tracing ww1 soldier ancestors
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Tracing WW1 soldier ancestors. Phyllis Court Family History Section 1 October 2012. The War to End Wars. 4 August 1914 – 11 November 1918 Six million men in British Armed services 250,000 women An Imperial war 750,000 deaths Highest proportion Scotland, New Zealand But Spanish Flu - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Tracing WW1 soldier ancestors
Phyllis Court Family History Section 1 October 2012
The War to End Wars
• 4 August 1914 – 11 November 1918• Six million men in British Armed services
– 250,000 women– An Imperial war
• 750,000 deaths– Highest proportion Scotland, New Zealand– But Spanish Flu
• A world war
Army organisation
Army
Corps
Division
Brigade
Battalion
Private’s eye view
• Section (10-12 men under NCO or 2nd Lieutenant)
• Platoon (four sections under 2/Lt or Lieutenant)
• Company (four platoons under Captain or Major)
• Battalion (four companies + battalion HQ)• Regiment (two or more battal
Before you start you need to know:
• Name• Regiment or unit• Rank and number• When did they serve
Types of record you can find
• Service records• Medal index cards• War diaries• Casualty records• Rolls of honour• Memoirs
Other ranks Service Records
• Two-thirds destroyed
• Online at Ancestry
• The contents of each file is differnt
Look for:
• Enlistment papers
• Casualty forms
Officers
• At The National Archives(not online)
• 85% survive
• Heavily weeded
London Gazette
• Contains officer’s promotions
• Details of awards of gallantry medals
www.gazettes-online.co.uk
Medals
Medal Index cards
• On Ancestry• Only for men who served
overseas
Gallantry medals
Listed in the London Gazette (with citations)
War diaries• Overseas units only• At The National
Archives• (Online from 2014)
Casualties: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.cwgc.org
Details of casualties
Soldiers Died in the Great War
On Ancestry and Findmypast
Rolls of honour
• Many rolls of honour for the war dead
• This is the Irish Memorial on FIndmypast
Records of the wounded
Few records survive
Silver War Badge
Medal rolls on Ancestry
Women in the services
• From 1917• Records on The
National Archives website
• Not very informative
Nurses
• Indexes on Findmypast
• Records on The National Archives website
Other record sources
• Casuaty lists• Gallantry awards• Obituaries• Photographs• www.britishnewspapera
rchive.co.uk
National Roll
• Biographies of ordinary people (but incomplete)
• On Ancestry and Findmypast
Visit the battlefields
Archive holdings – a summary
• The National Archives (TNA)• Imperial War Museum (IWM)• RAF Museum• Royal Naval Museum• National Maritime Museum• Regimental museums
Taking it further
Simon Fowler, Tracing Your First World War Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2013)William Spencer, Army Service Records of the First World War (3rd edn, TNA, 2008)
The Long Long Trail – www.1914-1918.net