Chaplains Returns

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The Chaplains Returns of baptisms, marriages and burials 1761-1880. From 1880 they were known as “Army” Births, Deaths and Marriages and from 1959 “Forces” Births, Deaths and Marriages. These records include the registrations of British armed forces (including serving members who were not British nationals) posted overseas. More details are on FindMyPast’s knowledge base link concerning Military and Overseas records and this National Archives' research guide about BMD records in the armed forces, with additional details in this Your Archives’ guide, written 1992, which gives details of a small number of regimental registers in the series WO 68 and WO 69

The Army Chaplains Returns of Burials most likely do not include many deaths in action, or associated deaths in camp or on the march, including deaths from disease, such as cholera or heat stroke, where a chaplain did not conduct the burial service. The documentation does not appear to cover this point. The Muster roll records should include these deaths.

The Chaplain Returns records were compiled by regimental chaplains and may also be duplicated within the regimental records. The Overseas Section of the General Register Office in Southport holds these volumes and the indexes can be viewed at The National Archives (TNA) and online. The FindmyPast link also advises that the Overseas Section of the General Register Office also holds additional records of regimental marriages taking place between 1761 and 1924 that have never been indexed. As these additional records have never been indexed, they are not included in the data on FindMyPast or other websites. If you can provide the man's name and regiment, and approximate date the GRO will search their records. Email the GRO with GQ in the subject header, eg "GQ Regimental Marriage Registers", to avoid receiving an automated reply. A list of the regiments covered in the unindexed records used to be available, but it is not known if it currently is.

The book Tracing Your Ancestors in The National Archives by Amanda Bevan, (7th edn, National Archives Kew, 2006), Chapter 8 - 'Births, marriages and deaths of Britons overseas or in the armed services', includes details of all these military General Register Office records. Another possible source of more information is the book The British Overseas, A Guide to Records of Their Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths and Burials Available in the United Kingdom by Geoffrey Yeo London, 3rd edition 1995. Both books are available at the British Library. Tracing your Ancestors is available from the FIBIS Shop through Amazon.co.uk

As an example of a record from the Army Birth Returns, a researcher has advised he has a “certified copy” from the GRO taken from “Army Book 112 (Register of Births) of the -th Bn. -th Punjab Regiment for the six months ending 30th June 19-- reported from the Military Station at Isak (North Waziristan)”. Note this Regiment was part of the Indian Army.

He advised: I suspect the official recording and reporting of such events as births to British or foreign Indian Army soldiers’ wives were likely to have been done almost entirely through their Army channels with not a Chaplain in sight and would be dependent on the British/foreign father reporting the birth, although one needs to allow for delays in reporting - I was born before the six months specified above In my case it looks as if my father reported my birth to his adjutant a couple of months or more after the event when he was on operations (that means in a war situation) in Waziristan.

The indexes in respect of the overseas registrations are most commonly called the British Army Overseas Indexes.

The LDS have microfilmed some of the indexes, as listed in this Library Catalogue entry and you can order the microfiches and view them at Family History Centres. However, the indexes are available online, see below.

See also

• British Army Records. In particular, the WO97 records described in Section 4.1.2 Service and pension records, available on Findmypast, may include information about marriages, births of children or deaths of family members. It may be helpful to view the WO97 record first, before pursing the records mentioned above.

External Links

• Familyrelatives.com. This site requires a DjVu plug-in. You can browse the Overseas Indexes, which include the British Army Overseas Indexes on this website for free, (but first you must log in).
• FindMyPast has the British Army Overseas Indexes (for which there is a charge to search). However, in addition, the data base contains indexes for births in the U.K. and overseas, 1761-1924, taken from regimental registers, including births in India. The records themselves are held by the General Register Office, and are not on open access. To actually identify the correct child, parent and regiment, you may have to buy more than one certificate from the GRO. As noted above, WO97 records are also available.
• If you have found an index reference and you then want to order a certificate, this can be done online from the GRO. (A charge applies). This will be a transcript, not a copy of the original document.