WWI soldier records published online
Updated on 05 November 2009
Detailed career records of over two million British soldiers who served in the first world war are published online for the first time. Tony Robinson speaks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Ancestry.co.uk is the first website in the world to launch the British Army World War I service records, 1914-1920.
The service records contain a variety of information concerning all aspects of the army careers of those who completed their duty or were killed or executed.
Details include the soldier's name, date and place of birth, address, next of kin, former occupation, marital status, medical records, service history, regiment number, locations of service and discharge papers.
Each service record contains an average of 16 pages, but in some cases as many as 60 pages have been collated.
The new archive complements the British Army World War I pension records, 1914-1920. These records, which are already online, contain almost 10 million pages of personal information relating to almost one million discharged soldiers who, having sacrificed their own wellbeing for the war effort, suffered disabling sickness or injuries for which a pension was subsequently granted.
Historian and broadcaster Tony Robinson told Channel 4 News that the new online publications "dramatically" changed the way history can be viewed.
"The last remaining British soldier who fought in the world war died this year," he said.
"So suddenly world war one is just history - there's nobody to tell us about it and now we can access our family history particularly with relation to the war in a way no one's ever been able to.
"In a way I think its quite extraordinary that history has got closer to us and the more that people access sites like this the more cost effective it becomes to put lists online. So that now in addition to the service records that went on today we’ve got all the medal records, we've got all the medical records, we've got a while host of biographies of people who fought in the first world war.
"So in a sense, oddly, the war is getting vivider and closer to us than it ever has been.
"My granddad, for instance, when we came back from the first world war he took off his uniform and his vest and his pants and his shoes and his socks and he chucked them all on a pile of fire. He and my grandma and my dad and his brother just watched them all blaze in the fire.
"After that my granddad never spoke once about what he'd been through in the first world war and I guess if that was true for him it's true for tens of thousands of other people.
"But this kind of work can bring those stories back to life now."
Salvaging the documents
Sixty per cent of the original paper documents were destroyed by fire when the war office was struck by a bomb in 1940 during a London air raid. The surviving paper records now online have become known as the "burnt documents".
Forty three million pages of paper originals are held on microfilm and are the second most viewed collection at the National Archives. Together, the pension and service records form the definitive source of information in existence of more than three million British soldiers who fought in World War I. The process of digitising the masses of material has taken three years.
Notable names are included in the service records. These include Basil Rathbone, the British actor best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in 14 movies between 1939 and 1946. He was enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment in 1916.
Noel Coward, the flamboyant English playwright, director and actor signed up in 1918. His service history details a head injury that saw him obtain an honourable discharge with "30 per cent degree of disablement" - this ensured he received a pension.
Other war heroes include George Peachment. Hewas awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in saving the life of an officer near Hulluch in France. He was later killed in action.
Henry Mays' records contain a letter from his sister revealing that he enrolled under a false name to avoid being traced by his mother. This solved a family mystery that had spanned 90 years. His family, who have the name of Taylor, had pondered over the reasons as to why they were in possession of medals bearing the unfamiliar name of 'Mays' for years – a mystery finally solved by Henry's service record.
William Spencer, military records specialist at the National Archives said; "It is fitting that the digitisation of surviving first world war soldiers' records of service should be completed at this time.
"With Harry Patch's death last July, any direct living connection to these records has finally been severed and marks the passing of this significant period in British military activity into history.
"Digitising these records makes them accessible to people around the world, many of whom had ancestors who served in the "war to end all wars", and who will now be able to discover so much more about them."
