The vast majority of enquiries that I receive concern Military Genealogy. That is the records relating to individuals who served in HM British Armed Forces / Merchant Navy / (Honourable) East India Company or the pre-1947 Indian Army / Navy.
I draw a distinction between genealogical records and operational records. The former concern an individual soldier / sailor / airman etc. and the latter concern the activities that their Regiment (or other unit) / ship / Squadron undertook. In this website they have been separated into “Genealogy” and “Military Operations” as this makes it much easier to discuss.
I specialise in military records and that means I do not cover issues like Census Records, or Birth / Marriage / Death Certificates, employment histories etc. unless there is a military aspect. Sometimes Birth / Baptism / Marriage Details / Certificates may be within papers on a military personage and I do not cover them systematically.
Military Genealogy covers the personnel records for soldiers, sailors, marines and air men and other records relating to an individual’s military / merchant navy service. Generally, only documents for those who left the military before about 1920 are publicly available. However, this is changing as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are gradually transferring Service Records for prior to the end of National Service in 1963 to The National Archives (TNA) who is making them publicly available. The Ministry of Defence retains the Service Records for post-1963 service.
The format of a Service Record can vary depending upon the era and the Branch of Service (Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force etc.). Also, the information recorded for officers can be different to that for Other Ranks. Not all Service Records survive and as you go further back in time the chances of a surviving record becomes less likely. However, other records can survive so individual’s are often still researchable but it becomes more difficult.
The genealogical research for an individual usually depends upon his (her) rank, the branch of the military in which they served and the era under consideration. Records for each branch of the forces are kept together and details for Officers are usually kept separately to those for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and other ranks. There are various ways the records are catalogued – sometimes they may be arranged alphabetically by surname for a period or by unit etc.
The Service (or Personnel) Records normally give the subject’s units / ships / squadrons (for the Army / Navy / Air Force respectively). Once these details are known the respective records can be obtained and these will give more details as to where the subject went and what their unit / ship / squadron undertook.
However, in the case of the RAF most of the operational records relate to flying activity so if the subject was Aircrew then theoretically his missions are researchable. In the case of RAF Groundcrew there is less information on their activities but Groundcrew normally moved with their Squadron or Detachment (a Flight often operating temporarily separate to the main body of the Squadron). The Groundcrew could be at the Squadron’s home airfield, a satellite airfield or with a Detachment.
If there is no Service (Personnel) Record available then another entry route has to be found. This ideally is a unit / ship / squadron with an estimated date of service. The records for that unit / ship / squadron can then be located and searches have to be performed both chronologically and reverse chronologically. This is more difficult and time consuming but it is usually possible to obtain a timeline or outline of service (in lieu of the Service Record).
Searches for British Army Personnel usually cover Attestation and Discharge documents, Army Lists for officers, medals (both gallantry and campaign), unit records (Muster Rolls or War Diaries), Pension Papers and the London Gazette.
Searches for RN and RAF personnel are similar to those for the Army above however, other record series such as ships’ logs, squadron records, flying logs and aircraft accidents suffice in place of their Army equivalents.