What happened to the United Kingdom Great War Service Records?

With the centenary of the Great War in full swing, interest from genealogists in the role played by their ancestors in the conflict has never been higher, and one of the questions I am frequently asked by people is whether I can help them find their ancestors military service record.

Sadly, the answer is often ‘no’, due to the fact that only a percentage of military files from this period are available, and the reason is quite complicated.

Historically, the British Civil Service was renowned for it’s record keeping; files were created and kept on every aspect of administration of the British Empire, and the military was no different, every soldier who served from around 1900, had a personnel file created about them. This file contained their attestation papers, medical reports and records, disciplinary records, conduct reports, as well as miscellanea of other items relevant to the soldier in question.

By 1914, the regular and reserve army in Britain numbered about three quarters of a million men, however by the end of the war, more than seven million were thought to have served.

Following the conclusion of the war, the records were retained in the War Office Records Store, located in Arnside Street, London. The building was however hit by a high explosive bomb in September 1940 during the London Blitz, and although the initial explosion did not destroy the records, the subsequent fire would do. About 60% of the service records were completely destroyed that day, those that remain fit into the following categories

                                                                                                                                                        

One of the ‘Burnt Records’

 The Burnt Collection

About one third of the records were retrieved from the ruins, and put in storage, extensive work later took place to preserve and restore these remaining records, they are about 2 million in number, and are available on microfilm at the National Archives, or by subscription on Ancestry, originals are not permitted to be accessed due to their fragility.

The Un-burnt Collection

About 750,000 records escaped destruction being stored as they were in a different building.

 

Therefore unfortunately most people will find that they are unable to locate their family record of military service. If you can, you are lucky.

Records for personnel who served after the war and in WW2 are still restricted and will not be completely open access for many more years.

Newspapers Online

Local newspapers are a valuable source for any family historian, but as any genealogist will   know, sitting at a microfilm reader scrolling through page after page of grainy images to search for relevant information is a long and arduous process.

The British Library have therefore been working for a couple of years on digitising their collections of local newspapers, undertaking OCR (character recognition) and releasing fully searchable copies on to a specially designed website

British Newspaper Archive

For a relatively small monthly subscription (£12.95), you get complete access to more than 700 titles, and nearly 18 million pages, this increases each week as more scanning is completed.

Through this project you can read how newspapers across the county reported on key events from the past 200 years, and can also track down ancestors (particularly if they have had a suitably notorious past to catch the attention of the press).

Digitising Newman

The project to digitise and catalogue onto an online hub the entire personal archive of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman is now underway.

Every single letter and diary has been meticulously scanned at John Rylands’ Library, Manchester, and an internet kiosk has been designed by software company Crivella West Inc. of Pittsburgh.

The kiosk project is the first of its kind and when completed will provide complete online access to the Newman collection. It is hoped that it might lead the way to other projects particularly within the world of Catholic archives.

The project is a collaborative effort between the National Institute of Newman Studies, attached to the Pittsburgh Oratory in America, and the Birmingham Oratory where the archives are held.

The Newman Institute is a purpose built residential research library and centre providing previously unprecedented
access to Newman’s life and works, the Institute also fosters the advancement of Newman scholarly research by inviting scholars to utilise the resources of the Newman Research Library in order to pursue academic work specifically related to Newman Studies, and in partnership with Duqesne University has set up scholarship programmes to this end.

To keep up to date with progress, follow the Newman Institute on Twitter @NewmanStudies

Or visit their website

 

 

 

History of Religious Women – Conference

2017 Seminar

2017 Seminar on Records with launch of names database

This Society is planning the launch of a major new electronic database with a paper delivered by Br. Rory G Higgins FSC of Australia at a seminar on Saturday 7 October 2017 in the Conference Rooms, 24 Tufton Street London SW1P 3RB 10am-4pm.

An Index to the Names and Details of over
250,000 Catholics and their Friends in England 1680 – 1840

Rory Higgins has spent many years compiling this work with support from the Catholic Family History Society, his Superiors and others. The database will be a hugely valuable resource for church, social, political, local and family historians, both in England and around the world. On it are men, women and children from all walks of life, including priests and foreigners living in England. Where available there are details of age, of occupation and of location. References guide the user to the many sources which he has trawled, both original and printed, in order to collect the information together into this database. His earlier successful database is the Australian Nuns Index. Individuals and representatives of organisations involved in records and archives, as well as historians of all interests, will find his latest database to be the research tool everyone has been waiting for.

We hope you will not miss this opportunity to be amongst the first to explore the potential of this new resource. To express your interest and reserve a place contact: cfhsrecords@gmail.com. Places are being snapped up!

The period 1680-1840 covers the centuries when Catholicism was effectively outlawed. Records of Catholics are scattered in civil record offices, in Catholic and in Anglican Church archives throughout the country. We are pleased to have William D. Shannon, PhD, to speak on his research in in this era under the title:

Using the Records of the Forfeited Estates Commission (1715-1724) at TNA
to reconstruct Catholic Lancashire before and after the First Jacobite Rebellion.

