Since Remembrance Sunday is tomorrow, now seems a good time to pull together a summary of the World War One records that are available online.
Medal Roll Index Cards
These were generated by the Army and list a man’s entitlement to campaign medals. There are over 5 million cards and they are the nearest approximation to a nominal roll of those who served in the army in WWI. Generally everyone who served overseas was entitled to a campaign medal. The rolls include RAF personnel who, before 1918, were members of the Royal Flying Corps. Royal Navy and Royal Naval Air Service personnel are not included.
Available online from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/ (pay-per-view) and from http://www.ancestry.co.uk (subscription or pay-per-view).
Descriptions of the various formats & abbreviations used at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp?WT.hp=Campaign%20Medals%20-%20%C2%A32
A small proportion of cards have additional information on the back. This can only be viewed at http://www.ancestry.co.uk
Service Records
ARMY
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About 60% of the service records of those soldiers (not officers) who served in the army during WWI were destroyed by bombing during WWII. The remaining records have been digitised and are available at http://www.ancestry.co.uk
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Pension records for soldiers who claimed a disability pension for service in WWI are also available at http://www.ancestry.co.uk They are unlikely to include records for soldiers who had no dependants or who re-enlisted for service in WWII.
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Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
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Service records for more than 7,000 women who joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (1917-1918), later Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (1918-1920) are available at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/
ROYAL NAVY
- Royal Marines Service Records
Service records of those who joined the Royal Marines, 1842 -1936. - Registers of Seamen’s Services
Service registers of more than 600,000 seamen in the Royal Navy, 1853 -1923. - Royal Naval Division service records
Service records of more than 50,000 officers and men who joined the RND, 1914 -1919. - Royal Naval Officers’ Service Records
Service records of officers who joined the Royal Navy, 1756 -1917. - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Service Records from WW1
Service records of those who served in the RNVR during the First World War. - Women’s Royal Naval Service
Service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the WRNS (1917-1919).
These are all available from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/
ROYAL AIR FORCE
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Royal Air Force Officers’ Service Records
Service records of officers who served in the RAF during the First World War. -
Women’s Royal Air Force
Service records of women who joined the WRAF, 1914-1919.
These are all available from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/
Casualties
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Casualties of the armed forces of the British Commonwealth at http://www.cwgc.org/ (free), http://www.ancestry.co.uk (WWI registers only) - Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1918
Covers officers and men from all units of the British Army giving name, rank, service number, how died and theatre of death. Available from http://www.findmypast.com (subscription/pay-per-view), http://www.familyrelatives.com (subscription), http://www.military-genealogy.com/ (pay-per-view), http://www.ancestry.co.uk - De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918
Marquis De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour features biographies of over 26,000 Army, Navy and Air Force men (both officers and other ranks) killed in the Great War. 7,000 of these include photographs. Available from http://www.military-genealogy.com/, http://www.ancestry.co.uk, http://www.findmypast.com, http://www.familyrelatives.com, http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk - Royal Naval Division Casualties of The Great War
Register of the deaths of servicemen of the Royal Navy who served in the Royal Naval Division (RND) in the Great War, compiled from original service records and all other sources listing RND casualties. Available from http://www.findmypast.com, http://www.ancestry.co.uk - Ireland, Casualties of World War I, 1914-1918
Compiled by The Committee of the Irish National War Memorial, this provides information on over 49,000 Irish men and women who died in the Great War. Available from http://www.ancestry.co.uk - Irish War Memorials Project
An inventory of war memorials in Ireland includes photographs of each memorial, the text of all inscriptions, and details of the site of the memorial. Available from http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/ - The National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
A 14 volume series of short biographical sketches of English soldiers who served, including some who died, in World War I. The vast majority of entries refer to combatants who survived. Available from http://www.findmypast.com, http://www.military-genealogy.com/ , http://www.ancestry.co.uk (part), http://www.familyrelatives.com, http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk - The Scottish National War Memorial
Commemorates nearly 150,000 Scottish casualties in the First World War at http://www.snwm.org (free). - Roll of honour
Recording various war memorials within a variety of counties in the United Kingdom. Photographs have been taken of the majority of the memorials, details of the men included and their photographs where possible. The war memorials and rolls of honour cover a variety of regiments, airfields and air bases as well as the memorials and cemeteries in the countries overseas where the men fell. Available from http://www.roll-of-honour.com/ (free) - GRO War Deaths (England & Wales)
Indexes to General Register Office death certificates for Army, Navy and Royal Air Force casualties from WWI. Available from http://www.findmypast.com, http://www.familyrelatives.com, http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk - Scottish Service and War Returns
Registers of deaths of Scottish persons serving as Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned officers or Men in the Army (not officers) and Petty Officers or Men in the Royal Navy in World War I (1914-1918). Indexes and images of certificates available from http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ (pay-per-view)
Other records
- Selected First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries
Selected War Diaries of British and colonial units serving in theatres of operations between 1914- 22. - Prisoner of War interviews and reports, First World War
Interviews and reports of over 3000 individuals from the papers of the Committee on the Treatment of British Prisoners of War. - The Victoria Cross Registers
The Victoria Cross was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856 for award to members of the Royal Navy and the Army who ‘shall have performed some signal act of valour…’ - Aliens Registration Cards
Aliens registration cards of those living in the London area from 1914.
