Until recently, I was a full time
researcher so I am happy to share some of what I learned along
the way! However, if you are either not inclined to research the
subject yourself for whatever reason or feel unable to grasp what
it is all about, bear in mind that there are a growing army of
researchers who, collectively, are capable of almost any type
of research!
PLEASE
NOTE:
The guidance
below is as accurate as I can possibly achieve without
going into excessive levels of detail! Bear in mind that the records
from that generation of our ancestors are around 90 years old
now and, as such, have been thumbed through by millions of people,
bombed by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War and re-classified
and filed. Despite the best efforts of the archivists over the
years, there are bound to be errors, missing information and
some illegible records.
What type and detail of information can be discovered?
Some "basic" information is available from the
National Archives on every person who served in The Great
War at the very least. Identifying them, their Service Number(s)
and what unit they served in will give you essential information
that will allow you to develop their story further. Bear in
mind that certain surnames will be a lot harder to pinpoint,
such as the proverbial “John Smith”; narrowing down
the options can be extremely difficult unless a Service Record
exists that enables you to know exactly which one of the options
is the person you are looking for! However, getting the following
information should allow you to explore their activities as
far as you wish to take it:
Medal Index
Card; this contains basic information, such as the
rank, service number, unit(s) served in and their medal entitlement
(along with a reference to the "Battalion Medal Rolls"
under which the medals are recorded). Other notes such as
references to Kings regulations, Killed in Action etc can
also be gleamed from the card, if they are recorded. Soldiers
entering a theatre of combat before January 1916 also have
their date of entry and theatre entered recorded on this card.
Below is an example of one such Medal Index Card:
It tells us the Regiment, soldiers
service number, and the fact that he was 'K in A' (killed
in action). In addition, the middle left section show the
Battalion Medal Rolls udner which his medals were issued
(see below) as well as the first Theatre of War he
entered and the date he first set foot on foreign soil. They
can be searched for free on line here
and downloaded for a charge (£3.50 at the time of writing
this).
Battalion
Medal Rolls;
By using the references recorded on the Medal Index Card
and converting them into today’s National Archive reference
(which can be done by a cross reference index held at the
National Archives), the Medal Roll Books can
be ordered and studied. They are several hundred pages per
book, but by finding the correct page (shown on the Medal
Index Card) you will see your ancestor listed amongst
their comrades, along with (sometimes) additional snippets
of information.
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Above is a 1914 Star Medal
Roll page from the 1st battalion of the Regiment. Some rolls
are listed alphabetically (as above), others are listed according
to the service number and others are split by a mixture of
both. The 'flow' of the page will become evident once you
see the page you are looking at. The info contained on the
pages varies according to the rolls and who compiled them
but they are always worth collecting. Star Medal rolls usually
have the person's initials only but Victory and British War
Medal rolls usually have the soldier's forenames in full too,
rather than just initials, so between them you have a collection
of useful evidence. Please note that I have the entire
collection of Bedfordshire Regimental Medal Rolls, covering
the 1914 and 1915 Stars as well as the Victory and British
War Medal rolls. I also have several of the Silver War badge
rolls, Long Service Award rolls, Territorial Force War medal
rolls and various other books, all in digital format. Just
ask! If you can provide me with the page and roll number,
whether in its original form (e.g. 'K/2/104B1 p121')
or the new format (the equivelant of the previous example
would be 'WO29/927, page 121'), it would make life
a little easier and my reply a little quicker. However, if
you do not have them, ask anyway as hopefully they will be
on one of my databases or I can look through them as I udnerstand
the flow of their layout all too well!
Battalion
or Unit War Diaries;
As you may have already noticed, the War Diaries for the Bedford
Regiment are all on this site, so if they served in the Bedfords,
then much of the more laborious, “hard work” is
done! Once you have been able to establish
what unit they served in and between what dates, looking at
the War Diary of the relevant unit will enlighten
you
as to what happened during their service. Be prepared though -
they were sometimes written by candlelight in a dugout
or similar, so can occasionally be hard to read! Each month
is usually represented by between 5 and 10 pages, dependant
on what they were doing at the time. There are also Appendices
to the diaries (although not all have survived) that may reveal
further detail not contained within the pages of the Diary
itself, so worth looking through.
Above is an example of an appendix
from the 8th battalion. This one is nicely typed and legible
but don't always expect that to be the case!
Service
Records; the proverbial
"Holy Grail"! Although only 25 to 35% of the records have
survived (depending on what source you believe) it is ALWAYS
worth looking for it. "Standard" records (Infantrymen and
the like) are on microfiche at the National Archives and searchable
within five categories ("WO363", "WO363MISSORTS", "WO364",
“WO364 MISSORTS" and "PIN26"”),
in Surname order. However some are available on line via Ancestry.com
now so if you are a subscriber, look in the Military section
for the codes mentioned. In theory, the WO364 sections contain
those men who received a pension as a result of wounds (etc)
received during the war, whereas the people within WO363 didn’t.
