British Army

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The British Army is the land-based forces of the United Kingdom. The British Army was heavily involved in Imperial affairs in India and most regiments (both infantry and cavalry) served in India at some point. Throughout the nineteenth century, a significant number of British troops were stationed at India at any one time. In 1847, for instance, around 20% of British Army regiments were on the sub-continent. The General staff were supported by the Staff Corps and the Office of the Quarter Master General.

Up until the early 1860s, a British man, or man of British descent could also be a soldier/officer in one of the Presidency Armies. These were seperate from the British Army, instead consisting of regiments formed by the East India Company and under their control.

Regiments

Any regiment name prefaced by the initials H.M. (Her or His Majesty's) is a British Army regiment, although the term is not strictly applied, especially amongst the ecclesiastical records. These regiments may be referred to as "Royal Regiments".

Regiments are divided across several arms of the army, these being the Cavalry (who fought mounted on horseback), the Infantry (soldiers who fought on foot) and the support arms such as the Artillery (who used weaponry such as canons and large guns) and the Engineers construction, demolition, surveying etc.) Also see Regiment names terminology below.

The article History of British Army Infantry Regiments is a general history of the origin and development of the infantry regiments and explains some of the reforms that took place.

The cap badges of a few regiments can be found in Cap badge images.

When a regiment was to return to England, the men were given the opportunity to 'volunteer for' (join) another British Army regiment in India. The view seems to have been "A trained soldier in India is worth five recruits, and that soldier, when he is brought home, is not worth anything."[1]As an example, when the 96th Regiment of Foot was ordered home in September 1854, a ‘great number of men’ volunteered for the 32nd foot, thirty volunteered for the 43rd, while twenty-two volunteered for the 74th Highlanders.[2] However, when transferring to another unit, the soldiers were treated as new recruits, and lost any rank they had, reverting to the rank of a private,[3] although it appears likely that in practice they were promoted again reasonably quickly.

Locating a regiment

There are many ways to find out locations at which a regiment was stationed. More labourious methods include tracking through the muster rolls, army lists or station lists published in newspapers. Many of our regiment articles include a timeline of major stations. One online source providing incomplete but highly useful information, is:

It appears best to use the binoculars icon to search the Finding Aid. The search facility seems designed so that the words you enter only are found if they are next to each other, so you will need to use just one word such as India, or use phrases which are title headings such as Stations of British Troops in India, (not Stations India) (available 1836-1904), British Regiments Serving in India, (available 1816-1835), Distribution of the British Army (available 1836-1868, 1872, 1899-1903) Stations of the British Army (available 1869-1904). The latter two titles include British troops in India. For specific lists from 1862, see
Note that for some computers/browsers, it may not be possible to search the Finding Aid. "British Regiments Serving in India" 1816 is located on page 167. "Distribution of the British Army" 1836 is located on page 168

Regiment names terminology

Regiments, especially prior to the twentieth century, were not named in a uniform manner and the historical terminology used can be unfamiliar to a beginning researcher. Some common terms and the regiment types they apply to can be found below.

Term Regiment type
Dragoons Cavalry
Foot Infantry
Fusiliers Infantry
Grenadier Infantry
Hussars Cavalry
Lancers Cavalry
Life Guards Cavalry
Rifles Infantry

Wars and campaigns

The British Army were involved in numerous wars, campaigns and battles in India and the surrounding region. The Fibiwiki has a Chronological list of wars and campaigns.

Enlistment in India

It was possible for a man born in India to enlist in the British Army in India, a fact to be considered when researching. Enlistment was possible for men with European parents, or Eurasian men of fair complexion―those whose looks allowed them to ‘pass’ as white.[4]

There is one reference to an Anglo Indian Boy Trumpeter in the Royal Artillery c 1936[5]

Enlistment and birth in other overseas British Empire countries

When researching, keep in mind that similar to the situation in India, it was also possible for men from other countries to enlist when regiments were stationed in their countries.[6] Men whose fathers were in the British Army could be born anywhere in the world the British Army was stationed.

Indians in the British Army

There were a limited number of Indians who were part of the British Army. C 1911, there were Indian soldiers serving in the Royal Artillery as drivers, and native gunners in ammunition columns serving as wagon-men. [7] During the First World War, there are Medal Index Card references to Lascars in the Royal Artillery, this rank was also known as a Gun Lascar. In 1924, Indian Mountain/Pack Batteries became Batteries in the Royal Artillery, which was the situation until 1939 when the Indian Mountain Batteries were transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Indian Regiment of Artillery.
During the First World War there are also references to Lascars in the Inland Water Transport, Royal Engineers.
There were Indian and Burmese drivers and artificers in 1023 and 1024 Mechanical Transport Companies ASC, raised in Burma for service in Mesopotamia.
From c 1921, there were Indian Mechanical Transport Companies, which were part of the Royal Army Service Corps, until subsequently transferred to the Indian Army.

