Army – Soldiers’ Service WWI (‘Burnt Collection’)

Nature of Source

Introduction to WWI ‘Burnt’ Service Records
Researching ancestors who served in World War One is a challenge as service records for non-commissioned officers and other ranks were badly damaged or destroyed during World War II. Around 60% of these service records were tragically destroyed by an enemy bombing raid on the War Office Record Store in Arnside Street, London in 1940. However, about 2 million service records survived in various states and have since been conserved and digitised. They include men who were discharged or demobilized at the end of the war and those who died in service between 1914 and 1920.

Key documents include:

• Attestation papers (Soldier’s name, regiment and service number)
• Discharge papers
• Medical records
• Casualty forms
• Promotions or demotions

These records cover soldiers killed in action and those discharged without a pension and could include individuals who enlisted before 1914. The National Archived undertook a restoration programme in the 1990s and the surviving 40% have been microfilmed and digitised and indexed by Ancestry and Findmypast.

The ’burnt’ records are supplemented by an important set of surviving records, known as the ‘Unburnt Documents’ (WO 364), which cover soldiers discharged for medical reasons and those eligible for pensions.

Identifying Regiments
Knowing the regiment in which a soldier served is crucial for tracing his military career. If the person’s place of service is known, then the Monthly Returns held at TNA will help in identifying his regiment as the returns show the location of each regiment on a monthly basis. The returns are held in series WO 17 and WO 73 and cover the years from 1759 to 1865.

Other useful resources include:

• United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine: These journals provide similar information and are available on the Internet Archive or Google Books.
• Birth Certificates of Children and Wills: These documents might mention his regiment.
• Chaplain’s Returns, 1796-1880: These records list regiments for soldiers or officers who married, died, or had children abroad and are available at findmypast.co.uk.
• Army Regimental Registers: These also provide regimental names.

For further help in identifying regiments, consult John Kitzmiller’s ‘In Search of the Forlorn Hope: A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records’. The Forces War Records website holds information on over 4000 units, bases and ships of the British Armed Forces offering a search facility for a specific units including regiments, ships, airfields.

Regimental Numbers
Soldiers were given regimental numbers which would change if they transferred regiments and so may appear more than once in different army records. Information about regimental numbers and the dates on which these were issued to soldiers joining the British Army between 1881 and 1918 can be found at Army Service Numbers 1881-1918. For the history and affiliations of every battalion of every British infantry regiment see the article ‘The British infantry regiments of 1914-1918’. Present day army numbers remain with the soldier throughout their careers.

Household Cavalry Records
The Household Cavalry’s records, which include the Life Guards, The Blues and Royals, and the Household Battalion have are intact and available at The National Archives in series WO 400 with copies held at the Household Cavalry Archives. The surviving records of service for over 12,000 servicemen from the Household Cavalry are also available to search and download in Discovery, the catalogue of The National Archives covering 1799 to 1920. The records contain details of servicemen who were part of the Household Cavalry during the Battle of Waterloo, the Boer War and the First World War.

The Guards Regiments have retained their own archives and are kept at the appropriate H.Q. or museum archives. These include The Guards Museum in London and the Museum of The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and The Royal Welsh in Cardiff. The museum can undertake a Soldier Genealogy Search for a fee which includes a Regimental Archive database search of over 19,000 soldiers from the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) and 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.

Unit War Diaries
WWI unit war diaries provide context to a soldier’s service and add background information to a soldiers career and life. However a soldiers name is rarely mentioned. They are mainly held at TNA in series WO 95 with copies kept by regimental museums who will also hold useful regimental histories. Some diaries have been digitised and can be searched by regiment, battalion, brigade or division number at the TNA’s online catalogue Discovery and then downloaded for a fee. Alternatively search direct from the TNA First World War portal.

Also consult the TNA’s Operation War Diary website for details about unlocking the information such as individual persons and place names contained within the diaries. A collection of WWI and WWII war diaries are available to read free online at Forces War Records. A collection of WWI War diaries covering France, Belgium and Germany and Gallipoli and Dardanelles, 1914-1920 is available at Ancestry.

