Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chaplains Returns

147 bytes added, 04:03, 25 September 2019
no edit summary
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. <ref> By email to User:Maureene, 23-24 Feb 2010</ref>
The indexes in respect of the overseas registrations are most commonly called the '''British Army Overseas Indexes'''. Note that if a soldier died on a troopship there may be a record in the '''GRO Marine Deaths''' indexes, or births may appear in the GRO Marine Births indexes. ''' Most of the indexes are available online, see below'''.
Note that if a record is available both in the India Office [[Church records]] (now available on findmypast (pay website)) 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.
*[http://www.familyrelatives.com/index.php Familyrelatives.com] contains '''most''' of the GRO Overseas Indexes which include images from the British Army Overseas Indexes which you can access for free, (even though most other records on the site require a subscription). These are viewable images, which have not been transcribed to search. The site requires an up to date Adobe Flash (Flash 11 or later) plug-in to view the images. First you must log in (with first time registration required), from the Home Page, then select 'Search' (from the bar across the top of the page) and then 'Overseas Records'. Then select the database you are interested in. '''Note, some pages from the indexes were missing at one time, so the database may not be complete''' (missing Army marriage pages were noted). (Note: this website became inactive late July 2015, but returned c February 2016).
:[https://familyrelatives.com/articles/details.php?aid=46 Familyrelatives.com British Overseas Records] A description of the many GRO Index records on Familyrelatives.com.
*[http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=2114&id=201071 Findmypast] (pay website) contains three separate Index databases called '''British Armed Forces and Overseas Births, Marriages, Deaths''', all of which contain overseas and some UK events, which include many of the British Army Overseas Indexes, (located within BMD). Some Royal Air Force index records are also included, as are GRO Marine Birth and Deaths indexes, which may be relevant for events on troopships. (Note, "Overseas" was amalgamated into this database 2018/01.) There is a charge to search, however the findmypast records have the advantage that at least some (but not Index records) may indicate the relevant regiment. In addition, the database contains indexes for births in the U.K. and overseas, 1761-1924, taken from regimental registers, including births in India. The Armed Forces Deaths database also includes what may be called GRO War Deaths or GRO War Dead.<ref>War Deaths, including World Wars I and II, and the Boer War. [http://web.archive.org/web/20051223043104/www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/research/searchingforoverseasrecords/index.asp Searching for overseas records] GRO, now an archived web page.</ref> As noted above, WO97 records are also available.
:[https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/world-records/full-list-of-united-kingdom-records/life-events-bmds Findmypast article] Scroll down the left side to GRO to see the many GRO Indexes included in the findmypast databases. Note, it does '''not''' seem possible to browse through an Index on findmypast. Note currently (2019/07) if you wish to search within the GRO Indexes on findmypast, your only option is to select one of the databases British Armed Forces and Overseas Births, Marriages or Deaths, as there is no option to specifically search one of the GRO indexes.
*GRO "War Deaths Indian Services 1914-1921". The index for this dataset is briefly mentioned in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070221104808/http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/pdfs/british_in_india.pdf Fact Sheet: The British in India] from the now closed [[Family Records Centre]], so now would be available at the National Archives. "They relate to the Indian Army, Marines and other services". The AIGS (Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, or Family History Connections) [https://www.familyhistoryconnections.org.au library] in Melbourne Victoria has reference to this index as a book in its collection, title ''Overseas indexes:'' subtitle ''war deaths in the Indian Services, 1914-1921'', number 355.305 GEN. This index database is '''not''' included in either Familyrelatives.com, or findmypast.
29,533
edits

Navigation menu