One of the commonest riddles I am asked to solve is that of the missing Royal Navy ancestor. People may even have photos of their forebear in naval uniform but still can’t find him.
The solution to this problem is often that the man in question was a reservist. Reservists worked full-time in other occupations but were trained in basic naval skills ready to be called up immediately in the event of war.
RNR or RNVR?
There have been two main types of reservists. The Royal Naval Reserve or ‘RNR’ was established in 1859 and employed men who already had some seafaring skills. For the most part they were merchant navy employees or fishermen. By 1890 there were 20,000 men in the RNR.
However, in 1903 an additional reservist force was created for men without prior maritime experience, and this was called the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve or ‘RNVR’.
It’s a source of potential confusion that these two groups of reservists had a similar name and
