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PRO FREE GRATIS AND FOR NOTHING "RECORDS INFORMATION" LEAFLET
[Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are
Crown Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or
advertising purposes. Please respect this]
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Leaflet no 59

BRITISH ARMY RECORDS AS SOURCES FOR BIOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY

Many War Office records in the Public Record Office give some
information about individual officers and soldiers, but this
leaflet deals only with the most important of those series whose
principal purpose was to record such information. For details of
additional records which may contain biographical information, ask
at the enquiry desk in the Reference Room at Kew or consult the PRO
booklet Records of Officers and Soldiers who have served in the
British Army.

THE ARMY BEFORE 1660

Before the outbreak of civil war in 1642 there was no regular
standing army in England. Regiments were formed to meet special
requirements and were known usually by the names of the colonels
who raised them. There was little central organisation of the
regiments and, therefore, no systematic records relating to them
survive. Some information about individual officers and soldiers
occurs incidentally among the State Papers (the records of the
office of the secretaries of state) and the records of the Privy
Council, the Exchequer and Audit Office and the courts. But it is
exceptional to find in these records any information about birth
place or family.

For the Civil War and Commonwealth period the officers of both
armies are listed by regiment in Edward Peacock, THE ARMY LIST OF
ROUNDHEADS AND CAVALIERS (1863) the second (1874) edition of which
includes an index. Records relating to the Parliamentary army are
found in the State Papers; the published Calendars of State Papers,
Domestic include detailed indexes.

THE ARMY Since 1660

After the Restoration in 1660 and the appointment of a Secretary at
War with responsibility for army administration, the records became
more abundant, and biographical information is much easier to
trace.

OFFICERS

Records giving personal information about an army officer were
created routinely upon the granting of his commission, his
promotion, his resignation or his being placed on the half pay
list, and sometimes at other stages in his career. But the starting
place for a search is the ARMY LISTS. Manuscript lists of army
officers were kept from 1702 to 1752; these are held in the PRO in
the class WO 64. An index is available in the Reference Room. Since
1754 ARMY LISTS have been published and are available in large
reference libraries or through local libraries although the
earliest volumes are now rare.  They fall into four overlapping
series: Annual Army Lists, 1754-1878/9; Monthly Army Lists, 1798-
August 1939; Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual Army Lists, 1879
onwards; and Hart's unofficial Army Lists, 1839-1915.  A sing}e
mixed run of volumes from the first three series, plus a small
selection from the fourth, is available in the Reference Room.

Family details and birth places were seldom recorded in the army
documents until the end of the 18th century; occasionally they can
be found in the applications for commissions among Commander-in-
Chief's Memoranda (WO 31) dating from 1793, and in widows' pension
applications among Miscellaneous Certificates (WO 42) from about
the same date.
Systematic records of officers' services were introduced early in
the nineteenth century. They consist of several periodic series of
returns, principally in the classes WO 25 and WO 76, of which the
following are the most useful:
Returns of Officers' Services 1808-1810 (WO 25).   These contain no
personal details.
Services of Officers retired on Full and Half Pay, compiled in 1828
(WO 25). These give age on being commissioned, date of marriage and
birth of children.
Services of Officers on the active list, 1829-1919 (WO 25 and WO
76). These include date and place of birth, particulars of marriage
and children.
A nominal card index to these returns, as yet incomplete for WO 76,
is available in the Reference Room at Kew. The returns already
transferred to the PRO include officers commissioned until early in
the First World War. Later returns are retained by the Ministry of
Defence, CS(R)2b, Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 lRF.

Information about retired officers and their widows can be found
principally in the records of the Paymaster General's Office (which
was responsible for paying their pensions) in the classes PMG 3 to
PMG 14. The Paymaster General's Records of Full and Half Pay (PMG
3 and PMG 4) usually give the date of death.
In cases where an officer died on active service or half pay and
his widow applied for a pension, personal papers including
certificates of baptism, marriage or death may sometimes be found
in WO 42 (1755 to 1908).
A smaller collection of similar certificates of both officers and
other ranks is to be found in WO 32/8903-8920 (code 21A). These
date from 1777-1888 and there is a list of contents within each
piece.   WO 32/8906-8913 contain certificates of Militia officers.

