Resources for study of the First World War: Tracing Service Personnel

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Tracing Service Personnel

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British Service Personnel

Getting Started

The National Archives (formerly called the Public Record Office): There is a wealth of resource material for tracing individuals and military units in the First World War. For information about the archive see our page on The National Archives.
The National Archives' Research Guides. An alphabetical list of online information leaflets which will help you to find records in the archive associated with your topic of interest. For example see the Research Guide British Army: Useful Sources for Tracing Soldiers and The National Archives' Guide to resources for researching military history.

Publications

The following three publications are published by the National Archives. They are available to buy online from The National Archives bookshop:

Air Force Records for Family Historians, by William Spencer, Public Records Office Readers Guide No. 2
Army Records for Family Historians, by William Spencer, Public Records Office Readers Guide
Army Service Records of the First World War, by William Spencer, Public Records Office Readers Guide

The following two books are published by the Federation of Family History Societies, c/o The Benson Room, Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham B3 3BS, England:

The Location of British Army Records 1914-1918, by Norman Holding, ISBN 1-872094-28-7
World War I Army Ancestry, by Norman Holding, ISBN 1-872094-16-3

War Dead

Information regarding records for Service personnel who died in the First World War is available on the National Archives' website in the Research Guide War Dead: First & Second World Wars.
Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919: 80 volumes contain details of British Service personnel who died during the Great War. The volumes can be consulted at the Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books (London) or at The National Archives (Kew, Surrey). The data has been captured on a CD-Rom which is available to buy: see Naval & Military Press for full information. If you cannot purchase the CD you could ask if it is available to view at your local library.
Graves and Memorials: See our page about British and Commonwealth War Graves on the Western Front which provides links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the the Commission's online database of the names of the fallen in two world wars and other major conflicts.

Medals

Military Medal Portal: Site offering a wide range of information on medals from the history of medals to family war records including The Knowledge Zone, The Geneology Archives (step by step guide to military geneology, The Book Shop, The Forum and a Directory of dealers.
The National Archives: World War One Medal Cards. The Medal Rolls Index contains a card for every British individual who served in the First World War. The card contains details of: rank, unit they served in, the first operational theatre they served in and the original Army Medal Office medal role reference. View the National Archives' page giving full information about the medals and how to search online (free search, chargeable download).
The Gazettes: The London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are the official newspapers of record in the United Kingdom. They include notices relating to State, Parliament, Planning, etc. The Supplements to the London Gazette contain single subjects of The Queen's Birthday Honours and New Year Honours, Imperial Service Medal, Ministry of Defence (i.e. Military Awards, Promotions) and The Queen's Award for Enterprise. The online historical archive has been created from the digitization of the printed volumes. The archive includes the period covering the World Wars (1914-1920) and 1939 - 1948). For basic information about the London Gazette Supplements and how to get started on searching for military awards see the FAQs page at www.gazettes-online.co.uk To go straight to the London Gazette Archive search page for World War records see www.gazettes-online.co.uk

Service Records

Most of the service records of the 6-7 million individuals who served in His Majesty's Forces during the war were destroyed by enemy bombing in 1940. Approximately 2 million records were saved or were untouched because they were stored in a different location. There is a 40% chance that the service records for individual you are tracing will be available to examine.

See The National Archives' Research Guide - British Army soldiers' papers: First World War 1914-1918 and/or British Army Officers' records: First World War 1914-1918 for information on where to start looking in The National Archives.

War Diaries

If you have found the corps, division, regiment or battalion for the individual you are tracing you can find out more about the unit in the War Diaries held at the National Archives. These are original handwritten or typed documents providing a daily account of a unit on active service. The War Diary may also include sketches, messages, maps and Operational Orders.

See The National Archives' Research Guide British Army: Campaign Records, 1914-1918, First World War War Diaries for an explanation what a War Diary was for and how to find it in the archive. Some War Diaries are now available to download (for a chargeable fee).
Duplicate copies of War Diaries are also held by regimental museums. Find the appropriate regimental museum in the A-Z of Military Museums on The British Army website.

Research Services

British Military Research: Lawrence Woodcock is a researcher with 25 years' experience in British military record research.
Great War Family Research. The sister website of The Long, Long Trail by Chris Baker (former Chairman of The Western Front Association). Great War Family Research: Professional services that help you find soldiers' service records, piece together their Great War history, and give you all the information you need to be able to walk in their footsteps.

Ancestry

For a list of useful websites with information about tracing relatives or online records available to download (some will charge a fee per download or a monthly subscription) see our Ancestry section on 1914-1918 Website Links.