Military service records
Finding an ancestor's army, navy or RAF service: WW1 service and pension records (and the burnt records), medal index cards, WW2 records from the MOD, war memorials and CWGC.
Almost every British family has men who served, and the records they left are some of the most personal you will find: a physical description, next of kin, conduct, wounds, where they went. The catch is knowing which records survive for which war and which service. This guide takes them in turn.
First World War: army
- Service records (WO 363): about 60 per cent were destroyed by bombing in 1940; the surviving "burnt documents" are indexed and imaged on Ancestry and Findmypast. If your man is there, you get enlistment papers, medical history, postings and family details.
- Pension records (WO 364): a separate set for men discharged to pension, less damaged, on the same sites. Check both.
- Medal index cards (WO 372): a card for almost every soldier who served overseas, giving regiment, number, medals and sometimes the date of entry to a theatre of war. Free to search at The National Archives, images on Ancestry; the medal rolls themselves add detail.
- Silver War Badge rolls for men discharged through wounds or sickness; war diaries (WO 95) for what the battalion did each day, now online at The National Archives.
Soldiers who died are in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database (free), Soldiers Died in the Great War, and often the De Ruvigny roll, local memorials and newspapers. Officers' records (WO 339, WO 374) are at The National Archives, many digitised.
First World War: navy and air force
Royal Navy ratings' service records (ADM 188) and officers' (ADM 196) are at The National Archives and online; Royal Marines likewise. The Royal Naval Division and Royal Naval Air Service have their own series. For the RAF (formed April 1918), airmen's records are AIR 79 and officers' AIR 76, both digitised. Merchant seamen were civilians; their records are different and partly at The National Archives and the Southampton archives.
Second World War
Service records for all three services were held by the Ministry of Defence and are being transferred to The National Archives, which now releases them for people who have died (and for those born more than 100 years ago). Where a record has not yet transferred, apply to the MOD with proof of death and the fee; a next of kin gets more detail. The CWGC database covers the dead; medal entitlement was by application, so there are no medal index cards as for 1914-18. Unit war diaries (WO 166 onwards) are at The National Archives, and Home Guard records are at the MOD too.
Earlier wars and the regular army
Soldiers' documents for men discharged to pension 1760-1913 (WO 97) are indexed and online, and are superb: birthplace, age, trade, description and full service. Muster rolls and pay lists (WO 12) track a man year by year before 1878 but are not indexed; you need the regiment first. Militia records, Chelsea pensioners, Napoleonic-era records and the Victorian wars are all covered by The National Archives' research guides, which are the best starting point for anything military.
Finding the regiment
You need it for most searches. Look at medals and their rims (name, number and unit are engraved), photographs (cap badges), the 1911 census (regiment often given for men in barracks), absent voters' lists 1918-21, local newspapers, and the family stories. A service number alone can often be dated and placed with the help of the Great War Forum and regimental museums.
Memorials and the dead
The Imperial War Museum's War Memorials Register lists memorials by place, and local history groups have researched many. CWGC records give the grave or memorial, unit, date of death, age and often parents' names and address: a free and reliable source of family detail.
Where it all is
The National Archives at Kew (nationalarchives.gov.uk) holds the originals and digitised many of them; its research guides explain each series. Ancestry, Findmypast and Forces War Records hold indexed images of the main WW1 sets. Regimental museums and the Royal British Legion help with context. Start with the resources guide for newspapers and memorials, and keep the service number in your research log: you will need it again.