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For information about interpreting some of the abbreviations used in these records, the Great War Forum thread [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6898&st=0&p=51928&hl= Army Standards] explains the medical classification used for new recruits during the [[First World War]], and other abbreviations used during their subsequent service. In addition, the Great War Forum has a sub category [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showforum=31 Interpreting service records and medal index cards] which however, is only accessible to logged in Great War Forum members.
=====Other publications=====
*The [[Society of Genealogists]] has published the book ''My ancestor was in the British Army : how can I find out more about him?'' by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009. This book is available to buy from the [http://www.new.fibis.org/products-page/3-other-books-about-colonial-india/military-history/bkx-0030-my-ancestor-was-in-the-british-army FIBIS Shop]. Also available at the [[British Library]] on open access.
Note that Colindale and St Pancras hold differing Indian newspaper collections (with some overlap), however Colindale microfilms will be transferred to St Pancras by 2012.
→Muster rolls
===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:
*[http://wwwisp.ans.com.au/~rampais/genelogy/india/indexes/indexkitz1.htm Indian portion of ''In Search of the 'Forlorn Hope': A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and their Records (1640-WWI)'' by John M Kitzmiller] - lists the location/year of all British regiments that served in India and related regions. (Archive.org links [https://web.archive.org/web/20110220120900/http://wwwisp.ans.com.au/~rampais/genelogy/india/indexes/kitz.htm Regiments], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110220120900/http://wwwisp.ans.com.au/~rampais/genelogy/india/indexes/kitz2.htm Locations]) . From Bob Holland’s Rampais website.
*[http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/nafziger.htm The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle] hosts a PDF catalogue including lists of “Stations of British Troops in India” (and a wider list for the whole army) transcribed from the sources such as the ''Army and Navy Gazette ''. The website says "Download the collection's [http://cdm16040.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4013coll11/id/1277 Finding Aid] (pdf format) to assist in navigating the titles available for viewing".
<blockquote>"...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." </blockquote>
From '''1878 to 1898''', all muster rolls are in [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details?Uri=C14227 '''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.
An 1889 example of data from a Marriage Roll can be seen [http://web.archive.org/web/20040417222802/members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/married.htm here] on Cathy Day’s archived site.
An interesting series of selected records is [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/browse/C11584?v=r '''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 [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/ 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 site [http://www.ancestry.com Ancestry .com], and from May 2014 on the pay site findmypast [[British Army#External links| refer below]]. They do contain some papers for men who did not serve in WW1.<ref>Victorian Wars Forum [http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7266&start=15#p31162 post] dated 17 July 2012 by Meurig</ref>
*[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1219 British Army WWI Service Records, '''1914-1920'''] are [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/browse/C14567?v=r '''WO 363'''] records also known as the ‘Burnt Documents.’ These are the records which survived a fire, about one third of the total documents.
*[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1114 British Army WWI Pension Records '''1914-1920'''] are [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/browse/C14568?v=r '''WO 364'''] records
====Courts martial and desertion====
**[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/british-army-tracing-soldiers.htm British Army: Useful Sources for Tracing Soldiers (Military Records Information 14)]
*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. Available at the [[British Library]].
=====British Library Guides=====
**[http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/about-the-wfa/175-pension-records/2960-great-war-pension-record-cards-and-ledgers-deeper-understanding.html "Great War Pension Record Cards and Ledgers: deeper understanding"] 31 March 2013
**[http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/about-the-wfa/175-pension-records/2961-pension-record-cards-manual-lookup-request.html Pension Record Cards: Manual Lookup Request] 31 March 2013. A fee applies. It is intended that these records be digitised in time.
====WW1 Prisoners of War - ICRC Archives====
*[http://grandeguerre.icrc.org Prisoners of the First World War - ICRC Archives]. Free online records of the International Committee of the Red Cross
====Medal Rolls====
*[http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/oldResearch/files/tscInfo4.pdf Information Sheet No 4: Soldiers’ Records 1920–present]
*[http://www.nam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research-information-5.pdf Information Sheet No 5: Researching Family History at the National Army Museum]
====Post 1920 Attestation books====
Following the restructure of the Army in 1920, new Attestation books were introduced, the originals of which were sent to various Regimental Museums in the early 2000s <ref>
Great War Forum thread [http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=214248&hl= Attestation books - where they were sent by the MOD/Nat Archives] started by Justin 11 July 2014</ref>
====Regimental Journals====
**[http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/britmilhist/famhistresearch/familyhistbritmil.html Family History Research and British Military History, 1801-1945]
**[http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/britmilhist/scopecollections/scopebritmilhist.html Scope of the Collections for British Military History, 1801-1945] Details specialist, non-newspaper publications of particular interest to military history researchers held by British Library Newspapers such as the Army and Navy Gazette, published from 1860.
===Army personnel serving after January 1921===
:He went on to serve with the [[16th Lancers]] in the [[Gwalior Campaign]] and the [[1st Sikh War]], and with the [[9th (The Queen's Royal) Lancers|9th Lancers]] in the [[2nd Sikh War]].<br>
: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.
==Social conditions and activities==
Harrington Prayer Rooms were set up in all the major cantonments for use as a 'Soldiers' Scripture Reading and Prayer Room'. <ref>JaneyH [http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/forum/topic10112.html “Mystery army photo - 1890s? India?”] Who Do You Think You Are? Forum 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014</ref>
==See also==
*[[Medals]]
*[[Military periodicals online]]
*[[Temperance organisations]]
*[[12th Regiment of Foot]] and [[34th Regiment of Foot]] for examples of death as a result of a duel with a fellow officer.