Records

See also - Military reading list and Occupation:Soldier

There are various sources of information for finding out about a man in the British Army.

Army Lists

Army Lists are useful if you are researching an officer. There were Monthly, Quarterly and Annual editions published. At least during the First World War, only the Monthly Lists cover the officers in “battalion order”.[8] Quarterly Army Lists only list regular, career officers and not others such as temporary officers and territorial officers who are to be found in the Monthly Army Lists.[9] The Monthly Lists are available on the open shelves at the National Archives and major libraries.

For volumes available online, see Military periodicals online.

The [London] Gazette

  • The [London] Gazette Official Public Record for the U.K. Free Search for officers' commissions and promotions, and gallantry awards for both officers and other soldiers. Search tips: include full stops after initials, and if the name includes an apostrophe, follow this by a space. [10]
Some data from the London Gazette is available online elsewhere, where the Search facilities may be easier to use (Free Search, pay to view) :
Ancestry includes the database "The London Gazette (London, England), 1825-1962" (located under Newspapers & Periodicals), but notes there are random gaps in this collection.
findmypast includes the database "The London Gazette, Supplements August 1914 - January 1920" (Located under Armed forces & conflict/Medal rolls and honours), which also includes promotions and Battle Despatches

Landed Gentry genealogical sources

Officers were often of high social status/the Landed Gentry class and genealogical resources relating to this social class may provide Army details.

  • Burke’s Peerage 1826–2016 A pay website which states “the definitive guide to the genealogy and heraldry of the Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Landed Gentry of the United Kingdom, the historical families of Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations….”
Editions of Burke's Peerage are available at major libraries.
  • The Peerage. A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain. A free website.

Military records at the National Archives

For advice about the National Archives, both about visiting and your options if you can't visit, see the Fibiwiki page The National Archives

Service and pension records

Online records

Where a record series appears on both findmypast, and Ancestry there may be differences in transcriptions of names which will affect the Search results. If you cannot initially find a record, it is suggested you try searching on both websites.

Findmypast

Findmypast, a pay website, contains a database British Army Service Records, located in Armed forces & conflict/ Regimental & service records, which contains records between 1760 and 1920, for officers and other ranks, from The National Archives.

This database consists of

  • WO 22 - Royal Hospital Chelsea: returns of payment of Army and other pensions 1842-1883
  • WO 23 - Royal Hospital Chelsea: admission books, registers, and papers 1702-1876
  • WO 76 - Regimental records of officers' services 1775-1914
  • WO 96 - Militia service records 1806-1915
  • WO 97 - Chelsea: pensioners British Army service records 1760-1913
  • WO 121 - Chelsea: pensioners' discharge documents 1760-1887
  • WO 122 - Chelsea: pensioners' discharge documents, foreign regiments 1816-1817
  • WO 128 - Imperial Yeomanry, soldiers' documents, South African War 1899-1902
  • WO 131 - Chelsea: documents of soldiers awarded deferred pensions 1838-1896
  • WO 339 - Officers' services, First World War, regular army and emergency reserve officers Transcripts only
  • WO 363 - First World War service records 'burnt documents'
  • WO 364 - First World War pension claims
  • WO 374 - Officers' services, First World War, personal files. Index records only, not actual files.
  • WO 400 - The Household Cavalry 1801-1919

See below for details of these records.

An associated database is British Army Service Records Image Browse, located in Armed forces & conflict/Service Records which contains the above records, excluding the First World War records.

A separate online dataset is British Army Pensioners - Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Ireland, 1783-1822 located in Armed forces & conflict /Regimental & service records. These records are from the National Archives WO 119 records

Searching the records is free, but charges apply to view the records, although they can be viewed for free at TNA (and other institutions with a FMP subscription).

For some findmypast blogs about these records, see below.[11]

Ancestry

Ancestry is a pay website.

Ancestry search tip: if you are unable to locate a record, it is possible to search by spouse name, as the search does look for next of kin.[12]

Chelsea Pensioners

Discharge papers (WO 97, (to 1913)), usually containing service/attestation information, and pension records (WO 22) may also be found at TNA. Records in WO 97 are usually only for men discharged with a pension (i.e. for long service or having been invalided [13]) as these were the papers sent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea and preserved, but from 1883, most causes of discharge, (apart from death (with a few exceptions)[14]) were included.Note however, the survival rate of discharge papers appears to be low for men discharged overseas[15] [ie not in Britain, and therefore low for India]. If a man went on to serve during World War 1 then his records would normally have been removed from WO97 and placed with his WW1 service records[16]. WO 97 records are also unlikely to include men who immediately went on active service with a Milita unit, (whose discharge papers may have been transferred to the Milita unit)[17]. The records often contain a wealth of genealogical information, including birth date and location, next of kin, physical description, service locations, medical history and medals. They may include information about marriages, births of children or deaths of family members. Note: There are examples of records to 1913, which are located in the WW1 records, rather than in the WO 97 records, even though the man did not serve in WW1.

