Records of the Royal Artillery – WO 69

Peter Helmore and David Langrish

22nd November 2013

Background information

• Originally over 900 pieces• 544 pieces destroyed during World War Two• WO 69 has 359 orderable pieces surviving

The series contains the following material:

Soldiers Records of ServiceRecruit Enlistments

Records of Deceased SoldiersRecords of Marriages & Baptisms

Records of Next of KinEmployment Details

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The project

• Volunteers from the Friends of The National Archives (FTNA) working to index and make the series name searchable• The Friends Volunteer Team attend weekly in a group of up to 20, drawing out the relevant information for enhanced Discovery descriptions

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Registry of Marriages

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Registry of Baptisms

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WO 69/79 – Description of Recruits Enlisted

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The value of this project work…

WO 69/79 – Royal Artillery recruits enlisted, 1865-74

• Contains over 300 pages

• By page 88, 4,300 names have been indexed

• Volunteer team estimate this one document will contain up to and beyond 10,000 names

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WO 69/644 – Registry of Deceased Soldiers

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WO 69/637 – Service Record Summary

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WO 69/80C – Details on Enlistment

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Editing and enhancing the online descriptions

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Then and now…

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Then and now…

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Other interesting finds

WO 69/599 – Attestation of Gun Lascars (Ceylon)

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Summary of WO 69 project

• Over 160,000 servicemen and their families to be name searchable via Discovery

• Research into Royal Artillery servicemen is more efficient and in line with other areas of the armed forces

• The value of volunteering and volunteer projects is enhanced

• Continues to strengthen the relationship between TNA and the Friends of TNA

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Any questions?