Officer and Soldier Death Records
For officers killed in service, look for his ‘Field Service Report’ which contains details of the regiment and circumstances of death. An example is Wilfred Owen’s Field Service Report, available on the First World War Poetry Digital Archive. For details of a soldier’s death consult the ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War‘ publication. First published in 1921, the 81 volumes lists approximately 635,000 Soldiers and 37,000 Officers who died in WWI. The records also deal with Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force casualties. The publication may contain additional information to that on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register. The entire collection is published by The Naval & Military Press. on CD-Rom and also available online at Findmypast and Ancetsry. The paper and CD versions are available at The National Archives, Imperial War Museum, Society of Genealogists and specialist and local reference libraries. Also consult the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register for details of a death and also consider looking through local newspapers which often carried obituaries for those killed in action.

Post-1920 Service Records
Service records for all ranks who served after 1920 remain with the Ministry of Defence with each military service maintaining its own record office. To access these records consult the MOD Guide ‘How to apply for access to personal data held by the Ministry of Defence’. Please note, The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently in the process of transferring ten million personnel service records to The National Archives for permanent preservation.

Additional Resources
The following GenGuide sources could assist in researching WWI service records:

• Army – Casualty Lists, Other Ranks before 1914
• Army – Chaplain’s Returns, Regimental Registers and Service Departments Returns, Other Ranks & Officers
• Army – Registers of Deaths, Other Ranks & Officers, WWI
• Debt of Honour Register – Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• War Memorials, Graves & Rolls of Honour (Including Scotland)

Where Found

The National Archives

• Series WO 363, War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’, 1914-1920. This series contains microfilm copies of the surviving records of service for non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in the 1914-1918 war and did not re-enlist prior to the outbreak of war in 1939.
• Series WO 297, War Office: Geographical Section General Staff: War of 1914-1918: Western Front: Maps, 1909-1919. This series consists of maps produced or used during the First World War.
• Series WO 153, War Office: War of 1914-1918: Maps and Plans.

Templer Study Centre
National Army Museum. The museum houses a wealth of information on the history and traditions of the Army including officer Army Lists, regimental and campaign histories, soldier’s effects records, military memoirs and diaries, regimental and other military periodicals and books and other archives relating to the pre-1914 Army. The museum also holds the enlistment and discharge books for the Buffs, the Middlesex Regiment, and the five Irish regiments disbanded in 1922.

Period Covered

1914 – 1920

Genealogical Value

Attestation Papers

• Name, date of birth, address at time of sign up and next of kin.

Discharge Papers

• Soldier’s military career and service with foreign postings.
• Details of medical examinations and qualifications and awards gained.
• The place and reason for demobilisation.