Dr Shannon has delved into the fate of the Catholics involved in the 1715 Battle of Preston, not just those executed, imprisoned or exiled, but also those less directly involved.

Philip Gale will arrange a presentation on the development of The National Archives finding aid Discovery, with particular reference to Catholic records.

The Destruction of the Irish Record Office

For many people researching their Irish genealogy, the destruction of the Dublin record office in 1922 during the civil war, has left huge gaping holes in what information is actually available.

The Public Record Office of Ireland, at Four Courts, Dublin had in fact been occupied during the Easter Rising, however remarkably no serious damage had been done to the archives, famously the only record had actually been destroyed, that being the 19th century will of an Irish soldier. However six years later, on the 3rd June 1922, the record office was blown up, with one enormous explosive device.

Eye witnesses recall that on that day, it literally rained archives in Dublin city. The smouldering remains of a thousand years of history, held in parish registers, census records, wills, court records, minute books, proclamations, etc. were scattering the streets. Some were retrieved and rescued, some handed in to the authorities, and other kept by private individuals.

The 1922 explosion and subsequent fire destroyed the national census records from 1821-1851, half the parochial registers of the Church of Ireland (Catholic registers were stored elsewhere), all pre 1900 court and government records, and centuries of wills, the irreplaceable loss will always hamper the efforts of individuals attempting to trace their Irish ancestry, however we should pay tribute to the Irish Genealogical Research Society  formed in 1936, when its members set about attempting to find surviving records, rescued, but still held in private hands. Through their efforts much material was repatriated into the National Archives, and thanks to their tireless efforts, records previously thought lost have now been preserved for the future. Their website linked above, is always a good start for anybody wanting to find out more about their Irish ancestors.

 

SOLDIERS OF EMPIRE

During the 1900s and 1910s large numbers of young men emigrated from the slums of English cities to start new lives in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

When in 1914, War broke out, these men enlisted with their local regiments, and returned to Europe to fight for King and Country.

While 2/3 of the WW1 army service records of English regiments were destroyed in the blitz in WW2. The service records of Australian, Canadian and New Zealand regiments have survived complete and intact, and have now been digitised online, where they are free to view.

The website Canadian Great War Project provides a wealth of sources on all soldiers who served with Canadian regiments. Both those who died, and those who survived.

The National Archives of Australia have released all their regimental records on their website.

The New Zealand National Archives have also produced all regimental records on their website

County Offaly Online

The historic archives of Co Offaly are being digitised and published online to make them widely available across the world.

It is hoped that when the project is completed, people with ancestry in this Irish Midlands County will be able to easily trace their history.

See the website ‘Discovering Offaly’ for more information.

New Book – Rookwood Family Papers

Tags

Books, history

Boydell and Brewer publishing house are pleased to announce the release of Francis Young’s new book, Rookwood Family Papers 1606-1761. Members of the CFHS will receive a 25% discount if they order before the end of the year, for the promotion code contact Sylvia Dibbs

Overview

A selection of documents left by the Suffolk Catholic family, the Rookwoods, brings them vividly to life.

The Rookwoods of Coldham Hall in the parish of Stanningfield, Suffolk, were Roman Catholic recusants whose notoriety rests on Ambrose Rookwood’s involvement in the Gunpowder Plot. In 1606 the owner of Coldham was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason for supplying the plotters with horses. A century later another Ambrose Rookwood suffered the same fate for conspiring to assassinate William III. Tainted by treason, the Rookwood family nevertheless managed to hold on to their estates in Suffolk and Essex, in spite of their Royalist sympathies in the Civil War, the recklessness of individual family members, and later adherence to the Jacobite cause – and even to thrive. As a result, the family left behind a lasting legacy in the form of the Catholic mission founded by Elizabeth Rookwood and her son in Bury St Edmunds.

The documents in this volume tell a remarkable story of resilience, survival and reinvention. They also testify to the Rookwoods’ profound Catholic faith, their patronage of the Jesuits, and their cultural and literary interests. An extensive introduction sets the Rookwoods in their historical and local context..

Francis Young is the author of, among other titles, The Gages of Hengrave and Suffolk Catholicism, 1640-1767 (2015). He is Head of Sixth Form at a public school in East Anglia.

Early Modern Orders & Disorders

There is a call for papers to be presented at the 3rd biannual Early Modern British & Irish Catholicism Conference, a joint event by Notre Dame University, and Durham University.

The conference is being planned for the 28th to 30th June 2017 at the University of Notre Dame’s London Gateway and will consider the relationship between religious orders and the Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland.

The conference organisers are inviting proposals for 20 minute talks on any related theme.

For more information contact James Kelly on james.kelly3@durham.ac.uk