Family History - Tracing Military Ancestors
Help and advice on tracing your military ancestors.
When did the person serve in the armed forces?
You need to know approximately when your ancestor would have been serving in the Armed Forces as this will determine what information may be available. Which of the services did he/she enlist in? Was it during the First or Second World Wars or was the person serving years or even centuries before this?
Find out your ancestor's rank, unit and service number
If all you know is the name of the person, then you need to find out his/her unit and service number. It is important to know the individual’s rank, too, as often records relating to Officers and Other Ranks are separate.
Medal Rolls
Regardless of whether or not the person was killed, the Medal Rolls Index should be a useful starting point. Almost everyone who served overseas qualified for a campaign medal and the lists of medal entitlement are held in the National Archives (formerly Public Record Office) at Kew. Lists for members of the British Army and Royal Flying Corps who served during World War I are available at http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. The free searchable index will tell you the name, rank, unit and service number of an individual and, by paying £3.50, it is then possible to download a copy of the medal card itself, which gives further details.
National Roll of Honour of the Great War 1914-1918: Birmingham
Shortly after the end of hostilities, the National Publishing Company produced several volumes giving brief biographical details (but not service number) of as many service personnel as possible. Volume VI of the series, relating to people from Birmingham, is now available on CD-ROM at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service. In most cases, those listed actually survived the war.
If the person you are trying to find was killed in the war, then there are additional sources available to check.
Tracing those killed in wartime
It's a sad fact that it is often easier to find out about people who were killed than about those who survived. There are a number of records that you may wish to try if your ancestor was killed:
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission - http://www.cwgc.org/
maintains a "Debt of Honour" database listing the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who were killed in the two world wars, as well as the 67,000 Commonwealth citizens who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. It is searchable by name and often gives details of next of kin, as well as name, rank, number, unit, age, date and place of death and where commemorated/buried. There is also a printed version taken from the Commission's database and listing those who died whose home address was given as Solihull - please ask staff at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service if you wish to see this.
Soldiers Died in the Great War
In 1921, a series of 81 volumes was published that listed approximately 635,000 soldiers and 37,000 officers who were killed in the war. Copies of these books for the Royal Warwickshire, Worcestershire and South Staffordshire Regiments and for Officers from all regiments, plus a CD-ROM containing the whole series of 81 volumes, is available at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service.
Army Roll of Honour World War II on CD-ROM
This is a searchable copy of the Roll of Honour compiled between 1944 and 1949. Please contact staff at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service if you would like to view the disc.
GRO Overseas Indexes: Boer War, WWI and WWII deaths
Those killed in action do not appear in the usual General Register Office indexes to deaths in England & Wales. There is a separate series (GRO Overseas Indexes), which includes sequences for deaths in the various services of the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Boer War. These are available on microfiche at Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service; please note that there is a charge of 50p per half hour for using the microfiche readers.
British Army service records
Service records for those in the Armed Forces after 1920 are still confidential and are held at the Ministry of Defence. Service records for two-thirds of those who served in the First World War were destroyed in September 1940 when an incendiary bomb hit the War Office Record Store. The records that did survive were charred and damaged by water and are known as the “Burnt Documents”. These are now on microfilm at the National Archives in Kew and are also online on the Ancestry website. A useful book Army Service Records of the First World War by William Spencer gives in-depth information on the service records and what details they contain.
Battalion war diaries
Whilst on active service overseas, it was a requirement that all battalions keep a war diary of their activities. Although it is unusual for individual soldiers to be mentioned by name in a war diary, officers were normally named if they were killed, wounded, or posted in or out of the battalion. Written by an officer, usually the Adjutant, the war diary is a first-hand account of what the battalion did each day and can give a graphic illustration of particular battles. War diaries are held at the National Archives, although some have been published or copied for Regimental Museums.