Further References

General

• Annal, David & Collins, Audrey. Birth, Marriage and Death Records: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2012
• Beckett, James Deuchar (ed). The Beckett Soldiers Index, A-C: Jade Publishing, 2003
• Beckett, James Deuchar (ed). The Beckett Soldiers Index, D-G Jade Publishing, 2009
• Beckett, James Deuchar (ed). The Beckett Soldiers Index, H-K: Jade Publishing, 2009 (Listing of soldiers from 1793 to about 1854 extracted from TNA series WO 120 and WO 116 and other sources such as marriage registers and medal awards. Arranged alphabetically by surname, forename and regiment including whether discharged at either Chelsea or Kilmainham Hospital. These published editions cover more ground than the Beckett Soldiers’ Index available at The National Archives)
• Bevan, Amanda. Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives: The National Archives, 2006
• Brereton, J.M. A Guide to the Regiments and Corps of the British Army: Bodley Head, 1985
• Blank, Dr. Stuart. Researching British Military History on the Internet: Alwyn Enterprises, 2007
• Cox. Reginald H. W. Military Badges of the British Empire 1914-18: Ernest Benn, 1982
• Farmer, John, The Regimental Records of the British Army: Grant Richards, 1901 (Free download available at the Internet Archive)
• Fowler, Simon. A Guide to Military History on the Internet: Pen & Sword, 2007
• Fowler, Simon. Tracing your Army Ancestors: Pen & Sword, 2006
• Fowler, Simon. Tracing Your Army Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2013
• Gaylor, John. Military Badge Collecting: Pen & Sword Books, 2002
• Grehan, John & Mace, Martin. British Battles of the Crimean Wars 1854-1856: Pen & Sword Books, 2014
• Kitzmiller, John. In Search of the Forlorn Hope: A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records, 1640-WWI: Manuscript Publishing Foundation, 1988
• Maddocks, Graham. Liverpool PALS: 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th Service Battalions The King’s Liverpool Regiment: Pen and Sword Books, 2015
• Murphy, Gerry. Where Did That Regiment Go? The Lineage of British Infantry and Cavalry Regiments at a Glance: The History Press, 2016
• Paterson, Sarah. Tracing Your Family History, Army: Imperial War Museum, 2006
• Pols, Robert. Dating Old Army Photographs: Family History Partnership, 2011
• Saks, David. Boerejode: Jews in the Boer Armed Forces 1899-1902: 2010
• Spencer, William. Family History in the Wars: The National Archives, 2007
• Spencer, William. Army Records: A Guide For Family Historians: The National Archives, 2008
• Storey, Neil. Military Photographs and How to Date Them: Countryside Books, 2009
• Swinnerton, Iain, An Introduction to the British Army: Its History, Traditions and Records: FFHS, 1996
• Swinson, Arthur. A Register of the Regiments and Corps of the British Army: The Archive Press, 1972
• The Great War: A Photographic Narrative: Imperial War Museum: Jonathan Cape, 2013
• Usher, George. Dictionary of British Military History: A&C Black Publishers, 2006
• Watts, Michael and Watts, Christopher. My Ancestor was in the British Army: Society of Genealogists, 2009
• Westlake, Ray. The Territorials 1908-1914: A Guide for Military and Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2011

WWI

• Banks, Arthur. A Military Atlas of The First World War: Pen & Sword Books, 2013
• Bridger, Geoff. The Great War Handbook: A Guide For Family Historians & Students Of The Conflict: Pen & Sword Books, 2013
• Christopher, John & McCutcheon, Campbell. 1914 the First World War in Old Photographs: Over by Christmas: Amberley Publishing, 2014
• Doyle, Peter & Foster Chris. British Army Cap Badges of the First World War: Shire Publications, 2010
• Doyle, Peter. Great War British Tommy Manual: The British Soldier 1914-18 [All Models]-Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manuals: Haynes, 2013
• Doyle, Peter & Foster Chris. Remembering Tommy: The British Soldier in the First World War: The History Press, 2013
• Doyle, Peter & Foster Chris. What Tommy Took to War, 1914-1918: Shire Publications, 2014
• Doyle, Peter. The First World War in 100 Objects: The History Press, 2014
• Forty, Simon. Mapping the First World War: Battlefields of the Great Conflict from Above: Anova Books, 2013
• Fowler, Simon. Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Somme: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2015
• Fowler, Simon. Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Gallipoli: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2015
• Gregson, Keith. A Tommy in the Family: First World War Family History Tales and Research Tips: The History Press, 2014
• Hadaway, Stuart. Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: The Egypt and Palestine Campaigns: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen and Sword Books, 2017
• Holding, Norman, More Sources of WWI Army Ancestry: FFHS, 1998
• Holding, Norman & Swinnerton, Iain. WWI Army Ancestry: FFHS, 2004
• Holmes, Richard. Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918: Harper Perennial, 2005
• Holmes, Richard. Shots from the Front: The British Soldier 1914-18: HarperPress, 2010
• Holmes, Richard. The First World War in Photographs: Andre Deutsch, July 2014
• James, Brig. E. A. British Regiments 1914-18: Naval and Military Press, 2009
• Maddocks, Graham. Liverpool Pals: 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th Service Battalions The King’s Liverpool Regiment: Pen and Sword Books, 2015
• Paterson, Sarah. Tracing Your Prisoner of War Ancestors: The First World War: Pen & Sword, 2012
• Rawson, Andrew. The British Army 1914-1918: The History Press, 2014
• Spencer, William. First World War Army Service Records: The National Archives, 2008
• Swinnerton, Iain. Identifying Your World War One Soldier from Badges and Photographs: Federation of Family History Societies, 2001