These are all available from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/
Gallantry awards and officers’ promotions
The award of a gallantry award, an honour and the promotion of military officers was gazetted, or listed, in the London Gazette. It’s also possible to trace an officer’s career in the armed forces through promotions listings. Once you’ve found the relevant service number it’s easier to search using that rather than the name of the officer. Available from http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/ (free).
I’ve tried to cover all the major sources for the British armed forces which give details of large numbers of men rather than individuals, but I’m sure to have missed some. If you know of other sources, do add them in the comments.
Sheena
Hi Sheena,
Excellent summary. I have a few more sites to suggest also:
The recently established Scottish Military Research Group site is worth mentioning at http://www.spanglefish.com/ScottishMilitaryResearchGroup/ – it provides a portal to both the Scottish War Memorial Project and the Scottish War Graves Project.
On the civilain front, my own Ruhleben Story site at http://ruhleben.tripod.com commemorates British civilians interned in Germany, whilst Marcus Bateman’s First World War British Seamen and Civilian Prisoners of War site at http://wanborough.ukuhost.co.uk/POW/POW.htm mainly deals with interned British merchant seamen in Germany.
Finally, the Long Long Trail site is an absolute must for understanding the campaigns of the First World War – it’s at http://www.1914-1918.net
Chris
Just to add – a useful part of the 1914-18 site is the page on interpreting medal index cards. It’s at http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/mic.htm
Chris
Hi Chris
Thanks for these. I hadn’t come across Marcus Bateman’s site before – it’s now added to my “favourites”
Sheena
My index of First World War Merchant Seamen POWs has changed it’s website details. It can now be found at http://www.spw-surrey.com/mt9/ with additional information from the Board of Trade records held at the National Archives.
Marcus, I have been looking for a contact email for you on your wonderful website which I have stumbled across whilst researching my great uncle who was taken prisoner of war in August 1914 and later taken to Ruhleben. I am so lucky as his surname was Atkinson and you have him in your list A-B – can’t tell you how great it was to see his name there.Thank you so much!!! It I am trying to find out the name of the ship he was on – I think it may have been s.s. Castro or s.s. Hull which I believe were captured early on in proceedings. My great uncle was called Sydney Herbert Atkinson and he lived at 25 Devon Street Hull. He was first officer at the time. What is really sad was that though he clearly survived WW1, he was torpedoed in WW2 when he was chief officer of the Zurichmor in 1942. I had no idea about any of this until I started researching my family tree. It seems to be very difficult to find details of ships in MN at this time. I am reading ‘In Ruhleben’: Letters from a Prisoner to his mother’ and in a plan in that I can see that my uncle’s barrack was up in the Loft of the stables- probably as he would be one of the first to be interned. I am also trying to discover when he was released as I have found him in your site, listed as as one of the men who were asking for hardship money for their families. i was hoping that this might give me details of any wife he may have had. I sent for a marriiage certificate which turned out to be his second marriage, as it lists him as widower. However, I can find no trace of an earlier marriage in this country. I am wondering if he maybe married abroad. anyway thank you so much for filling this gap in the dearth of knowledge about Ruhleben. I had never heard of it until last week when I was trawling through newspaper archives online and found a short report in The Daily Mail (Hull) of 1916 which was reporting the death of his older brother at Gallipoli. In WW! , sydney Herbert also lost a brother who was drowned whilst serving in the RN in 1914. This report mentioned that another brother which you have confirmed was Sydney Herbert, was POW in Ruhleben. Thanks again so much.