This link [13] has some general information about pensions, quoting from The Victorian Army at Home by AR Skelley

Kilmainham Pensioners

The records online at findmypast now include those men discharged through the Kilmainham Hospital in Ireland, as "British Army Pensioners - Kilmainham, Ireland 1783-1822". These records are held under TNA reference WO 119, and are similar to the Chelsea Pensioner records WO 97, above.

There are other records for Kilmainham , not digitised, under WO 118 “Registers of in- and out- pensioners of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham”. In-pensioners were admitted until 1922.

Other Pension Records

Another useful TNA source is the now available online WO 22 subseries "Army and other pensions paid out locally in India, Ceylon and China" detailing names and payments made, including WO 22/228-230 Bengal, WO 22/237-238 Bombay and WO 22/266-270, mainly Madras.

WO 120 and WO 121 records may be helpful. [18]. Catalogue references are:

  • WO 120 "From about 1812 dates of death have been noted and in the last series these dates extend to 1877" The WO 120 records are not available online but are available on LDS microfilm with this catalogue entry.
    • The book British Army Pensioners Abroad, 1772-1899 by Norman K. Crowder includes all British Army pensioners who retired to any place outside of Great Britain for which records are available (1772-1899). There are 8,934 entries, transcribed from WO 120/35 and WO 120/69-70. Each entry has one line, in the form "51st Regiment of Foot; Josh ABBOTT; pension awarded 27 Sept 1842; residence - Hobart Town, Australia; died 22 Apr 1871. Source WO120 Volume 69 page 206". [19]
  • WO 121 records. These records are available online on findmypast , refer above. The records include "Register of men discharged without pension", 1884 to 1887. Although the catalogue does not mention this, there are many records of men leaving the army in India under the heading "Nominal list of men discharged by the Commander-in-Chief in India." As the register provides name, regimental number, rank, corps, date and cause of discharge, attestation date (and a few other administration details) it is an invaluable resource for those not able to find these details elsewhere.

These records are included in the National Archives catalogue entry Records of the Royal Chelsea and Kilmainham Hospitals. The latter hospital was in Ireland. This category of records also includes

  • WO 116 Disability and all Royal Artillery pensions and
  • WO 117 Pensions awarded to soldiers for length of service.

Some of these records, in particular WO 116 (for what appears to be WO 116/1-165 being Cavalry and Infantry Disability October 1715 to 1882 and Royal Artillery 1 November 1833 to 1893) and WO 117 ( October 1823 to 1913) are available to download free of cost from The National Archives Documents Online: Digital Microfilms. These are stated to be large pdfs, which need a broadband internet connection. This Ancestry.com British Army Message Board post details some of the information found.

An interesting series of selected records is PIN 71: Selected War Pensions Award Files for Service Prior to 1914. This series consists of personal case files on disablement pensions arising from service in the Army or Navy before the First World War and case files concerning widows of such servicemen. The files contain medical records and details of place of birth, age, names of parents and siblings, religion, physical attributes, marital and parental status. The series appears to consist of approximately 6,300 individual files which are searchable by name online on the Discovery catalogue. The actual files however are not available online.

Service and pension records from World War 1 from the National Archives are available on the pay sites findmypast and Ancestry, refer above. They do contain some papers for men who did not serve in WW1,[20] so it is suggested you check these records for men with service prior to the War years. The World War 1 records include

  • WO 363 records also known as the ‘Burnt Documents.’ These are the records which survived a fire, about one third of the total documents.
  • WO 364 records

Muster rolls

Unlike those of the presidency armies, muster rolls for British Army regiments stationed in India are not at the British Library but are instead at The National Archives at Kew in London. The majority of the Muster records up to 1878 are in WO 12, including Cavalry and Infantry, with Royal Artillery muster records in WO 10. The catalogue describes the records as:

Detail from a 1877 Married Roll

"...a comprehensive means of establishing dates of enlistment, movements throughout the world, and of discharge or death. The first entry may show age on enlistment. An entry on the form "Men becoming non-effective", sometimes to be found at the end of each quarter's musters, shows the birthplace, trade, and date of enlistment of any soldier discharged or dead during the quarter. From about 1868, at the end of each muster, may be found a Marriage Roll, which enumerates wives and children for whom married quarters were provided."

An 1877 example of data from a Marriage Roll can be seen in the image on the right.

From 1878 to 1898, all muster rolls are in WO 16. The majority of the records for the years 1878 to 1888 contain detailed pay lists with names. From 1888 onwards (WO 16/2917-3049) the series consists of company muster rolls only, and these do not contain pay lists.

