Royal Navy - Half Pay Registers - Officers (Military)

Records of officers paid a retainer whilst out of work. The payments acted as pension in later years for those who retired, as a formal pension scheme did not exist.

Other pension records can be found in ADM 18, ADM 11, ADM 22, ADM 104, PMG 15 and PMG 16. Full Pay Lists can be found in ADM 24 but do not survive before 1795. Bruno Pappalardo's Tracing Your Naval Ancestors published by the Public Record Office will provide detailed information on the many and various series of records held at The National Archives dealing with naval pension 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. The Veterans UK web site provides contact details of where to apply for service records for each of the services.

See also
Casualty Records, Ratings & Officers
Certificates of Service - Ratings & Officers
Medal Rolls, Ratings & Officers
Muster & Pay Books (Service Records) - Ratings & Officers
Navy Lists (Service Records) - Officers
Passing Certificates & Examinations - Officers
Service Registers - Officers including WWI
Surveys and Succession Books - Officers

The National Archives (ADM 25, Officers' Half Pay Registers)
Fleet Air Arm Museum (The museum hold material relating to the Royal Naval Air Service and the Fleet Air Arm from official and private sources including service records, squadron line books, aircraft accident records, air stations, operations, ships and equipment. The museum also has custody of Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service Documents)
Royal Naval Museum (The museum houses a collection of naval related books, manuscripts and images, including the collections from the Admiralty Library formerly housed in London. The museum library offers a number of resources for those researching family histories with a number of Information Sheets available online including a guide to naval rankings. The Online Catalogue provides access to the Manuscript, Oral History, Photographic and WRNS collections)

1697 - 1924

Name and address of officer.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-subject/default.htm (TNA Guide: Looking for a subject, Military history)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/default.htm (TNA Guide: Looking for a person, Navy)
www.barnettmaritime.co.uk/navalofficer.htm (Tracing Commissioned Officers)
www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_nav_rankings.htm (Officer Ranks in the Royal Navy: The Naval Hierarchy Explained)
www.ukmfh.org.uk (UK Military Family History Online: Links to web sites with online data and information to aid in military family history research)
www.genuki.org.uk/big/MilitaryRecords.html (GENUKI Military guide with useful links)
www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/research-guides (National Maritime Museum research guides)
http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.3240 (Imperial War Museum, Your History, Family History: Royal Navy: Information sheets include Tracing Royal Navy Ancestry, Naval Service Records and List of Abbreviations)
http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazfd/gazfd48.htm (British Military Records Part 2: The Royal Navy, by Fawne Stratford-Devai)
www.bl.uk/collection-guides/uk-national-government-publications (British Library Guide: Service lists for the Army, Navy and Air Force)
www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html (Naval enthusiast site that contains a number of indexes including extracts from the Navy Lists, ship's photos & other information)
www.naval-history.net (Information on battles, actions, medals, convoys, warships, merchant ships and ship losses, including photos of lost soldiers)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nelson (Online exhibition to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805)
www.navyrecords.org.uk (Navy Records Society: Publisher of original documents on the Royal Navy)
http://navaldockyards.moonfruit.com (Naval Dockyards Society)

www.navylist.org (Naval Biographical Database: Biographical information on Royal Navy commission, warrant and yard officers extracted from a variety of sources, starting from 1660. The database also identifies volunteers who supported the Navy as well as a complete ship listing including places. Expect to find the person's name, rank, entry and discharge date, pension award, date of death and family members)
TNA Online Collections (Wills of Royal Naval Seamen: A collection of around 20,000 wills made by seamen of the Royal Navy, 1786-1882. TNA Online Collections is produced by The National Archives and contains online access to indexes, transcriptions and digital images of some of the TNA's most important holdings. Searches are free but a fee is levied for each downloaded item. However downloads are free if used at TNA or the Society of Genealogists)
www.forces-war-records.co.uk (Forces War Records: Military records of over two million British Armed Forces personnel cross matched with over 4000 Regiments including Rolls of Honour, Crimean and Boer War Databases, Medal Rolls and Casualties Lists. The site also has a facility to access information on specific units or bases including regiments, ships, airfields)
www.navyrecordsonline.co.uk (Navy Records Online is an online archive of miscellaneous British naval records including charts, portraits, cartoons, logs, letters, diaries, battle plans, sketchbooks, photograph albums and videos)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Armed forces deaths 1796-1994 and GRO Naval war deaths WWI and WWII)
www.naval-history.net (Casualty Lists of the Royal And Dominion Navies 1889-2009, researched and compiled by Don Kindell)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors (Trafalgar Ancestors: Names and details of those that served in the Battle of Trafalgar compiled by Bruno Pappalardo)
www.ageofnelson.org/NavyList/index.html (The Complete Navy List of the Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815: Transcribed names and details of more than 11,000 commissioned officers who served in the Royal Navy from 1787 onwards, up to those who entered the service before 1817)
www.ageofnelson.org/TrafalgarRoll/index.html (The Ayshford Trafalgar Roll: Names and details of over 21,000 seamen and marines who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805)
www.1812privateers.org/ADM26/ADM26.html (Transcripts of the ADM 26 registers which allowed ratings/sailors and not officers to remit part of their pay to a third party, usually a relative, 1795-1851)