Websites

General Military Resources

The National Archives Research Guides
Military and Maritime. Learn how to trace the voyages made by a merchant seaman, find a Royal Marine’s medal record or track the wartime history of an Army regiment.
UKMFH
UK Military Family History Online. UKMFH aims to help you find out the history of your military family by linking to web sites that have online information which will help you discover what your families did and how they lived in their military life
Findmypast Media
British Army Regimental Numbers. Do you have a military ancestor? Findmypast expert Paul Nixon helps you decipher regimental numbers and records.
Army Lists
The site provides access to digitised versions of historic Army Lists which were official publications containing information about British Army officers as well as information on regimental histories and links to other genealogy and military history websites>
Imperial War Museum
Research Guide: Tracing Your Family History. Guides to help you start your research into your army family history explaining what records you will need and where to find them. Subject areas include: Service records; Casualty information; Medal records; Unit and operational histories.
Military Archive Research
by Dr Stuart C Blank. The site offers services to help people access and interpret military archives and records with sections on researching military ancestors and medals and orders.
Society of Genealogists Guide
How to search for your military ancestors.
National Army Museum
How to research a former soldier.
Family Wise
The Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors’ Military Service.
Findmypast Article
11 tips for finding out someone’s military history.
Legacy Tree Genealogists
Using British Military Records in Genealogy Research.
Family Tree
How to trace British military ancestors: a family history guide
Tameside Local Studies
Family History Using Military Sources.
The British and Commonwealth Military Badge Forum British Cavalry Badges. Forum devoted to those with an interest in military badges and military badge collecting. Sections include British Cavalry Badges, Bibliography of Military Insignia and a Glossary
British Badge Forum
Military Badges and Buttons of the British Empire and Commonwealth. The Forum is an online community dedicated to the discussion and collection of military badges and insignia. The forum features various sections including British Cavalry Badges, Bibliography of Military Insignia and a Glossary.
GENUKI
Guide. UK and Ireland Military Records.
GENUKI
British Military Records, by Jay Hall.
The Army Museums Ogilby Trust
Directory of the Army Museums. The directory contains a comprehensive list of military museums in the United Kingdom, specifically focusing on army-related collections and exhibitions.
National Records of Scotland
Research Guide. Military Records. This guide deals with the records held at National Records of Scotland relating to the military. The first part deals with army personnel records while the second part covers more general sources for military history.