Muster roll records are unfortunately NOT available on LDS microfilms. If you are are unable to visit Kew, the FIBIS Research teamshould be able to assist

Please note that muster roll records may be missing for some Regiments and periods, in India and generally. For example, there are virtually no muster roll records for the Royal Artillery in India,

Online records
  • Ancestry (pay site with a free search) has a collection UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817
  • Findmypast has the records, (located in Armed forces & conflict/Regimental & service records) British Army, Worldwide Index 1861 extracted from the National Archives April-June quarter Paylists held in WO 10 (Royal Artillery), WO 11 (Royal Engineers) and WO 12 (Cavalry, Guards, Infantry and other units) series War Office records, including men serving overseas. Searching the records is free, but charges apply to view the records, although they can be viewed for free at TNA (and other institutions with a FMP subscription). Also on Findmypast is the database British Army, Worldwide Index 1871, with census day 2 April 1871 and generally covering much of the June Quarter 1871, extracted from War Office army pay lists. The latest (2016/1) database released by FMP is British Army, Worldwide Index 1841, created from muster rolls and pay lists between April and June 1841. As advised in the section above, there will be no records for Royal Artillery soldiers in India.

Courts martial and desertion

Research guides

National Archives Guides
  • The National Archives has published the book Army Records: A Guide for Family Historians by William Spencer 2008. 160 pages. It is mainly about records in the National Archives and the India Office at the British Library. It contains a chapter "The British Army in India and the Indian Army", in addition to over twenty chapters about British Army records.
British Library Guides

India Office military records at the British Library

For a comprehensive description of sources available in the India Office Records, see Peter Bailey's article in FIBIS Journal 13.

There is a small collection of India Office records at the British Library called British Army Records IOR/L/MIL/15 1806-1930 (catalogue entry which includes links to subgroups including British Army: British troops embarked for India IOR/L/MIL/15/42-46 1871-1889).

There are also reference books from the Military Department Library relating to the British Army IOR/L/MIL/17/1 (catalogue entry), including Army Lists for the British Army, apart from publications specifically relating to the British Army in India.

Ecclesiastical returns

If the man married, had children or died out on the Sub-continent then records of these occurences can often be found in the India Office Church records. However, some regimental chaplains only filed their BMDs with the General Register Office in London. The British Army Overseas Indexes can be found in genealogical libraries, the National Archives and searched on various websites including findmypast.com and familyrelatives.com. Certificates of these army returns can then be obtained from the GRO by ordering them online. For more details refer Chaplains Returns.

Note that if a record is available both in the Church records and in the General Register Office records, the latter may contain more information, at least for some time periods. By way of example, in 1903 the additional information available for a marriage record was the nationalities of the groom and bride, and the occupations of the fathers of the groom and bride.

Other sources

Additional sources include:

Soldiers’ wills

Online search Find a soldier's will Search for the will of a soldier who died while serving in the British armed forces between 1850 and 1986. UK Government Probate Service. Free to search, (but first you must register) and then pay for a record.

No further details are given, but previously this link[21] advised that 300,000 wills of soldiers killed in action were to become available online. They do not include officers. These wills date from the Crimea period onwards, and appear to be wills completed by soldiers in their paybooks. It appears the majority are from WW1. The article "Wills of English soldiers killed in the Great War" by David Tattersfield 25 September 2013 (“The Western Front Association”) has more details.

The index to some soldiers’ wills, perhaps more likely to be officers' wills, are also available in the Probate Calendars Of England & Wales 1858-1996, in an additional section on the UK Government website, mentioned above. Also see Wills, Administrations, Probate and Inventories.

For soldiers with a Scottish domicile, Soldiers’ Wills are available on ScotlandsPeople. scotlandspeople.gov.uk. Free to search, but pay to view. Most are from WW1, then WW2, with very limited data for other dates.

Soldiers Wills 1914-1918 National Archives of Ireland. Search online. The National Archives of Ireland holds over 9,000 wills of enlisted and non-commissioned soldiers domiciled in Ireland, from the thirty-two counties of Ireland, who fought in the British Army in the World War I and in the South African war of 1899-1902. The collection does not include wills of commissioned officers.

Soldiers’ effects records at the National Army Museum

These records relate to monies paid to the named relatives of deceased soldiers and those discharged insane. They do not give details of the personal possessions of dead personnel, but provide next of kin details. Transcripts of records between 1901 and 1960 are available, at a charge. They are not viewable at the Museum as they are stored off site.[22] Further details are provided in this National Army Museum link

Update January 2015. Some of these records are now available on the pay website Ancestry, record category Military, with the dataset titled UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929.[23]

WFA WW1 pension record cards

WW1 Casualty Lists

WW1 Casualty Lists were initially published on a daily basis in newspapers, but WO original lists no longer appear to exist. They were then published weekly by HMSO, as War Office Weekly Casualty List no.1-48 (7 Aug.1917 - 2 July 1918), and later as Weekly Casualty List (War Office & Air Ministry) no.49-83 (9 July 1918 - 4 March 1919), available at some libraries. Daily lists may be found in online newspaper databases such as The [London] Times Digital Archive, for access see Miscellaneous tips, and The Scotsman in Scotland, the latter initially all casualties but later limited to Scots related. TheGenealogist, a pay website, as part of its Diamond premium subscription, includes a database "Military and Casualty Lists"[24], which appears to consist of Daily Lists transcribed from newspapers, together with Weekly Lists transcribed and with images, from British Library held original publications,[25] with data to April 1918. [26]