==External links==
*[http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/ Great War Forum]
*[http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=2114&id=201071 findmypast]
===Encyclopedia articles===
*[http://www.1914-1918.net/renumbering20.htm Renumbering of the army in 1920] 1914-1918.net. A seven-digit number was issued in 1920 to all men then serving in regular or Territorial units. Once issued, the man retained the same number irrespective of his transfers and postings within the army. Generally the new numbers did not have prefixes but the Royal Army Service Corps was an exception. RASC numbers were prefixed S (Supplies), T (Transport), M (Mechanical Transport) or R (Remounts).
*[http://www.ceylondatabase.net/military.html International Ceylon Database: Military] from Kyle Joustra’s [http://www.ceylondatabase.net/Genealogy.html website]. Includes lists of names by regiment.
*[http://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page4-India.html Soldiers of the Queen: The Jewel in the Crown]. Photographs of soldiers in India, Ceylon,The North-West Frontier Afghanistan. Includes [http://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page4cIndia-TwoPrivatesaServantaDogandaMonkey.html Two Privates with a servant and pets], [http://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page4vindia-SergeantEvansandWifeSergeantEdgarJobEvansandWife.html Sergeant E. J. Evans in the tropical version of his regimental "Mess Dress" uniform, with wife], [http://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/page4hhIndia-FusilierSergeantandFamilyArtillerySergeantandFamily.html Fusilier Artillery Sergeant and family c 1900]
*[http://www.militarysunhelmets.com/2012/british-army-spine-pads British Army Spine Pads] [Part of the uniform] by Stuart Bates , April 27, 2012 militarysunhelmets.com
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1858/08/13.htm "Transport of Troops to India"] by Frederick Engels from ''New York Daily Tribune'', 13 August, 1858 states that some troops were sent from England by the overland route from 1857. Marxists.org. This route became permanent some years later, see [[British Army#Historical books online|below]].
*[http://adenairways.com/Armed_Forces/page186/page262/page262.html The trooping season between India and the United Kingdom] lasted for about seven months each year, with the full programme being published some months in advance. The gap, April-October/November in India was the same each year – to avoid the worst of the heat in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. adenairways.com. Also see See [[Trooping season]] and [[Deolali]].
*[http://www.movcon.org.uk/History/Documents/DID/D-MCHS%200290.10.htm Troopships and Trooping] by R G Robertson movcon.org.uk
*Bad conditions on troop ships coming to India in the late 1700s are mentioned in [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1081841/?page=14 "The soldier's friend—Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick"] by Richard L. Blanco ''Med Hist. 1976 October; 20(4): 402–421'', particularly 415-417
*The National Archives [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts podcasts] have a [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/military-history.htm military history] category including
**[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/sahib.htm Sahib, the British soldier in India, 1750 – 1914] by Professor Richard Holmes
*Recruiting regions of Irish infantry regiments in the British Army from 1881 until 1922. A list of regiments, depots, counties together with a map. Select page 5 of this [http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nuigalway.ie%2Fgeography%2Fdocuments%2FHeritage-Chapter.pdf docs.google version] or [http://www.nuigalway.ie/geography/documents/Heritage-Chapter.pdf pdf]<ref>[[http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nuigalway.ie%2Fgeography%2Fdocuments%2FHeritage-Chapter.pdf "A Lost Heritage: The Connaught Rangers and Multivocal Irishness"] (docs.google version) by John Morrissey, 2005 , Chapter 3 of ''Ireland’s Heritages: Critical Perspectives on Memory and Identity'' edited by M Mc Carthy 2005. Website: Geography Dept, National University of Ireland, Galway. [http://www.nuigalway.ie/geography/documents/Heritage-Chapter.pdf original pdf]</ref>
*"Information Document on the Irish Regiments of the British Army up to 31st July 1922". Irish Military Archives Dublin [http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.militaryarchives.ie%2Ffileadmin%2Fuser_upload%2Fdocuments%2FInformation_Document_on_Irish_Regiments_of_the_British_Army.pdf docs.google version], [http://www.militaryarchives.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Information_Document_on_Irish_Regiments_of_the_British_Army.pdf original pdf]
*"Irish Soldiers in the British Army 1792-1922: Suborned or Subordinate?" by Peter Karsten ''Journal of Social History Volume 17 No. 1 (Autumn 1983)'' pages 31-64 [http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reenactor.ru%2FARH%2FPDF%2FKarsten.pdf docs.google version] [http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Karsten.pdf original pdf]
*[http://jameshenrymiller.petermillerphotoworld.co.uk/index.html James Henry Miller], born 1910. He was in India October 1932-1935 with the [[2nd Bombay (European) Fusiliers|2nd Battalion, Durham Light Infantry]]. His memories of daily life in a regiment performing garrison duties. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131114013901/http://jameshenrymiller.petermillerphotoworld.co.uk/16.html His Story, His Words Part Four] (scroll down), [https://web.archive.org/web/20131114014056/http://jameshenrymiller.petermillerphotoworld.co.uk/17.html Part Five], [https://web.archive.org/web/20131114014327/http://jameshenrymiller.petermillerphotoworld.co.uk/18.html Part Six] Includes photographs. Family website. (archived links)
*[http://britains-smallwars.com/India/HealthHazards.html "Health Hazards … Stationed in India"] by former Sergeant Donald C. Thyer, Royal Engineers Survey 1945-1947 britains-smallwars.com. Retrieved 15 August 2014
*[http://www.davidhorsfield.org.uk/index.asp ''From Semaphore to Satellite The memoirs of Major General David Horsfield, Royal Signals''] may be read online. He served in Burma during World War 2 and was then in India 1942-1946.
*[http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hmvf.co.uk%2Fpdf%2FHORSE_TRANSPORT.pdf "British Army Horse Transport"] (docs.google version) by Clive Elliott 2008 hmvf.co.uk [http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/HORSE_TRANSPORT.pdf original pdf]