WWI Related Resources

The National Archives
Online Exhibitions: First World War 100. The site commemorates the centenary of the First World War with a comprehensive program that ran from 2014 to 2018. Explore key aspects of the war through themes such as technology and the Middle East, special projects and partnerships.
The Long, Long Trail
The comprehensive website is dedicated to helping people research and discover information about the British Army and its soldiers of the First World War. It serves as a free resource with useful advice and guidance on researching individual soldiers tracing their movements during the war, researching the histories of regiments and information on the battles and engagements fought by the British Army. The Long, Long Trail was created by Chris Baker in 1996.
The Long, Long Trail
The British infantry regiments of 1914-1918. This section of the Long, Long Trail will be helpful for anyone wishing to find out about the history of the battalions of the British infantry. The history and affiliations of every battalion of every British infantry regiment can be found on these pages.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Military maps of the First World War. Use this guide if you are looking for trench maps or other military maps of the First World War
Imperial War Museum
First World War Centenary 1914-1918. Explore the web archive of the First World War Centenary website. The archived site contains various resources and information related to the First World War, including digitised documents and photographs from the war, historical accounts of key events and personal stories and testimonies.
Imperial War Museum
Voices of the First World War. Voices of the First World War is a podcast series that reveals the impact the war had on everyone who experienced it, through the stories of the men and women who were there.
The Western Front Association
The Association was formed with the aim of furthering interest in The Great War of 1914-1918 and to perpetuate the memory of all those on all sides who served during The Great War. The site includes a section on Pension Records with articles providing help and guidance for your research into The Great War.
Lives of the First World War
Imperial War Museum. Lives of the First World War. Discover, Explore and Remember Millions of Personal Stories from The First World War. The project tells the stories of individuals from across Britain and the Commonwealth who served in uniform and worked on the home front. Each person remembered has Life Story page using a variety of sources. The digital project ran from 12 May 2014 to 19 March 2019.
British Jews in the First World War
We Were There Too. The organisation is dedicated to preserving and commemorating the contribution British Jews made during the First World War I. The site aims to create a permanent record of the lives of Jewish men and women and their families, both in the military and on the Home Front, during 1914-1919. The website offers several digitised resources to help users research individuals such as The British Jewry Book of Honour, Kelly’s Directories, plus access to Commonwealth War Graves Commission information.
In Flanders Fields Museum
The museum dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of World War I in the West Flanders front region, located in the famous Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium. The exhibits cover The German invasion of Belgium, The four years of trench warfare in the region and the end of the war and its lasting impact.
IWM’s Collections
This online database allows users to explore the vast collection of digitised objects, documents and artifacts held by the IWM related to World War One. The collections include 115,000 photographs from the First World War Q series and 14,000 photographs from the Bond of Sacrifice series.
Mary Evans Picture Library
Picturing the Great War: The First World War Blog.
World War One Photos
Remembering The Men And Women Who Served And Died In The First World War. Explore thousands of identified photos, obituaries and short service records of First World War soldiers sailors, nurses, airmen and civilian workers.
National Library of Scotland
British First World War Trench Maps, 1915-1918. Maps of the Western Front in the Great War depicting British and German trenches. Users can browse individual sheets using a zoomable map or view zoomable overlays of each map on a modern Google or Bing map.
Forces War Records
WW1 Troop Movements and ORBATS. First World War Orders of Battle Maps. Follow in your ancestors’ footsteps using our interactive maps. You can use this to track the progress of units throughout the course of the First World War, from the opening battle at Mons to the closing stages of the Battle of Amiens.
British Red Cross
First World War Volunteers: Search over 90,000 people who volunteered for the British Red Cross at home and overseas during the war. Groups of volunteers were organised into Voluntary Aid Detachments.
Every One Remembered
The Royal British Legion initiative allows members of the public to commemorate with a personal dedication every individual man and woman from across the Commonwealth who fell in the First World War.
The National Archives Media
Tracing British battalions or regiments during the First World War. Unit war diaries, trench maps and photographs are just some of the sources held in The National Archives. This webinar looks at how to find these records and how to use them.
Oxford University
The Great War Archive: The archive contains WWI digital photographs, audio, film, documents, and stories submitted by the general public. The initiative was run by Oxford University between the 3rd March and the 30th June 2008. Users can share First World War objects on The Great War Archive Flickr Group.
Europeana World War I
The collection includes a diverse and extensive range of materials offering untold stories and official histories of World War I. Expect to find postcards, letters, diaries, images and other memorabilia.
The Accrington Pals
Guide to researching the service records of men from the Accrington, Sheffield, and Barnsley Pals battalions. The guide is relevant to WW1 army service records in general.
LiveJournal
Unknown Soldiers. The site is dedicated to sharing and preserving lost or forgotten photographs from World War I.
Step Short
Folkestone Harbour Canteen Visitors’ Books. Online collection of 42,000 names of soldiers, nurses and other individuals who passed through the town of Folkestone on their way to the Western Front between 1914 and 1919.

