Tracing Your First World War Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

By Simon Fowler

The First World War was perhaps the most traumatic event of the Twentieth Century. Millions of men, women and children were affected by it. And it still has a resonance today more than a hundred years after the Armistice. This guide offers a simple, yet comprehensive, guide to researching the men and women from Britain - and its dominions and colonies - who took part in the First World War either at the front or at home It is an accessible, up-to-date and expert introduction to get you on your way and to answer those questions you might come across during your researches. In a straightforward, easy-to-follow style the book introduces readers to the multitude of sources they can use to explore the history of the First World War for themselves. In a series of short, instructive chapters the book takes the reader through the process of researching ancestors who served during the First World War providing short cuts and background information as required. The book covers the key sources, including the National Archives and the many online sites that researchers can turn to. It also covers records of casualties, munitions workers, conscientious objectors and service personnel from the British Dominions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781399000406

Book preview

Chapter 1

STARTING OUT

All research starts with working out what you know already and then deciding what you would like to discover. This is as true for genealogy as for any form of science or history.

So, the first step is to write down details of any ancestors who were in the First World War. In particular, provide the following information (or at least as much as you know) for each individual:

• Their full name, age, place of birth and where they lived

• Service they were in. Most men served in the Army, but not all did by any means

• Whether they were an officer or other rank

• Regiment or ship they served with

• Their service number if they had one

• Dates when they enlisted and were discharged. Did they die on active service?

You won’t know everything of course, so don’t be downhearted if there are lots of gaps. This book should help you find many of the answers. As you proceed with your research you should be able to build up a picture of your ancestor’s service and get some idea of their experiences.

Over many years researching soldiers, sailors and airmen I have come up with several rules that may help you find your ancestors who served in the First World War. They are:

1. The closer the ancestor was to the fighting, the greater the chance of finding material

2. There is usually more information for men who were killed in action

3. There is usually more information for men who enlisted before July 1916 than afterwards.

4. No two sets of records are the same.

Records Online

The majority of records for the men and women who served in the First World War are online. This means that with a bit of luck you can very easily build up a fairly good picture of your ancestor with very little effort. The disadvantage is that it is not always easy to work out what the records are really telling you.

There are three major commercial data providers with significant First World War content: Ancestry, Findmypast and The National Archives. There is some overlap between Ancestry and Findmypast, but of the two Ancestry has the most comprehensive coverage.

If you are new to either of these sites then it is worth using the various tutorials before you do any real research. Otherwise, it is a matter of trial and error. You may be lucky, but too often you may have to trawl through page after page of names before you find your man, as the filters you use to narrow your search don’t seem to work.

There are also several smaller sites – such as TheGenealogist, Naval and Military Archive, and Forces War Records – but, despite their claims, they don’t offer anything you can’t find on the major sites. In addition, there are a number of impressive websites put together by enthusiasts mainly for the Royal Navy and the RAF and its predecessors, which will be described in the text.

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk)

If you are researching the Army then you will probably need access to Ancestry because they have to core material of Medal Index Cards and Service Records for other ranks, that is ordinary soldiers (see chapter three). In addition, they have campaign medal rolls for the Royal Navy and a large range of smaller databases which could prove useful. They are described in the appropriate place in the text.

Ancestry is the largest data provider both in terms of content and subscribers. And it can be very good. It is a subscription site: you pay for a year’s unlimited access to the data. If you are not already a subscriber it is worth trying the free 14-day trial. Alternatively, access is free at The National Archives, the Society of Genealogists and many local libraries.

However, it can be difficult to use, because the indexing is at best erratic and it is not always easy to find particular databases. The card catalogue lists all the data collections – large and small – that Ancestry maintain. You can do a keyword or a title search, say ask for all collections which have ‘world war’ in their title. Most annoyingly the search engine can produce thousands of irrelevant results with one for your ancestor nowhere the top.

