Tracing WW1 soldier ancestors

Phyllis Court Family History Section 1 October 2012

The War to End Wars

• 4 August 1914 – 11 November 1918• Six million men in British Armed services

– 250,000 women– An Imperial war

• 750,000 deaths– Highest proportion Scotland, New Zealand– But Spanish Flu

• A world war

Army organisation

Army

Corps

Division

Brigade

Battalion

Private’s eye view

• Section (10-12 men under NCO or 2nd Lieutenant)

• Platoon (four sections under 2/Lt or Lieutenant)

• Company (four platoons under Captain or Major)

• Battalion (four companies + battalion HQ)• Regiment (two or more battal

Before you start you need to know:

• Name• Regiment or unit• Rank and number• When did they serve

Types of record you can find

• Service records• Medal index cards• War diaries• Casualty records• Rolls of honour• Memoirs

Other ranks Service Records

• Two-thirds destroyed

• Online at Ancestry

• The contents of each file is differnt

Look for:

• Enlistment papers

• Casualty forms

Officers

• At The National Archives(not online)

• 85% survive

• Heavily weeded

London Gazette

• Contains officer’s promotions

• Details of awards of gallantry medals

www.gazettes-online.co.uk

Medals

Medal Index cards

• On Ancestry• Only for men who served

overseas

Gallantry medals

Listed in the London Gazette (with citations)

War diaries• Overseas units only• At The National

Archives• (Online from 2014)

Casualties: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.cwgc.org

Details of casualties

Soldiers Died in the Great War

On Ancestry and Findmypast

Rolls of honour

• Many rolls of honour for the war dead

• This is the Irish Memorial on FIndmypast

Records of the wounded

Few records survive

Silver War Badge

Medal rolls on Ancestry

Women in the services

• From 1917• Records on The

National Archives website

• Not very informative

Nurses

• Indexes on Findmypast

• Records on The National Archives website

Other record sources

• Casuaty lists• Gallantry awards• Obituaries• Photographs• www.britishnewspapera

rchive.co.uk

National Roll

• Biographies of ordinary people (but incomplete)

• On Ancestry and Findmypast

Visit the battlefields

Archive holdings – a summary

• The National Archives (TNA)• Imperial War Museum (IWM)• RAF Museum• Royal Naval Museum• National Maritime Museum• Regimental museums

Taking it further

Simon Fowler, Tracing Your First World War Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2013)William Spencer, Army Service Records of the First World War (3rd edn, TNA, 2008)

The Long Long Trail – www.1914-1918.net