OTHER RANKS

Records of soldiers are arranged for the most part by regiments,
and so it is almost essential to know the regiment in which a man
served in order to trace his record certainly so if he was
discharged before 1873. If the place at which he served at a
particular time is known, it may be possible to identify his
regiment from the published Monthly Army Lists or from the Monthly
Returns (WO 17 and WO 73) which show where particular regiments
were stationed.
The most detailed record of a soldier's service are the attestation
and discharge documents in WO 97. The documents are annotated to
give a record of service and all except a few of the earliest give
place of birth, age on enlistment and a physical description From
1883 details of next-of-kin, wife and children are given. The
documents are arranged in three series. The first, covering
soldiers discharged to pension between 1756 and 1872, is arranged
alphabetically by name for each regiment. The second, covering
soldiers discharged to pension between 18?3 and 1882, is arranged
alphabetically by name for cavalry, artillery.infantry and corps.
The third series (1883 to 1913) covers soldiers discharged to
pension and those discharged for other reasons, such as limited
engagements or discharge by purchase; the documents are arranged
alphabetically by name for the whole army. Artillery and Ordnance
troops were until 1855 the responsibility of the Board of Ordnance,
not the War Office, and separate series of records of services are
preserved for soldiers in the Royal Artillery, 1791 to 1855, and
the Royal Horse Artillery, 1803 to 1863, in WO 69.
The records of soldiers who died whilst serving and who, therefore,
did not receive discharge certificates, were destroyed.

If for any reason no record of service can be traced, a soldier's
enlistment, his movements in the army and his discharge or death
can be traced, providing his regiment is known, in the regimental
pay lists and muster rolls. These are arranged by regiments and are
bound in volumes covering a period of twelve months. The general
series, 1732 to 1878, includes Household troops, cavalry, Guards,
regular infantry, special regiments and corps, colonial troops,
various foreign legions and regiments, and regimental, brigade and
other depots (WO 121. There are separate classes for Artillery,
1708 to 1878 (WO 10), Engineers, 1816 to 1878 (WO 11); Scutari
Depot, 1854 to 1856, which relates to troops engaged in the Crimean
War (WO 14); and Foreign Legions, 1854 to 1856, which relates to
the British German Legion and the British Swiss Legion during the
Crimean War (WO 15). The New Series, 1878 to 1898 (WO 16) continues
the classes WO 10 to WO 12, from 1888 as company muster rolls only.
From 1882 the arrangement of the musters in WO 16 reflects the
reorganisation of the army on a territorial basis.

In many of these volumes of muster rolls a form showing "men
becoming Non-Effective" will be found at the end of each quarter.
Where this exists, it should show the birth place of the man
discharged or dead, his trade and his date of enlistment. By
tracing him back through the Muster Books it may be possible to
find his age shown on the day of enlistment. From about 1868
details of marriages and the number and ages of children of
soldiers may be found in Marriage Rolls in the Musters and Pay
Lists. Records of some soldiers' children may also be found among
papers of the Duke of York's School and Royal Hibernian School (WO
143).

No muster rolls were kept by the War Office after the mid-1890s.
For the period before this precise covering dates of the classes
quoted above may be ascertained by reference to the class lists in
the PRO.

Description books, which give a description of each soldier, his
age, place of birth, trade and service, are in WO 25/266-688. They
are arranged in alphabetical order of soldiers' names in regimental
volumes.  The overall dates are 1756 to 1900, but for most
regiments there are volumes for the first half of the nineteenth
century only. Similar description books for depots, 1768 to 1908,
are in WO 67.  There are also description books for the Royal
Artillery, l749-l863 and 1773-1876, in WO 54/260-309 and WO 69/74-
80, respectively, and for the Royal Irish Artillery, 1756-1774, in
WO 69/620.  Description books of sappers, miners, artificers etc,
1756-1833, are in WO 54/310-316.

POST 1914 SERVICE RECORDS

Surviving records of soldiers discharged after 1913 are held by the
Ministry of Defence, CS(R)2b, Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB3
1RF. However, more than two-thirds of those covering the period
1914-1920 were destroyed or badly damaged by bombing during the
Second World War. The Ministry will disclose information from
service records only with the written consent of the person
concerned, or if deceased, the written consent of the proven next
of kin. A fee is charged for all `general interest' enquiries.
If no service records survive a limited amount of information can
be obtained from the records of campaign and service medals held at
the Public Record 0ffice (WO 329).

Some details of soldiers who died in either the First or Second
World Wars may be obtained from the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission, 2 Marlow Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7DX.

