There are some questions that the public often ask regarding military history so some of the most common ones are below.
- My relative served after 1921 , during or after World War 2
The Ministry of Defence is gradually transferring the Service Records for personnel who were discharged prior to the end of National Service (1963) to The National Archives. This is a multi-year project so currently a Service Record could be with either the MoD or the TNA. Even if it has been transferred to the TNA it may not have been catalogued.
Getting the Service Record is usually the recommended first stage in researching an individual. However, with officers an outline of their service may be possible even without their Service Record but this is rather case dependent.
2. Interest in an Aircraft that has Crashed
Aircraft crashes in the UK tend to fall into three categories: (1) RAF aircraft, (2) United States Army Air Force (USAAF) aircraft and (3) enemy aircraft. For (1) the records are normally available in the UK and the starting point is often either the aircraft’s serial number or the squadron / approximate date. Records for (2) USAAF aircraft tend to be with US Government Records and these are normally with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The records for enemy aircraft (3) could be with either UK based archives and / or the archives of the respective foreign Government.
3. Researching an 1800s British Army Soldier
As you go further back in time the records available for not only soldiers but sailors too get more and more sparse. This is not to say researching them is impossible just that the records available are less in quantity and the information available is also less.
Service Records relating to a specific individual are less likely to have been kept (or survive to the present day), if they were created in the first instance, and other record series must be utilized. This can make researching such personnel much more time consuming.
4. Can I trace a Deserter?
Yes, there are records of Deserters from about 1850 until 1930.
5. Tracing the location of an RN ship
RN ships since about 1669 and more recently submarines have kept Logs which are a type of diary for the vessel. These could record elements of life on the ship but they rarely have personal information on the officers and crew of a ship (the Medical Officer’s Journal may have information on individuals). The information in the Logs does vary over time but generally they have the location of ships (this could be the longitude / latitude), details of ship’s movements, the weather and signals / orders.