Online Databases

Ancestry
UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920. This database contains the surviving service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in WWI and did not re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II. The type of information contained in these records includes: name of solider, age, birthplace, occupation, marital status, and regiment number. The records are also known as the WO 363 records and the ‘Burnt Documents.’
Ancestry
UK, British Army World War I Pension Records 1914-1920. This database contains service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the Army and claimed disability pensions for service in WWI. These were also men who did not re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II. The type of information contained in these records includes: name of solider, age, birthplace, occupation, marital status, and regiment number. The records are also known as the WO 364 records and the ‘Unburnt collection’
Ancestry
UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923. The collection provides details of military and military-related personnel (Army, Royal Navy, and RFC/RAF) who filed for a pension after World War One if injured or, if killed, details of their widow and/or other dependents or their next of kin, if they were unmarried and had no children. The records are produced in association with The Western Front Association.
Ancestry
Military datasets include:

• Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929. This database contains records detailing the money owed to soldiers of the British Army who died in service from 1901 to 1929. Records typically include the name of the soldier, his next of kin and their relationship, the date of death and sometimes the place, plus other details.
• UK, Household Cavalry Records of Service, 1799-1920. This collection contains surviving records of service for non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in the Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards and the Household Battalion extracted from TNA series WO 400.
• UK, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Service Records, 1917-1920. This collection contains service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later known as Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps) between 1917 and 1920. The original data is held in series WO 398 at The National Archives.
• UK, Military Discharge Indexes, 1920-1971. These lists comprise the names and service numbers of over 300,000 individuals who were discharged from the armed forces after 1920 and born before 1901.
• Surrey, England, Regimental Rolls and Recruitment Registers, 1908-1947. This collection consists of records from the Queen’s Royal West Surrey and East Surrey Regiments. The records for the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment include Enlistment Registers and WWII Honors Indexes. Records for the East Surrey Regiment include Enlistment Registers, Transfers In Registers, and Nominal Rolls of Officers.
• Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919. The dataset contains detailed information of over 660,000 British soldiers who died during World War I, originally published as an 80 volume book in 1921. Also included are details of nearly 42,000 officer casualties.

To search a specific dataset, click on ‘View all in Card Catalogue’ in the Military home page and search the dataset title in the ‘Title’ search box.

Ancestry World War I Military Records
The site offers a gateway page for searching First World War collections. It offers access to a comprehensive range of military records that can help you learn about ancestors who served during World War I. The site also offers videos for tips on how to search and examples of what you could find.
The site features collections such as:

• British Army WWI Service Records (1914-1920).
• British Army WWI Pension Records (1914-1920).
• Medal Rolls Index Cards (1914-1920).
• Silver War Badge Records (1914-1920).
• Citations of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (1914-1920).
• Royal Navy and Royal Marine records.
• Navy medal and award rolls (covering a wider period from 1793-1972).
• The National Roll of the Great War (1914-1918).
• Commonwealth War Graves (1914-1921, 1939-1947).
• De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour (1914-1919).

Please note, the UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 are not included in the collection.
Findmypast
British Army Service Records, 1760-1939. Search more than eight million British Army documents from 17 different sets of records from The National Archives and the Scots Guards. Expect to find officers and other ranks in various Army forms.
Datasets include:

• Scots Guards Enlistment Registers, 1799-1939
• Royal Hospital Chelsea: admission books, registers, and papers, 1702-1876 (WO 23)
• Royal Engineers Officers’ Service Records (WO 25)
• Militia service records 1806-1915 (WO 96)
• Chelsea: pensioners British Army service records 1760-1913. The dataset provides details on soldiers, popularly known as Chelsea Pensioners, in receipt of a pension from the Royal Hospital Chelsea after discharge (WO 97)
• Imperial Yeomanry, soldiers’ documents, South African War 1899-1902 (WO 128)
• Officers’ services, First World War, regular army and emergency reserve officers (WO 339)
• First World War service records ‘burnt documents’ (WO 363)
• First World War pension claims (WO 364)
• Officers’ services, First World War, personal files (WO 374)
• The Household Cavalry 1801-1919 (WO 400)

Findmypast
Military, armed forces & conflict in United Kingdom. Findmypast has over 60 million military and conflict records, which contain reliable, accurate, and revealing information about your ancestor’s service history.
Datasets include:

