Thread: ARMY RECORDS INQUIRY

Hi,



I am thinking of obtaining some army records and i have heard alot about people not happy with the amount of info they have recieved for the price they paid. I know it is pot luck as to whether they have the records as a lot were destroyed but i would like to hear from anyone who were happy with what they got.

gibbos

hello

it really depends on what you are hoping to find within the record, i've downloaded a few of my ancestors service records from the 1914-1918 war from ancestry.co.uk, i can't say i was disappointed in any of them, i've found them quite useful, i've found within the records children i didn't know about, marriages i didn't know about where they list their next of kin, even things like eye colour, hair colour, waist and chest measurements and lots of other little things that are useful, however if its from a military point of view, you won't find any records of battles they may have fought in, but you should get a regiment they served in and through that you can look for the war diaries for the regiment and get more information from those.

[quote name='gibbos']Hi,



I am thinking of obtaining some army records and i have heard alot about people not happy with the amount of info they have recieved for the price they paid. I know it is pot luck as to whether they have the records as a lot were destroyed but i would like to hear from anyone who were happy with what they got.

gibbos[/quote]



Hello,

It all depends on what you are trying to find as to whether you feel that you have value for money.

If the records exist for your person, then there should be lots of personal detail as the contributer above said.

A Service Record also usually contains details of postings, disciplinary matters, promotions, illnesses, and the like.

Yours

Victoria

First world war records can be viewed via subscription on Ancestry OR you can view them at The National Archives in Kew or request a photocopy of them. I've found useful information like wife's name, date of marriage, children's names and births, that someone had a weakened leg through polio, etc.

I have downloaded several. Some have been very helpful and others less so. One of them ran to several pages and was full of useful information - next of kin details, which helps with addresses for looking for a census entry, etc. In fact we also inherited the orginal service record (dated 1890s to 1916) and there is more info in the on line records than on the original. Having said that the one I really wanted of a different ancestor no longer appears to exist (I was looking for details of a pension - I know he applied as I still have the letters sent to him by the War Office, but there are no records at all coming up on any searches, so guess it was one of the burnt records). I also found an early one (at National Archives) for an ancestor at Waterloo which was invaluable - so I guess its just a matter of pot luck.