Casualty lists are also available on FindMyPast with a partial search by name and date.
British Newspaper Archive can quickly determine if the soldier appeared in Weekly Casualty lists as they were often reported in the local press.
Medal records
There are several series, probably most complete on Ancestry.
Medal Record Cards “UK, British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920”
Service Medal Ledgers “UK, World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920”
Service Records
The availability of service records is patchy due to a major fire whilst the records were in store 1940, the main series are:
UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920 – Service records (includes the Burnt records) Search both Ancestry and FindMyPast.
Some additional records have survived with the pension record file if the soldier qualified for a pension
Battalion War Diaries have mostly survived and are freely available from the National Archives website https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. They rarely mention individual soldiers but do provide contemporary details of events.
Casualty and hospital records
Only a selected number of Casualty Clearing Stations, Field Hospitals and Hospitals (Overseas and UK) have been archived. (Selected records on both Ancestry and FindMyPast)
UK, WWI, Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 “Western Front Association record cards” (available on Fold3.com)
Websites
The Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org can be extremely useful in expanding your search once you have some basic details by engaging with experts.
The Long Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk is also extremely helpful in broadening your knowledge of WW1 history.
© Copyright : Graham Ward. All rights reserved.