• British Army, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps 1917-1920: Transcripts and original documents detailing women who served during the First World War extracted from The National Archives series WO 162 and WO 368 series.
• Prisoners Of War 1715-1945. Search records of servicemen, women and civilians as well as diplomats, missionaries and merchant seamen who were taken captive during the Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, First and Second World Wars. Source material is provided by The National Archives as well as records from other sourced from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
• Swansea Pals (14th Battalion, Welsh Regiment).
• Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942. The information contained in this collection is taken from enlistment books which were maintained by British Army regiments during the period under consideration. Each record includes an image of the enlistment book and a transcription.
• British Army, Imperial War Museum Bond Of Sacrifice 1914-1918. Discover photographs and uncover details of your WW1 military ancestor’s service with an index to more than 18,000 records found on the Imperial War Museum website.
• Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933: Registers of men who volunteered or were conscripted, published in association with the Surrey History Trust.
• Surrey, Military Tribunals 1915-1918. These records are registers and letter books from local military service tribunals at Woking, Dorking and Haslemere.
• Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942: This collection of over 870,000 records is taken from books which were maintained by British Army regiments, intended as permanent records of a man’s enlistment.
• Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919. The dataset contains detailed information of over 660,000 British soldiers who died during World War I, originally published as an 80 volume book in 1921. Also included are details of nearly 42,000 officer casualties.
• British Army, Deserters and Absentees In Police Gazette 1914-1919: Containing over 13,000 records, the database is comprised of lists of deserters and absentees published in Police Gazette during the First World War.
• WW1 Irish Soldiers Wills, 1914-1920. This record set comprises transcriptions of 9000 wills of Irish men who served in WWI.
• British Armed Forces Soldiers’ Wills 1850-1986. These wills were written by privates and non-commissioned officers who served in the Army and Air Force, collated by the War Office.
• Welsh Guards 1914-1918. These records contain 4,060 names of officers who served with the Welsh Guards, and nominal rolls of Warrant Officers and NCOs.
• Ireland’s Memorial Record, 1914-1918: Online access to transcribed volumes of Ireland’s Memorial Records.

The Genealogist
Datasets include:

• First World War Prisoner of War. Records: Over 80,000 fully searchable records of British and Commonwealth prisoners, of all ranks, taken prisoner between 1914 to 1918.
• First World War Occupational Service Records. Service records of skilled professionals who were part of membership organisations, professional bodies and unions.
• The National Roll of the Great War
• British Roll of Honour 1914-1918
• De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918
• World War Death Indexes
• Regimental Records
• Casualty Lists