Prisoners of War

ICRC Archives
  • Prisoners of the First World War - ICRC Archives. Free online records of the International Committee of the Red Cross. These records may be quite complex to search, and there are many helpful hints about searching on the Great War Forum.[27] There is also some information on the Long, Long Trail Forum "Researching prisoners of war".[28] The records include soldiers of the Indian Army taken as POWs on the Western Front and sent to Germany.
  • ICRC Archives in Geneva has records for the Second World War. However, due to other priorities, research requests were suspended from May 2016, except for requests of a humanitarian nature.
Other
  • findmypast includes a database "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" and also a similar "Browse" database (both located in Armed forces & conflict/Regimental & service records) which contains records from The National Archives , including selected FO 383 records, including some for Indian Army soldiers. The records included are detailed in this findmypast link.

Medal Rolls

See Medal Rolls. Includes information about those medal rolls available online.

1911 England and Wales Census

British Army personnel in India, together with their families appeared for the first time in an England and Wales Census in 1911. The 1911 Census is available on the pay websites findmypast, Ancestry and perhaps other pay sites. This National Archives catalogue entry shows the regiments that were included in the 1911 Census. The items (17 in total) are RG 14/34978-34992, 34995, 34997. However, it is probable there were other regiments in India at this time. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April, 1911. Note however, there are is at least one known instance of a soldier and his family known to be in the British Army in India at the time of the census, whose names do not appeat in the census, another indication that the data may not be complete. The 1911 Census also includes similar information for other British Army overseas bases, and returns from ships of the Royal Navy at sea and in ports abroad.

1911 Scotland Census
  • In Scotland, the Census was also taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and records are available online on the pay website ScotlandsPeople. Records for previous censuses in Scotland are available on findmypast, Ancestry, etc.
1911 and 1901 Ireland Census
  • Census of Ireland 1901/1911 The National Archives of Ireland. Free online records. The 1901 census was taken on 31st March 1901and the 1911 census was taken on 2 April 1911.

National Army Museum

The National Army Museum's website includes the following Information Sheets which also refer to sources at other institutions

Absent Voters Lists: 1918- c 1923 (UK)

Generally arranged by Electoral District. Mainly contain military personnel, but also men and women who were engaged in war-related work who were still living away from home. Sources are major libraries and record offices nearest to the place in question. Some of these records are available online. The London Metropolitan Archives holds some AVLs to 1939.[29], however it appears that information such as a serviceman’s rank, unit and number, only appeared initially for a few years.[30] Note however these lists appear to have contained some errors when first compiled.[31]

In October 2015, findmypast introduced a database "Britain, Absent Voters Lists 1918-1921" (located in Census, Land & Surveys/Electoral Rolls), based on records from the British Library. The coverage is set out in Britain, Absent Voters Constituency List. Data additional to the initial release is expected to be added. There is also a stand alone "Kent, Bromley Absent Voters List 1918". In July 2016 an associated dataset "Britain, Absent Voters Lists 1918-1921 Browse" was introduced to enable browsing through the records.

Ancestry currently (December 2015) contains one database, Birmingham, see below.

Other online Lists, additional to those mentioned in the guides above: Preston (mit-stamtrae.co.uk); FamilySearch images for Swansea West Division (Wales, West Glamorgan).

Attestation, or Enlistment books (Army Book 358) from 1920

Following the restructure of the Army in 1920, new Attestation, or Enlistment books (Army Book 358) were introduced, the originals of which were sent to various Regimental Museums in the early 2000s [32] Some of these records are now in regional Record Offices and Archives. The National Army Museum holds these records for some regiments, including the five Irish Regiments disbanded in 1922.

The attestation records for the Royal Artillery and the Tank Corps are available online on the pay website findmypast, located in the category Armed forces & conflict/Regimental & service records.

Enlistment book records for the Royal Army Service Corps and Royal Army Ordnance Corps are available on the pay website RLC Digital Library, see Royal Army Service Corps

Regimental Journals

Some regiments published a regular regimental journal which can be a valuable source of information. Examples are St George’s Gazette, journal of the Northumberland Fusiliers,(previously 5th Regiment of Foot) published from 1883 to 1968, and The Highland Light Infantry Chronicle, journal of the Highland Light Infantry (previously 71st Regiment of Foot), published quarterly from 1893 to 1958. Whether a journal existed may be included in the regimental information available on the website Regiments.org (refer below). This link also lists the titles of some regimental journals.[33] The British Library and National Army Museum are possible sources of these journals, together with Regimental Museums and regional libraries, if the regiment had a strong regional connection. A broken range of editions of The Rifle Brigade Chronicle for the years 1890 to 1905 is available online. A few editions of the Highland Light Infantry Chronicle are also available online, however these are accessible in limited countries only.