Ancestry’s results screen. (Ancestry)

Irritatingly, Ancestry is putting an increasing number of key resources for the First World War behind its Fold3 service for which subscribers have to pay a premium. Occasionally, however they offer free access to Fold3 over a weekend., such as the Remembrance Sunday weekend in November. And if you are a member of the Western Front Association you get free access to the material.

Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk)

Findmypast is organised in a radically different way to Ancestry, which many people find easier to use. Most of the records sets on offer are the same as those available as Ancestry but they include more about prisoners of war, women in the services and records of the Victorian and Edwardian Army as well as for the Second World War.

You can find what they have by searching the ‘A-Z of Record Sets’. You may need to tell it to just search for UK and Ireland record sets, otherwise you risk being overwhelmed. Again, it is likely that you will have to trawl through lots of results to find the one you are looking for.

The National Archives (TNA) (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)

The National Archives is different to other providers because you pay £3.50 for each document you download, regardless of size. This price is correct at the time of writing. However, some records (generally non-genealogical sources) can be downloaded for free.

Findmypast’s results for Private H.P.S. Crozier. (Findmypast)

There is a wide variety of sources for the First World War, particularly for the Royal Navy, which include:

• Medal Index Cards (use Ancestry’s set which are in colour and better reproduced)

• Household Cavalry service records

• Unit war diaries

• Royal Naval service records for ratings, non-commissioned officers and officers

• Royal Marine service records

• RAF service records

• Merchant seamen medal cards

• Nursing and women’s service records

• Middlesex military service tribunal

Many of the naval and RAF records are also available on Findmypast.

Getting access to these records is not all that easy. For a start, on TNA’s homepage ignore the ‘Find online collections’ link. Instead it is better to type in the name of the person you are researching into the catalogue search box, and use the filters to narrow down the search.

Archives

Old documents and archives are kept in archives. Depending which records survive for your ancestor and how much research you want to do on them, you may need to visit several during the course of your research or, as so much material is now online, you may not need to at all. There are several thousand archives large and small across the United Kingdom, but relatively few will have any records that will be of immediate interest. If you want to know more about what archives are and how to use them there are a series of Quick Animated Guides at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/video-guides. Also of interest is a YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=URhWOKyve-I

For researchers of the First World War there are three major types of archives that you may want to use.

The National Archives (TNA)

The National Archives in Kew has almost all the surviving service and operational records for the three services plus much else besides. In fact, it is the repository for British government records going back to Domesday Book. This is the first (and quite possibly only) place that you may need to visit. In this book assume that the records under discussion are held by The National Archives unless indicated otherwise.

There is an excellent website – www.nationalarchives.gov.uk – which will help you find the records you are looking for and prepare for a visit. In particular, look out for the series of Research Guides, at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research, which explain TNA’s collections for particular subjects very simply. If you are hoping to visit Kew there are some informative pages at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/visit/default.htm which will help you plan your visit, including the very useful ability to order documents in advance.

The entrance to The National Archives at Kew. (Author)

But at the heart of the website, and much of what the TNA does, is the Discovery catalogue. The catalogue describes all 11 million documents available for researchers at Kew. The descriptions here are pretty general, but usually enough for you to work out which are most likely to be useful to you. However, some records which contain large numbers of names have been indexed and these names will also appear in the catalogue, such as lists of officers’ service records.

It can be complicated to use, but if you just want to do a simple search type in what you are looking for in the search box on the home page. And if there are lots of results use the check boxes on the left-hand side of the screen to refine your search. It is also helps to put the search term in double quotes, otherwise you risk coming up with lots of results that aren’t relevant. ‘Douglas Haig’ comes up only with results that contain the phrase Douglas Haig. Not using the double quotes means you will have all the Douglases and all the Haigs in your search results.

