Advanced Genealogy

The World Wars


The service records for the First World War at the PRO are among the most popular and frequently searched. No wonder: approximately 6 million men fought in the Great War. There is every chance an ancestor of yours was among them. Perhaps you already know his fate; maybe he was one of the 723,000, who were killed, or the million plus who were wounded. Or was he honoured. If you don’t know, it is possible to find out.


The Army

There are three main sources for family historians, all available at the PRO. Service records are the best and most sought after. Unfortunately, it is estimated that a fire in 1940 destroyed about 60 per cent of the records of men who served between 1914 and the end of the 1920s. If you are one of the lucky ones whose ancestor’s records survived, and have now been transferred to microfilm, you will be rewarded with the date of his enlistment, medical information and details of any offences, though the extent of the information varies. More records pertaining to officers survived, around 85 per cent, but they contain very little genealogical information.

The next-best source, particularly if you have drawn a blank with service records, is medal record cards. These are also on microfilm, and will tell you the medals your ancestor was awarded, the regiment he served with and where.

If you have found your ancestor and know the name of his regiment, it is well worth consulting war diaries. These are contemporaneous accounts of the action and the daily life of units serving overseas. It is rare for individuals to be mentioned, and if a regiment saw battle, there is little other then a hasty scrawl, but diary entries can give you a wonderful feel for the life your ancestor lived.


The Royal Navy & the Royal Air Force

There are separate service records for officers and sailors. Both give the usual information, date of birth, ship and an account of service. Records of the Royal Marines can be found here too. There are also medal rolls for all ranks. Bear in mind that the navy saw little action during the First World War. Given that the RAF was formed only in 1918, out of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), few First World War records exist under the RAF banner. For details of the RFC looking in army records; for RNAS check navy ones. The RAF service records from 1918 give details of units served with, next of kin and other information – including rather catty comments by superiors on the person’s flying ability. Medal roll cards provide information on medals awarded to RFC and RAF pilots, while naval records give details about those who served in the RNAS. Other sources that will add context to your search and offer nuggets of information on day-to-day operations are operational records and correspondence. All the above are available at the PRO.

The armed forces were less unwieldy and more mobile by the outbreak of the Second World War than they were at the start in the air by the RAF, and there was much more action at sea. Be aware that service records are closed to the public for 75 year, though the Ministry of Defence will furnish next of kin and former servicemen with restricted details for a fee of £25. Also, no medal rolls are yet available, though awards for gallantry were listed in the London Gazette, whose indexes are searchable on microfilm at the PRO. If you are still keen to soak up as much as possible about the daily life and travels of your ancestors, it is worth consulting operational records. If someone was in the army, there are war diaries, while those who served in the air force often figure in operation record books, which give a fascinating glimpse into RAF life and provide details of every flight undertaken, as well as the crew involved. Fighter-plane fanatics have been known to get lost in them for hours, for days, even weeks on end. There are less interesting sources if you are searching for someone who was in the navy: log books offer little genealogical information, though if you know the ship your ancestor served on, its captain’s reports could make interesting reading. If you are seeking details of a wartime casualty in either of the world wars, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website at www.cwgc.org is a precious resource, well designed and easy to use. It boasts a searchable database of the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the wars. A successful search will give the rank, number, force, date of death and age at death of the person you are looking for. It will also provide details, it known, such as parent’s names, place of birth, spouse’s name and occasionally other useful information. Finally, but most intriguing of all, it tells you in which cemetery the person is buried and where it is, and gives brief directions for finding their grave. Should you wish to make a pilgrimage to pay your respects, links on the site offer information about cemetery visits.


Path to the Present

What happens if your goal is to find out all you can about the times and conditions in which your ancestors lived, but the information you have discovered so far gives you only a list of names and dates, filled out will a few snippets about occupations and addresses from census returns? How do you go about putting flesh on the bones of your research and learning as much as possible about the life of your forebears? The good news is that there are many sources to research. By using them you can see the changes that occurred in British society during the nineteenth century affected your ancestors.

Tracing your Family’s Path to the present can be done simply by looking at census returns and seeing where your ancestors were when the census were taken. But it might not tell you why the path took the turns it did.