Newspapers

A number of newspapers in the United Kingdom from 1824 into the 1860s contained a Monthly Military Obituary, being a list of names of officers. Includes deaths overseas or in transit (for example on board ship). Available in online newspaper collections including findmypast.[34]

Miscellaneous online sources

Many online sources are mentioned in other sections. Other miscellaneous sources may be found by searching the database information of websites such as findmypast and Ancestry.

  • See findmypast. Under the tab "Search records" is a category "A-Z of record sets" which is a listing of all the record databases.
    • Includes a database "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" (located in Armed forces & conflict/Regimental & service records) which appears to contain some records from the National Archives records FO 383, including some for Indian Army soldiers.
    • Includes the category Armed forces & conflict/First World War which includes the databases
      • "Silver War Badge Roll 1914-1920" Transcriptions only, no images.
      • "Royal Naval Division Records 1914-1919" and "Royal Naval Division Service Records 1914-1920". The Royal Naval Division transferred from the authority of the Admiralty to the War Office on 29 April 1916.
      • Databases based on the publications The Bond of Sacrifice; a Biographical Record of all British officers who fell in the Great War (2 Volumes), Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19 (80 Volumes, HMSO) and "Officers Died in the Great War 1914-19" (the latter two, one database), and The Roll of Honour. A biographical record of all members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war by the Marquis De Ruvigny (5 Volumes). Databases 2 and 3 are also available on Ancestry.
      • "British Jewry Book Of Honour, 1914-1920"
      • "British Army, Deserters and Absentees In Police Gazette 1914-1919". Selected dates only, not a complete range.[35]
    • Includes a database "British Army Schoolchildren and Schoolmasters 1803-1932" (located in Education & work/Schools & education)
  • Ancestry Card Catalogue of all Record Databases (located as an option under the Search tab). Select the Military filter on the left hand side of the page. Some datasets may unexpectedly provide information relating to India. A researcher, who found some relevant records, found the title of "Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900", to be misleading, as they are actually records of enlistment and any subsequent notable events, based on WO 25 records for a selection of regiments. [36] Also see comments under findmypast.
Also includes a database for Birmingham, and some of north Warwickshire, Absent Voters Lists (located in Census & Electoral Rolls/Midlands, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1955). There are many electoral registers (but not currently Absent Voters Lists}, details of which may be found by entering the keyword electoral in the Card Catalogue Search.

Army personnel serving after January 1921

The Army Personnel Centre Historical Disclosures Section holds Army Service records for officers whose service ended after April 1922 and soldiers whose service ended after January 1921.

Note however that some records may not have survived, such as some records for those who were awarded a disability pension,[39] or due to 'weeding'.

The service records of Army personnel serving after these dates remain closed to the public. To obtain details from such records you will often have to prove kinship. Charges may apply. Application forms should be sent to

The Army Personnel Centre
MS Support Unit, P & D Branch
Historical Disclosures, MP555
Kentigern House,
65 Brown Street, GLASGOW G2 8EX
Telephone 0845 600 9663
Email disc4@apc.army.mod.uk

See the web pages: Requests for personal data and Service records (gov.uk) for forms to download. Veterans: UK and their previous fact sheet Army Personnel Records And Family Interest Enquiries UK Government Web Archive.

The Ministry of Defence has released an aid for the files they hold for service personnel with a birth date prior to 1901, which contains name, date of birth and service number. Numbers with a P prefix are believed to designate officers.[40] The aid is in the form of a letter of advice and eight attachments in MS Excel Spreadsheet format, which may be found in FOI responses released by MOD: week commencing 1 December 2014

Hints, mainly from WW2Talk Forum.

  • "You want to get next of kin FULL records (make a note on the application for FULL records)"[41]
  • "They will accept anything that is proof of death, even a undertakers receipt or a photograph of a post war civilian headstone”. [42] However, you do not have to supply a death certificate when the date of birth of the individual was more than 116 years ago.[43]
  • The next of kin hierarchy is explained on a WW2Talk Forum topic which also advises that “There is currently about a 12 month wait to receive the records once you apply”[44]

Died in military service from 1948

  • Online Roll of Honour contains the names of members of the Armed Forces who died in military service, on or after 1 January 1948 (and Palestine 1945-47), who are commemorated on the official single service rolls of honour. Ministry of Defence: Veterans UK