Regimental and service museums and archives with records relating to their service or regiment

What each place has varies tremendously. The big service museums are the Imperial War Museum (for all services); the National Army Museum; the Royal Naval Museum; the National Maritime Museum (particularly good for the Merchant Navy); and the RAF Museum. Addresses are given in Appendix 4. Most regiments have their own regimental museum and archive, although their archives are increasingly likely to be found at the appropriate county record office. The National Army Museum also has papers from many of the former Irish regiments that were disbanded in 1922; the Indian Army (shared with the British Library); the Middlesex Regiment; and the East Kent Regiment (The Buffs).

Regimental archives may include collections of personal papers and photographs, war diaries (which duplicate those at The National Archives), regimental magazines and registers and records which TNA for one reason or another did not want. What each archive has varies greatly, but one thing is certain: they do not have any service records. The smaller archives in particular are likely to charge for research and may take a few weeks to respond as they are generally run by a small cadre of volunteers. In my experience, however, they have all been very helpful. Most will allow you to visit, but you usually have to make an appointment in advance. The museum website may be pretty basic and sometimes opaquely uninformative. One notable exception is The Wardrobe Museum in Salisbury for the Berkshire and Wiltshire regiments, see www.thewardrobe.org.uk.

County archives (or record offices)

County archives are also likely to have material, especially that relating to the impact of the war on local communities. In particular they are likely to have sets of local newspaper, local government records, school records, large collections of photographs and maps of the locality; diaries and personal papers deposited by former soldiers or their families; records of local businesses and charities. And a few have the regimental archives deposited by the local county regiment. Where this is the case the information is always made clear either on the archive’s website or that of the regimental museum. There may also be records of territorial regiments, from whom many of the ‘Old Contemptibles’ came in 1914 and 1915; local agricultural committees which increasingly controlled local farms and what was grown; rolls of honour and files about war memorials; the provision of help to war refugees; recruitment of special constables and occasionally papers of Conscription Tribunals which heard appeals from men who did want to serve or wanted to defer their military service.

There are also many more specialist repositories ranging from the British Library (which is comparable to The National Archives in size and importance), to company and hospital archives. The latter are not likely to hold much direct information about the First World War, except that there is often material about employees who joined up.

What’s where?

Addresses, websites and other contact details of all British (and some overseas) archives are at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.ukdiscovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. You will need to scroll down to find a little search box where you can search by name of archive or place. For regimental museums, however, it may be easier to use the Army Museums Ogilby Trust Museum website, although it is less useful than it once was: www.armymuseums.org.uk.

Many towns have local studies collections which are likely to include newspapers, photographs and maps, diaries and other material. Virtually all the London boroughs, metropolitan boroughs and large cities maintain a local studies library.

Basic information can often be gleaned from the archives’ website. There are likely to be downloadable leaflets which describe the types of records held including, if you are lucky, something on the First World War. Most archive websites include online catalogues which can be searched for particular types of records or records about a particular place. Unfortunately, they are often difficult to use. Details of opening hours and other requirements are also given. If you are not sure quite what you are looking for, it may be a good idea to ring in advance to discuss with an archivist.

Things to remember

1. Just because you can’t find your ancestor in an online catalogue does not mean that there are no records about him, as relatively few records are indexed to this level of detail.

2. Not everything is online, so you may well need to go to record offices to look through original material for yourself.

3. Using search engines can be tricky, particularly those used by local record offices, so if there are any instructions it is a good idea to read them before you start. And, in general, the more information you type in the more it will confuse the search engine, so try to keep it simple. Less is often more.

Other Useful Genealogical Records

It is easy to overlook the basic genealogical sources of birth, marriage and death records, census returns and wills in researching soldiers, but they are also worth checking out. And of course many researchers first become aware of having military ancestors from an entry in the census or on a marriage certificate.

Most of these records are now available online or likely to become so in the future.

The Census

Census records are an important source for family history, revealing unique information about ancestors. In particular, because it was taken so close to the outbreak of the war, the 1911 census is a key source since the vast majority of men and women described in it would participate in the war. Helpfully, it is also more informative than previous censuses as there are