Family History

Armed Services

Army Museums Ogilby Trust
The Army Museums Ogilby Trust is the only national organisation that represents, supports and promotes the regimental and corps museums of the British Army. It supplies contact details for 136 regimental museums
http://www.armymuseums.org.uk/

British Military Nurses
Brief overview of each of the nursing services giving some idea of the chances of records surviving for women who served between 1875 and 1925. For women who entered the service after the end of the Great War, surviving records are still held by the Ministry of Defence, and are not likely to be released into the public domain until at least 2015. Site gives details of how to apply for records of women who served during the Second World War
http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/ index.html

Center for Research Allied POWS Under The Japanese
Aims to provide a primary source of documentation for all Allied prisoners of the Japanese during WWII, to determine what each man's unit was at capture then to record what camps he was taken to and where he was rescued. Where possible, it will provide rosters of ships, and, if a man perished, where, when and how.
http://www.mansell.com/ pow-index.html

Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Search for place of burial or commemoration of the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars
http://www.cwgc.org

Commonwealth War Graves Commission - French site
The CWGC site above is heavily used, so if you find it takes too long to connect to it, try accessing it through the French CWGC site which can be quicker. Click 'Consult Commonwealth database'.
http://www.anzac.org

Faces of the First World War
As part of IWM�s (Imerial War Museum's) First World War Centenary Programme, photographs from the Museum�s collection of those who served in the First World War are being uploaded to the photo-sharing site Flickr
http://www.1914.org/ faces/

Family Relatives
Inlcudes 'Soldiers died in the Great War 1914 -1918' and other World War I and World War II miltary records
http://www.familyrelatives.com

Findmypast.com
Includes 'Soldiers died in the Great War' database and other major military records
http://www.findmypast.com/

Forces War Records
Military genealogy records from WW2, WW1, Boer War, Crimean War and beyond. Military records of over 4 million British Armed Forces personnel exclusively cross matched with over 4000 Regiments, Bases and Ships of the British Armed Forces going back to before 1350
http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/

Gazettes Online
Details of military promotions, medals and other items of interest in the London, Edinburgh or Belfast Gazette. The site can be searched by name, date or event
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/

Imperial War Museum - Family History
Details of sources in the museum and at the right of the page, lower down, downloadable family history research guides for the merchant navy, Royal Navy, POWs, Army, Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force and for West Indian service personnel
http://www.iwm.org.uk/ server/ show/ nav.6

Military-Genealogy.com
Search 'Soldiers died in the Great War 1914 - 1919', 'Army roll of honour 1939 - 1945', 'National roll 1914 - 1918' and 'De Ruvigny's roll of honour 1914 - 1924'.
http:/// www.military-genealogy.com/

National Archives: Discovery
Now searchable online the 'Medal Rolls Index', known as the 'Medal Index Cards (MIC)', for the First World War. Every officer and soldier of the British Army and Royal Flying Corps who saw active service overseas was entitled to a campaign medal in the First World War. The medal 'roll' which records these awards is therefore the most complete listing of those who fought in the war. The roll is being published online in batches, alphabetically by surname.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ SearchUI/ Home/ OnlineCollections

National Archives: Research Guides
List of research guides including guides to the records of people in the armed services. Click a title to see the full text.
http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ researchguidesindex.asp

National Archives: Service Records for the First World War
Guide to service records of soldiers and officers in the British army, naval service records, air force service records, service records for women and medical personnel, medals and courts martial. Part of the 'Pathways to the past' exhibition on the First World War
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ pathways/ firstworldwar/ service_records/ sr_soldiers.htm

National Army Museum: Collections and Research
Follow the links for family history. One of the resources you can search at the museum's Templer Study Centre is Hodson's card index of about 50,000 names of British army officers who served in the East India Company (EIC) or in the Indian army, as well as EIC civil servants and officers of ships
http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/ research/

Naval-History.net
Includes information on Navy casualties, war diaries, events, ships and campaigns. Also has "an enlarged and corrected version of the original HMSO "British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-1918".
http://www.naval-history.net/

Roll of Honour
Aims to give information from as many war memorials in the UK as possible
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/

Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Museum
Museum holds unrivalled collection of photographs, documents, records, equipment, artifacts and memorabilia covering the history of the ROC from its formation in 1925 until final standdown in 1995.
http://www.therocmuseum.org/

Service Lists at the British Library
Guide to the service lists for the army, navy and air force held at the British Library's Social Policy Information Service
http://www.bl.uk/ reshelp/ findhelprestype/ offpubs/ ukofficalpub/ servlists/ armylist.pdf

The Long, Long Trail: the Story of the British Army in the Great War of 1914-1918
Includes a useful section on how to research a soldier of the British Army.
http://www.1914-1918.net/

The Military Archive
A military history and genealogy web site with coverage of hundreds of reference sources. "Provides a unique collection of unrivalled resources designed to aid genealogists and military researchers"
http://www.militaryarchive.co.uk/

The Soldier in Later Medieval England
The online muster roll database currently holds just under 94,962 service records. These are taken from muster rolls, housed in The National Archives (TNA), for the years 1369 - 1453.
http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/ soldier/ database/

The Victoria Cross
Included in this web site on the Victoria Cross you will find an index of individual VC holders' names and a list (by county & by country) of the location of graves of VC holders in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the rest of the world
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ vcross.htm

The War Graves Photographic Project
The aim of The War Graves Photographic Project is to photograph every war grave, individual memorial, MoD grave, and family memorial of serving military personnel from WWI to the present day and make these available within a searchable database.
http://twgpp.org/

Veterans UK
A single point of contact within the Ministry of Defence for veterans and their dependants seeking help, information and advice. Includes information about medals and service records. Also includes links to many veterans' organisations.
http://www.veterans-uk.info/

World War II Unit Histories and Officers
Aims to give a full spectrum of data on World War II fighting units, including details on organization, commanders, and literature
http://www.unithistories.com/

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