FIBIS resources

  • Margaret Mulvihill, "'Peculiar Circumstances': Catholic Chaplains of the Victorian British Army in India" FIBIS Journal No 24 (Autumn 2010), pages 26-28. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.
  • Ainslie Sharpe, "Boy Soldier to Lancer: John Arnfield in the Anglo -Sikh Wars" FIBIS Journal No 26 Autumn 2011, pages 31-40. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.
John Arnfield joined his father's regiment, the 3rd Regiment of Foot, the Buffs in India in 1833, as a Boy soldier, aged 14 years and became a Private on his 18th birthday.
He went on to serve with the 16th Lancers in the Gwalior Campaign and the 1st Sikh War, and with the 9th Lancers in the 2nd Sikh War.
He resigned in 1853 having spent 20 years in the British Army, all in India. However, his years as a Boy were not counted as years of service, so he was not entitled to any pension.
  • Sylvia Murphy, "Walter Williams, A Private Soldier in India 1878 to 1888 (Part 1)" FIBIS Journal Number 35 (Spring 2016), pages 31-38. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals

Conditions and activities

Enlistment term

From the end of the Napoleonic Wars until 1847, men were enlisted for twenty-one years, practically for life. From 1847 enlistment was for ten years, later increased to twelve; with a pension after twenty one years for extended service. From 1870, as part of the Caldwell Reforms, “short service” was introduced, where men enlisted for a period of time in the Army, the balance of time in the reserves (total twelve years). The standard term varied over time, including six and six, seven and five, three and nine, nine and three years, [45] but terms may have been modified for regiments going to India.[46]

Wives and families travelling to India

For soldiers deployed from Britain to overseas garrisons only a proportion of men were allowed to be accompanied by their wives. For most countries the proportion was six wives per one hundred soldiers. However for India, and Australia, the ratio was twelve wives per one hundred men, including NCOs. The number of children was unlimited.[47]

Harrington Prayer Rooms

Harrington Prayer Rooms were set up in all the major cantonments for use as a 'Soldiers' Scripture Reading and Prayer Room'. [48]

See also

External links

Encyclopedia articles

Other

Locate a local archives England and Wales only. gov.uk. Some regimental archives are located in local archives, not at the regimental museum.
Historical Orders of Battle and TOEs 1939-1945, Includes British Army and Indian Army. orbat.com, now archived.
Puttee Wikipedia. "Puttees and How to Wrap Them" May 31, 2011. The alternative herringbone style for putting on putties, using the principles of reverse spiral or looped bandaging[49] may be seen here (scroll to first puttees image and click to enlarge) medalofkar.com. How to wrap puttees, with crossing turns by James Heath. YouTube video.