PENSION RECORDS
Soldiers who left the army after completing an agreed term of
service or as invalids unfit for service were entitled to a pension
or to institutional care in the Royal Hospitals at Chelsea and
Kilmainham.
OUT PENSIONS
Out-pension Admission Books are arranged chronologically by date of
examination, and are not indexed, it is thus necessary to know at
least the approximate date of admission to pension. For pensions
awarded by the Commissioners of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea there
are two series of admission books, covering pensions awarded for
disability, 1715-1882, in WO 116, and pensions awarded for length
Of service, 1823-1902, in WO 117.  For pensions awarded by the
Commissioners of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, 1704-1922,
admission books are in WO 118.  For the years 1830-1844 the Chelsea
admission books are duplicated by registers in WO 23/1-16.
IN PENSIONS

For in-pensioners of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, there are muster-
rolls, 1702-1789 (WO  23/124-131)  and  1864-5  (WO 23/132), a list
of in-pensioners, 1795-1813 (WO 23/134) and an alphabetical
register, 1837-1872 (WO 23/146).  Admission Books and Rolls,
arranged chronologically extend from 1824 to 1917 (WO 23/162-172
and 174-180). An index of in-pensioners admitted between 1858-1933
is in WO 23/173.
The militia had existed in various forms since Tudor times but was
reorganised by the Militia Act 1757. It was organised on a county
basis, with officers appointed by the Lords Lieutenant. Volunteers
and conscripts from each parish assembled at intervals each year
and were liable in wartime for service anywhere in the British
Isles but not overseas. During the Napoleonic Wars Supplementary
Militia and wholly volunteer units were raised. The latter included
cavalry regiments (the Yeomanry). In 18$2 the militia was
integrated with the regiments of the regular army which were then
being organised on a county or district basis.
Many records of militia and volunteer units from before 1882 are
preserved in county record offices but some were collected
centrally and are now in the PRO. Some records of officers'
services and other personnel records are in the class WO 68. Muster
rolls and pay books from 1780 are in the class WO 13 and
attestation forms of those who served in militia battalions from
1882 to 1906, annotated to form a record of service and giving date
and place of birth, are in the class WO 96.

For the early records of the Militia see PRO leaflet "Militia
Muster Rolls, 1522-1640".

MEDALS & AWARDS

The award of campaign medals up to 1912 is recorded on rolls in the
class WO 100. These are available on open access in the reading
microfilm room at Kew. They are arranged first by regiment, then
rank, then name. The only information given is the recipient's
regimental number and a note of the bars to which he was entitled.

A selection of meritorious service awards, 1846-1925, is recorded
in the class WO 101, long service and good conduct awards in the
class WO 102, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the class WO
146. W0 101 and WO 102 are also on open access on microfilm. The
award of the Victoria Cross and associated papers up to 1900 are in
the class WO 98; lists of recipients can also be found in Sir John
Smyth, THE STORY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (1965). Citations for
meritorious awards are also recorded in the LONDON GAZETTE, which
is available in the PRO under the reference ZJ 1 and in large
reference libraries.

Records of the award of medals for service in the First World War
are in the class WO 329.
Indexes to recipients of certain meritorious awards are available
on microfiche in the microfilm reading room; these give references
to entries in the London Gazette. The formal records of such awards
are still held by the Ministry of Defence, Army Medal Office,
Government Office Buildings, Worcester Road, Droitwich,
Worcestershire WR9 8AU.

COURTS MARTIAL

Proceedings, entry books and registers of military courts martial
from 1666 are in the classes WO 71, WO 72 and WO 81-93.   All these
records are closed to public inspection until 75 years after the
date of the last entry, and records for the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries are incomplete. For details, see
Information Leaflet 84.
Surviving service documents of British regular soldiers who served
in the South African War are held in the record classes described
above, or, in the case of men whose service continued after 1913,
are retained by the Ministry of Defence. Records of soldiers who
served in the Imperial Yeomanry and local armed forces in South
Africa are, respectively, in WO 128 (indexed in WO 129/1-7) and in
WO l26 and WO 127.

Records of European officers and soldiers of the Honourable East
India Company's Service and of the Indian (Imperial) Army are
preserved mainly at the India Office Library and Records, 197
Blackfriars Road, London SEl 8NG.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For a more detailed description of records of service see PRO
booklet. RECORDS OF OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE
BRITISH ARMY. Biographical information can sometimes be found in
the headquarters records, war diaries and other sources described
in the PRO leaflets dealing with the operational records of the
army.
