A number of visitors to the site have asked how they should go about researching the service history of a relative (I’ll call him ‘soldier’ for this page). Having answered a number of requests individually I thought it might be worth adding a page to the site that people could refer to. While the information below is aimed primarily at those searching for a WW1 soldier, some of it will apply as well to WW2 servicemen .

25th Feb

The book to the left is available via the site bookshop from Amazon.  It really is something you need if you are trying to work your way through the different records.

An obvious start point is the surname and initials of the soldier, with common family names, having all the initials will help to narrow the search. Also, you need their ‘given’ names, not ‘nicknames’ that you might have known them as when you were a child.  If you are not certain of their initials, try using the various on-line Census databases if you know the names of a different family member.  I have found a great uncle that I was not aware of, who died at Loos, through the 1901 census.

Do you have any of his service documentation at all? All servicemen will have had some form of service number and again, this will help identify him. Did he leave any kind of diary or letters, which might give any clues?  My grandfather left a few pages of a diary, which gave me details of his service in Egypt after Gallipoli and this again filled in a few blanks for me.

Did your relative survive the war, or was he killed? It is a sad fact that it can be easier to find the history of a soldier who died in the war, than it is with one who survived; why?  A great research site if the soldier was killed is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site (CWGC)  www.cwgc.org This site has all British and Commonwealth servicemen listed who died in WW1 or WW2, together with the details of the cemetery in which they are buried, right down to headstone location within the cemetery.  If the soldier has no known grave then he will have been commemorated on one of the ‘memorials to the missing’ and again the panel location where his name can be found on that memorial will be against the soldier’s name on the CWGC site.  Depending on the information known about an individual soldier when he was killed the site will have useful information, especially date of death and his battalion. 

Using the date of death, the battalion and the cemetery or memorial it is then possible to make a reasonable assumption of where he died and whether it was in a recognised battle or some other hostilities that the battalion had been involved in. I will mention War Diaries a little later.

A very important source of information is the National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office) in Kew, useful for those who can get to London, but they will help for a fee if you cannot go in person. At Kew they hold copies on microfilm of all surviving soldiers’ records from WW1, however, many were burnt during the bombing in WW2, my grandfather’s included.  If you are lucky, and your relative’s record survives, then a great deal of information is available.  For Lance Corporal Dillon mentioned above, I was able to find a record. 

Your relative is likely to have got at least the standard medal set from WW1, and his medal record can be searched online through http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline   If you can visit the Archives then the information available from the medal record will allow you to go into the Medal Roll, and that will give you details of the battalions he served in. My grandfather survived the war, after being captured in March 1918, I knew he was in the 2^nd Battalion York & Lancaster Regt when he was captured, the Medal Roll also told me that he had served in the 6^th & 10^th Battalions, which I didn’t know.

I should mention here that in WW1 there was a difference between ordinary soldiers, Other Ranks (OR) and Officers. In battalion War Diaries and histories individual officers will often be named, but it is rare to see a soldier or NCO named, so it is easier to research an officer than a soldier.  Also, if your relative was an officer, the Army List will be a good source.  This was a volume produced every year listing every officer, his decorations and his unit.  By looking in consecutive volumes you can effectively trace his history and promotion. Again, copies are kept at Kew, but they may also be available through local libraries. Also on microfilm are the copies of the London Gazette, and when an officer was promoted or decorated he was ‘Gazetted’, and the entry can be traced at Kew.

By now you might know his service number, battalion/regiment and any medals he was awarded, but you would like to know more about where he served and what happened to him and his battalion while he was serving.  Knowing his battalion and regiment, you can try searching the web to find an associated regimental museum or regimental association. I found the York & Lancaster regimental museum were very helpful and they copied the WW1 pages from the three battalion histories that I needed.  Although my grandfather was not mentioned (only a Private), I was able to see where he was likely to have served based on expected dates that he served in the different battalions.  From this I believe that he served at Gallipoli, took part in the April 1917 Battle of Arras and was captured on 21 March 1918 in the German offensive of that month.  The battalion histories give a good overview of the activities of the battalion, but to get to more detail a visit to Kew is needed to look at the Battalion War Diary.

As mentioned above, if your relative was not an Officer he is unlikely to be mentioned in the War Diary, though Officers stand a good chance of having their name there. The War Diary is a handwritten record of the daily, and sometimes hourly, activities of the Battalion. The War Diary allows you to see what happened to a battalion in any particular action, it also has all details of its movements into and out of the line, and where it was billeted etc. If you are interested in the action that your relative’s battalion was involved in, then while you are at Kew also take out the Brigade and Divisional history files to build up the total picture.

I have not really tried to research any WW2 individuals, but there is more chance of non-officers being mentioned in unit diaries at that time, things had become a little more egalitarian by then. This is especially the case if your relative was RAF aircrew as Squadron Operational Readiness Books (available on microfilm at Kew) do mention crew member names on many missions.