Historical books online

For additional volumes, see Public health - Historical books online

References

  1. ↑ Page 4 The Regimental Companion: Containing the Pay, Allowances and Relative Duties of Every Officer in the British Service, Volume 3 by Charles James 7th edition, considerably enlarged 1811 Google Books
  2. ↑ From England to the Antipodes & India - 1846 to 1902, with startling revelations, or 56 years of my life in the Indian Mutiny, Police & Jails, page 36 by Isaac Tyrell (1904) Archive.org
  3. ↑ From England to the Antipodes & India - 1846 to 1902, with startling revelations or 56 years of my life in the Indian Mutiny, Police & Jails, page 38 by Isaac Tyrell (1904) Archive.org
  4. ↑ Loyalty, Parity, and Social Control-The Competing Visions on the Creation of an ‘Eurasian’ Military Regiment in late British India by Satoshi Mizutani The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies Volume 10, No. 1, 2010
  5. ↑ Pages 122-123, Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys: The Life of a Boy Soldier in India by William Pennington 2003
  6. ↑ Rootsweb Australia Message Board 19 October 2004 post Chelsea Pensioners - soldiers with an Australian connection It includes details of two men who were born in Australia and served in the Madras Artillery
  7. ↑ Page 182 The Armies of India described by Major G F MacMunn (Painted by Major Lovett) 1911 Archive.org
  8. ↑ rflory Army List - copies at Kew? Great War Forum 27 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  9. ↑ rflory. Army List lookup, posts 4 and 10. Great War Forum 26 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  10. ↑ QGE (previously Martin G) et al. London Gazette Black Belts Great War Forum 19 February 2016 et al. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  11. ↑ FindMyPast blogs "Behind the scenes":The Chelsea Pensioners records with Paul Nixon, content licensing manager 15 Sep 2010 and Our expert, Stephen Rigden, on spelling variations 29 Oct 2010, both pages now archived.
  12. ↑ Chris_Baker. "Of no occupation. An Army Pensioner" Long, Long Trail Forum 20 June 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Victorian Wars Forum thread Pension? quoting from The Victorian Army at Home by AR Skelley
  14. ↑ There are WO 97 records for a few men who died in the Anglo- Boer War (and papers in the Ancestry "WWI" series for men who died during the Anglo-Boer War) according to this Victorian Wars Forum post dated 1 October 2011 by Meurig. This further Victorian Wars Forum post dated 30 May 2012 by Mark A Reid also mentions a few other deaths. George Francis died in the Tochi Valley in 1897, yet his papers appear in the WO 363 WW1 records on findmypast.
  15. ↑ My Ancestor was in the British Army, page 63 by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009
  16. ↑ My Ancestor was in the British Army, page 64 by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009 and Chelsea Pensioners dated 20 March 2010 from Rootsweb Devon List.
  17. ↑ India List post dated 20 June 2011
  18. ↑ Murphy, Sylvia. ThomaSs Pittmans pension record Rootsweb India Mailing List 22 April 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2016
  19. ↑ Chelsea Pensioners - Out Pensions by Grahame Thom
  20. ↑ Victorian Wars Forum post dated 17 July 2012 by Meurig. Other examples have been seen.
  21. ↑ Probate Calendars to be Online Soon from Geoff Swinfield’s researchlondon.info and News from FFHS.
  22. ↑ National Army Museum Information Sheet 5: Researching Family History at the NAM page 2
  23. ↑ UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929 Ancestry.com
  24. ↑ Was your ancestor wounded in the First World War? thegenealogist.com
  25. ↑ callowbrack et al. daily casualty lists Great War Forum 17 March 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  26. ↑ Drew1918. The Genealogist Great War Forum 1 April 1916. Retrieved 1 April 1916.
  27. ↑ David_Underdown et al. Red Cross records to go online 4 August Great War Forum 2 August 2014. BillyH et al. ICRC Records - Help please Great War Forum 27 August 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  28. ↑ Long, Long, Trail Forum
  29. ↑ Electoral registers at London Metropolitan Archives: Information Leaflet Number 10
  30. ↑ Scroll to Discover more about these records findmypast
  31. ↑ Reeves, Terry. Compilation of Absent Voters Lists Great War Forum 6 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  32. ↑ Great War Forum thread Attestation books - where they were sent by the MOD/Nat Archives started by Justin 11 July 2014
  33. ↑ Military Identities: the Regimental System, the British Army, and the British People, c.1870-2000, page 365 by David French 2005 Google Books
  34. ↑ Clark, Noel. The "Monthly Military Obituary" Rootsweb India Mailing List 26 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  35. ↑ Stewart, Graham. New on Findmypast - Deserters and Absentees, Police Gazette, 1914-1919 Great War Forum 15 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015
  36. ↑ Email to User:Maureene 15-16 April 2016.
  37. ↑ Search the Military Hospitals Admissions and Discharge Registers WW1 Collection and Article about the digitisation forces-war-records.co.uk
  38. ↑ TEW Military Hospitals Admission and Discharge Register: Forces War Record Great War Forum 25 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  39. ↑ JeffH01 John Henry James Fairbrother (Harry) Rootsweb British Army Message Board 21 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015
  40. ↑ Underwood, David Index to be released of pre 1901 DoB service records still held by MoD Great War Forum 05 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014
  41. ↑ Wayne Grandfather WW2 RASC Burma - Help and suggestions! WW2Talk Forum 18 April 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2014
  42. ↑ Drew5233 Clarification of provision of death certificate (Service records) WW2Talk Forum 07 September 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2014
  43. ↑ "Veterans:UK" fact sheet Army Personnel Records And Family Interest Enquiries UK Government Web Archive.
  44. ↑ Wayne WW2 Soldier Research - Tips and Links for New Researchers, WW2Talk Forum 28 August 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2014
  45. ↑ grumpy. 1870: Short Service Victorian Wars Forum 17 October 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2016
  46. ↑ The British Army. (By The Right Hon Sir Charles W. Dilke) The Star , Issue 6734, 3 March 1900, Page 7 Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand.
  47. ↑ Fuller, Tony Women on ships – again Rootsweb India Mailing List 11 August 2000. (The author was researching at the Tower Hamlets Library). Retrieved 17 February 2015
  48. ↑ ‪JaneyH “‪Mystery army photo - 1890s? India?” Who Do You Think You Are? Forum 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014
  49. ↑ Page 42 A Practical Manual of Bandaging by Duncan C L Fitzwilliams Capt. RAMCT 1915 Archive.org.
  50. ↑ Originally published in The Redan, journal of The Palmerston Forts Society, three articles by Duncan Williams , (originally published in 1999-2001 (issues 46, 50, 53)) and two articles by David Moore (issues 72,74). From the website Victorian Forts and Artillery.
  51. ↑ "A Lost Heritage: The Connaught Rangers and Multivocal Irishness" by John Morrissey, 2005 , Chapter 3 of Ireland’s Heritages: Critical Perspectives on Memory and Identity edited by M Mc Carthy 2005. pdf Website: ARAN, National University of Ireland, Galway.
  52. ↑ “Fire-Carriages” of the Raj: The Indian Railway and its Rapid Development in British India” by Amit K. Sharma 2010 Essays In History. Annual Journal of the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia
  53. ↑ Naval and Military Press
  54. ↑ Frogsmile Where can I buy a sewing pattern for officer's tunic? Great War Forum 20 March 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015

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