Genealogy Chat

I do not know if this site is known to people on the GR boards but I found my wifes Grandfathers sevice records in WW1.Payed a small fee (£3.36) and downloaded a copy

I may be teaching my mother to suck eggs

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk

They're available on Ancestry, free if you have a sub (also free when someone on here looks them up for you!). Around 60% or more of WW1 records were destroyed in September 1940, when a German bombing raid struck the War Office repository.

Ancestry has a collection of other military records as does FMP and there are a few on here.

MarieCeleste

Just wonder if that would of been all 6 pages

Fredk, It would have been how ever many pages that survived whether that be 1 or 36 pages makes no odds Medal cards are also on ancestry if you don't have the medal card then you could ask for a ancestry look up rather than pay the £3.36 to download it from the national archives

Roy

I only have access to records on GR. I did not know at the time what records were on Ancestry and had not explored the boards to know the help you can get

Only WW1 Army records are on Ancestry, not Royal Navy or RFC/RAF which are available for download from the National Archives site - Army records aren't.

It was a RFC record I downloaded

GR is the worst place to do research

Fredk wouldn't have found the records on Ancestry - as I said they only have Army records for WW1

There are a lot more than just WW1 records on Ancestry.

"Fredk wouldn't have found the records on Ancestry - as I said they only have Army records for WW1"

Are you able to clarify this? On the face of it as the RFC was Army it's possible that if someone died in RFC service or did not transfer to the RAF in 1918 then the records may be among those Army records that survived. If the person transfered to the RAF records then the RFC records would move to the RAF. So it seems the the National Archives still hold RFC surviving records. Are you saying that Ancestry would not have copied these along with the other Army resords?

I should say that there are some RFC records amonst the ""Army" records on Ancestry. The National Archives refs for the WW1 Army records on Ancestry are WO363 and WO364.

However there are other specific to RFC/RAF service records at the National Archives - National Archives refs are AIR79 (for Airmen) and AIR 76 (for officers). These are not on Ancestry.

Marie Celeste

Obviously there are lots of other records on Ancestry but this thread is about WW1 service records.

Annielaurie - because the thread was headed National Archives I thought it worth mentioning that there was also info on other sites. It's useful for people to know that there can be info on WW1 service even if there isn't necessarily a WW1 record, for example if there is a pension record.

Often, people have asked for look ups for WW1 records for ancestors and there may be none but we've got useful info from those other sources. Fredk is keen to help out on the boards and has welcomed tips, tricks and sources (from his other threads) so the more pointers we can give him the better. So, for his reference this is the list:

Title Collection Records
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 Military 1,907,094
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 Military 5,280,584
British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920 Military 987,589
UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 Military 703,810
UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949 Military 2,388,534
UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 Military 3,909,413
UK, Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972 Military 1,533,762
UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947 Military 560,902
UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 Military 171,216
Web: UK, Recommendations for Honours and Awards Index, 1935-1990 Military 38,659 NEW
UK, Silver War Badge Records, 1914-1920 Military 882,674
England, The National Roll of the Great War, 1914-1918 Military 3,948
UK, Memorial Books WWI and WWII, 1914-1945 Military 24,177
UK, De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, 1914-1924 Military 26,768
UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Military 163,857
Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificates, 1910-1950 Military 28,846
Ireland, Casualties of World War I, 1914-1918 Military 49,647
UK, Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919 Military 43,930
UK, Casualties of the Boer War, 1899-1902 Military 54,930
UK, Citations of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1914-1920 Military 24,928
Gateshead, Durham, England, Roll of Honour, 1914-1920 Military 4,279
Dorset, England, Militia Lists, 1757-1860 Military 31,298
Great Britain, Royal Naval Division Casualties of The Great War, 1914-1924 Military 10,231
British Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849 Military 1,408
UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815
UK, Victoria Cross Medals, 1857-2007 Military 1,354
UK, British Officer Prisoners of War, 1914-1918 Military 8,317
Great Britain Army War List, January 1893 Military 662
Indian Army Quarterly List for 1 January 1912 Military 31,761
Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy, 1660-1815 Military 1,049
British and German Deserters, Dischargees, and POW's Who May Have Remained in Canada and the USA, 1774-1783. Part One and Two Military 82
The Kirkcaldy War Album. Containing portraits of over two hundred Fife men. Groups and Views 1900/1902 Military 66
The French and Indian War from Scottish Sources Military 149
Warwickshire, England, Militia, 1776-1825 Military 1,055
Perthshire, Scotland, Militia Survey, 1802 Military 1,378
Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America, Part I Military 36
Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America, Part II Military 33
Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America, Part III Military 85
Families from village Wetheral : 1949 supplement Military 105
Sample Records from British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 Military 3
The Naval History of England Military 982
Babergh Hundred Military Survey of 1522 Military

Not to mention those on worldwide ......

Thanks Marie Celeste

There would be a MUCH longer list for the National Archives too, as well as other sites with less information than Ancestry.

Not everything is online!

More's the pity - there's probably scope for a whole Military board!

It can never all be online - just too much!

A military board would be good.....