FamilySearch
United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920. This browsable image collection contains records from two record series in The National Archives: WO 363, Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ and WO 364, Soldiers’ Documents from Pension Claims, First World War.
North East Wales Archives
Flintshire First World War Card Index. The index gives details of 10,623 men from Flintshire who served in the 1914-1918 war. Each card provides the man’s address, regimental number, unit, period of service and rank on demobilisation.
British Army Ancestors
The site aims to create a free library of user uploaded British Army soldiers’ photos and to help find out more about the soldier concerned. A search for a name links to service records, medal index cards and other information from Findmypast, The National Archives and Casus-Belli.
The National Archives
Household Cavalry soldiers’ service records 1799-1920. The records contain details of servicemen who were part of the Household Cavalry, file series WO 400, during the Battle of Waterloo, the Boer War and the First World War.
The Ogilby Muster
The site holds archival material found in the Regimental and Corps Museums of the British Army across the UK, covering the period 1900 to 1929. This includes letters, diaries, photographs, documents, maps, audio and visual footage related to the British Army and the men and women who served.
A Street Near You
The site contains nearly 500,000 location records for 410,000 men and women who died whilst serving in the First World War. The records are searchable by postcode, address, cemetery or regiment and bring together data sources such as IWM’s Lives of the First World War, Commonwealth War Graves records, Imperial War Museums Collections and the War Memorial Register.
International Committee of the Red Cross
Prisoners of the First World War: During the First World War, 10 million people, servicemen or civilians, were captured and sent to detention camps. The belligerent countries involved provided lists of prisoners to the ICRC, which created an index card for each prisoner and detainee. Now, you can search through all 5 million of them.
Forces War Records
The site hosts a collection of over 645 million military records from various conflicts, primarily focusing on World War I and World War II as well as the Boer War, Victorian Conflicts, Crimean War, Early 19th Century Wars, Napoleonic. Explore hundreds of sources such as medal rolls, casualties lists, memorials, war diaries, prisoner of war records and military hospitals admissions and discharge registers. The site holds records for armed forces from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.
Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum
Soldier Search. Search over 120,000 Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry soldiers’ and officers’ names, nearly 3000 Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars names and hundreds of names of those that served with the RAF, Home Guard and Royal Garrison Artillery.
Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum
Soldier Search. WWI database containing over 40,000 records of individual soldiers who served with 24 Battalions of the Gloucester Regiment.
BMDRegisters
Overseas Foreign Marriage Returns, 1826-1921. The dataset includes notification of marriages of servicemen during service abroad held by the General Register Office.
GOV.UK
Find a Soldier’s Will: Search for the will of a soldier who died while serving in the British armed forces between 1850 and 1986. Final handwritten wills and last letters home were kept by troops in their pocket service books and tucked into their uniforms.
Deceased Online
The collection comprises various digital scans of burial registers from cemeteries and burial grounds with the following TNA references: ADM 6, ADM 73, ADM 305 and WO 156, covering UK sites as well as overseas sites in Cyprus, Egypt, Malta and Singapore.
Naval & Military Archive
Search indexes of various casualty lists including Boer War Casualties and Soldiers Died in the Great War, medal rolls and war diaries. The War Diaries of WWI are fully indexed with dates and locations of the unit along with intelligence reports, maps, precise plans for battles etc.
National Archives of Ireland
Soldiers’ Wills, 1914-1917. Search the wills of Irish enlisted and non-commissioned soldiers from the thirty-two counties of Ireland who died in the First World War while serving in the British Army. Searches are free with access to transcripts and original images.
In Flanders Fields Museum
The Name List. Search fatalities of the Great War who died or were mortally wounded in Belgium, both civilian and military and whatever their nationality and from all sides of the war. The list includes the digitised and searchable access to some 49,000 names extracted from Ireland’s Memorial Records which commemorates the memory of Irishmen who died during the war. Correct details about their place of burial or commemoration have been added. You can search by name or military unit and by place of birth whether Ireland or UK.
National Army Museum
Irish Soldiers’ Records. Search enlistment books of nearly 12,000 soldiers recruited in southern Ireland who served with The Connaught Rangers, the Leinster Regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Munster Fusiliers. These regiments of the British Army were disbanded following the establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922.
The Gazette
Official Newspaper of Record, London, Edinburgh and Belfast. The Gazette consists largely of statutory notices and includes honours and awards for gallantry or meritorious service, officer commissions, appointments and promotions and casualties.
Scotland’s People
Soldiers’ Wills, 1857-1964: Search wills of around 31,000 Scottish soldiers. The vast majority of the Soldiers’ Wills are from the First World War with others from WW2, the Boer War, Korean War and other conflicts between 1857 and 1965.

CD Roms

S & N Genealogy Supplies
Record of War Service – London County Council Staff 1914-1918; The West Riding Territorials in the Great War, by Laurie Magnus, first published 1920.
Surrey History Trust
Surrey Recruitment Register, 1908-1933. details of about 85,000 men who signed up for service in Surrey between 1908 and 1933, including volunteers and conscripts in World War I.
Manchester and Lancashire FHS
Oldham Chronicle Index of Service Personnel 1914-1919: Service personnel who were mentioned in the Saturday editions of the Oldham Chronicle, 1914 to the end of December 1919.
Official History of The Great War
A complete record of the war on the Western Front, 1914-1918.
The Western Front Association
Mapping the Front Collection. Produced in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum.
Great War Digital
Geo-referenced Great War Trench Maps. Digitised scanned maps from The National Archives, the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Geographical Society and various private collections.