Tracing your WW1

ancestorsAnother

Relative Strangers contribution to UK family history

Kevin Brown

Lecturer and researcher in genealogy and family history and related subjects

Relative Strangers

Concerned with verifying ancestors and events with as much evidence as possible.

Please note that I am approaching this subject as a GENEALOGIST. My concern is to discover where possible the family history of the person, the circumstances of life and society around him (or her!).

There are many others who have concerns about the military conflict or other factors. I hope I can provide some help for these but that is not my primary focus.

I hope you enjoy the talk!

Today’s talk is concerned with those living in and involved in WW1.

There is little time today to show HOW to use the resources.

I am more concerned to draw attention to what is available and what it might offer to your research.

SETTING OFF!

Start by checking what you think you already know. Write it down, question it, and be as sure as you can.

Next identify what you do not know! Ask yourself questions. From your questions consider what you need to do next.

This is the start of what you need to discover!

Make sense of the census

1911 – locate it on a website (Ancestry, Genes, FMP, The Genealogist Diamond level).

Now create a basic family tree with all the information you can see in the census.

I use Ancestry which goes looking for records for me...

Make sense of the census

Next ask questions about what it tells you and what more you want to know. (e.g. is there anyone else of fighting age on the census?)

You might want to go back to the 1901 census to see if it tells you any more about the family.

BMD recordsNow trace the existing records on Birth, Marriage & Death indexes.

These will provide all you need for ordering certificates via the General Registry Office (FreeBMD, Ancestry, Genes, FMP, TheGenealogist).

Next, look for church records on the West Yorkshire marriages & baptisms (Ancestry)

You might choose later to look here for father, uncles, siblings likewise that might have fought too.

War Records

This is the point at which I consult surviving WW1 records.

Please note many WW1 service records were lost in a WW2 incendiary raid on London. Surviving records are now known as the ‘burnt records collection’.

Ancestry has the best range but others do offer alternatives. The Genealogist website has an interesting list of additional records from WW1.

These online records include:• Medal cards, • service records, • pension records, • navy records

And they can be viewed on Ancestry and Find My Past.

Did they survive the war?

Having checked for service records and establishing they died look on the following:

• Soldiers Died in Great War – Ancestry, Genes

• De Ruvingny’s Roll of honour - Ancestry

• Find the grave – Commonwealth War Grave Commission, Find a Grave

Wills & Probate records

Wills offer all sorts of additional information. Once located they are inexpensive and of great value.

Begin by looking online in the Wills Index Calendar (Ancestry)

If you find the basic details, note the office at which they were proved and apply via the probate (https://www.gov.uk/probate-search).

Regimental Records

You could contact the regimental archivist if you know the unit in which they served.

Even if they cannot offer anything about the soldier they might give detail on the activities of the unit, where and when.

Regimental War Diaries – Imperial War Museum http://www.iwm.org.uk/The National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Great War devoted websites

Long Long Trail - http://www.1914-1918.net/

Great War devoted websites

Great War Forum – http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php

Local expertise & resources

Going local brings the character ‘to life’ in detail at least. The background to his pre-war existence include:

Electoral Rolls

School Rolls

Local groups and societies records

All to be found at Barnsley Archives

Now the local records will throw light on the death of the serviceman:

NewspapersBarnsley Archives hold Barnsley Chronicle, Barnsley Independent, South Yorkshire Times.

And free access to the British Newspaper Archive (in the archives, or on FindMyPast)

It might even be worth looking for memorials in Burial Records of Barnsley Cemetery - https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/services/community-and-living/births-deaths-and-marriages/deaths-funerals-and-cremations/public-records-of-funerals-genealogy-and-family-history.

Also enquire in the Barnsley Archives.

Yorkshire Prison Records (Ancestry)

Absent Voters lists 1918-1920 – Barnsley ArchivesCheck in local libraries

No point reinventing the wheel if the reliable research of others is freely available:

Barnsley War Memorials Project http://www.barnsleywarmemorials.org.uk/

Barnsley Historian (Linda Hutton) http://barnsleyhistorian.blogspot.co.uk

Barnsley Pals – book by Jon Cooksey

Barnsley Family History Society

There are at least four monthly periodicals that can shine light on these issues:

• Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine• Your Family Tree Magazine• Family Tree Magazine• Your Family History

A recent quick survey of the subscription sites has offered this update:

FindMyPast – its collection of British Army service records spans 1760-1915 which is great if your ancestor served prior to WW1. It also holds WW1 RAF services records and Merchant Navy records plus British in India records too.

TheGenealogist – It holds WW1 Wounded, a prisoners of war database and a war memorial database. Also it has an International Headstone database.

If you really get stuck try contacting Phil Tomaselli or others through these magazines.

Finally you could commission a professional to research for you for a fee. Use Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) or Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) lists to find a reliable researcher.

Finally look on the many current websites for details of battles, units and WW1 and its aftermath. Include the BBC.

STOP PRESSInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) records have recently been released which include the records of the British Prisoner of War Information Bureau (PWIB).

The ICRC records at http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/ include individual index cards with references and links to other documents and it includes a glossary too.

Note that by 1918 Germany was in a poor state so later records may be poorly kept.

The National Archives have also added POW records online at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/prisoners-of-war-ww1.htm. Indexed by name these British PoWs are only about 5% of all interviews.

There are also PoW officers records at thegenealogist, forces war records, FindMyPast and Ancestry.

QUESTION TIME!

Thanks to Barnsley Archives for providing this talk and particular thanks to local expert and colleague on the BARNSLEY WAR MEMORIALS PROJECT, Linda Hutton for all her help.

This Power Point is available to freely download on my blog at http://relstrangers.wordpress.com