To be sure, check all of the categories in case they were
miss-filed.
Officers,
Airmen and other categories are traced through working through
two or three layers of Indexes, which give you access to the
original documents and are ordered to be viewed in the Reading
Room. The Archives have help sheets and archivists /
assistants on site to help should you need assistance.
If
your relative lost their life in the war,
the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission hold basic information
on the casualty and the records of "Soldiers Died in The Great
War" adds
more including what town they lived in (if the information
was recorded). I have the 'SDGW'database so ask if you need
the information from it.
Over and above the "basics"
mentioned above, it may be worth searching Local Newspaper
Archives of the time for obituaries, photographs
or news from their families that may have been published.
Expect to spend quite a long time doing this though as they
can be fascinating and it is easy to get distracted from the
task at hand!!
Above is an example of a story
from one of the local papers held at the Norris Museum in
Huntingdon. Most of the time we would look for specific information
on an individual but keep an open eye as little gems such
as this will jump out at you!
If your ancestor
was awarded any other decoration (such as “The
Silver War Badge” for example) then extra information
can often be gleamed from their records. Below is an example
of a Silver War Badge Roll which shows enlistment dates, discharge
dates and the reason they were discharged - all useful evidence
if you have no service record to work from.
When
you know what battles (etc) your ancestor was involved in,
I would suggest reading book(s), magazines
and searching for internet sites on
the particular subject to give you a clearer idea. By using
a search engine, you may well be surprised what you can find!
There is also a growing selection of Video's
and DVD's on the Great War which are
both eye opening and informative. Again, be warned,
as the details can often be quite harrowing if you have not
read around the Great War before. Section 4 lists
potential sources of information.
Officers will also be
shown in the Army List books from the time, as is the
case with all serving Officers. The National Archives have
the entire colelction so rememebr to look there!
Although a long shot, also
look in the National Roll of the Great War at the archives,
as there may have been an entry placed in there by the soldier
or their next of kin after the war. For the sake of a few
minutes looking at the Index of names, it is worth the time!
If there was any 'event' that
may have seen your relative recorded in the Times Newspaper
(such as a casualty, promotion or such like) try searching
here.
It may surprise you to learn what was recorded during the
war. If you are a library member, it may be that your membership
card will give you access to this
site, which hold the original digital scans of the paper and
makes for interesting reading. With both sites, bear in mind
that their search engines may not be perfect! The typing is
small and software is only as good as the environment it operates
within, so you may end up putting several variations of the
name into the search facility before winning.
Above is an example of a casualty
list from the Times on line archive. It shows a small section
of the 15th August 1915 casualties suffered by the 5th battalion
on Gallipoli but if you are sensative, be prepared for staggeringly
large lists that leave you thinking how anyone was left to
carry on fighting ...
This
site is also an extraordinary resource with a huge amount
of information contained within it! The link takes you to
a research page and the home page is here.
Also, look at the Links
page for any specific sites that may be able to help further
as Google and other such sites will provide an amazing variation!
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The National
Archives at Kew, West London
Their website is here
and will give you much more detail than I would even try to produce
on this page! As mentioned above, Medal Index Cards can be searched
and downloaded on line here.
If you are a new visitor, you will need to register as a Reader
and get a card to access the research areas, which can be done on
line before the visit to save time. this will allow you to pre-order
documents in advance so they are ready and waiting for you when
you get there.
Take a digital camera if you use
one as it will save copying costs. Also, expect to spend some money
on printing costs. And most importantly, plan your trip so you know
what to look for before you find yourself sitting there with a blank
mind!
When you walk in and venture upstairs
through the security barrier to where the research can be done,
on entering the main research room (1st
Floor) you will note there are 3 distinct sections. At the time
of writing this, they are undergoing building works, so this may
well all change! However, for the time being, the far left are the
Reading Rooms, the middle section is the Research Enquiries
room and the right section is the Microfilm Readers Room.
The left is where you will collect and read any original documents,
the centre is where most of the main indexes are held and the more
genralised helpdesks are located and the right is where Medal Cards,
Service Records and other such info is held on microfilm and fiche.
Most of your time will be spent in these 3 rooms.
Remember though, ask the Researchers
and helpdesk people rather than struggle your way through things
and missing something! That's why they're there and they do not
mind helping!!
Further
Reading and Understanding
Specific
Regimental books can be rare and relatively expensive. Therefore
I have tried to establish the best "reading list" possible to
cover the areas of the conflict that are readily available and
won't cost a fortune!
In
addition, remember your local library! They can
usually help out with little or no cost to yourself!
... under construction ...
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