Army Records

An accessible, up to the minute guide for all those interested in the British Army or ancestors with an Army past.

Reviews:
a well organised and clearly expressed guide Northern History


The National Archives’ exceptional collection of military material includes the personal files of hundreds of thousands of First World War soldiers as well as Army nursing services, the WAAC, prisoners of war from the Second World War and Korea, and a wide variety of orders, decorations and medal rolls – from the Napoleonic Wars to the Falklands. This practical and accessible guide to records in the Archives and the British Library’s India Office covers over four centuries of Army life. Written by a military specialist and adviser on family history, it provides an insider’s knowledge of material newly released, soon to become available and recently deposited in regimental museums.

Army Records explores the documents surrounding key regiments, such as the Household Cavalry and the Royal Artillery, as well as the administrative backdrop to the service – pensions, casualty lists, deserters and the decisions of the Chelsea Invaliding Board. New online releases are charted, such as:
- Medal Index Cards
- World War II Unit Diary
- WAAC
- London Gazette
- Overseas records
- Updated sections of records of the Dominion Forces

Whether you are tracing an ancestor, auxiliary service, regiment or campaign, this is an invaluable guide to Britain’s military past.

Contents:
• Organization of the Army
• Records of the Army before 1660
• Commissioned Officers
• Other ranks, 1660-1913
• Royal Artillery
• Royal Engineers
• Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers
• Casualty returns and operational records
• Medals and awards, 1793-1991
• Courts Martial
• The British Army in India and the Indian Army
• Colonial and Dominion Forces
• Foreign troops in British pay
• Records of Support Services
• Prisoners of War and war crimes
• First World War
• Second World War
• Other Twentieth-Century campaigns
• General genealogical records
• Records held by other institutions
• Research techniques
• Appendices; Further reading; Websites; Index

Author:
William Spencer has been the military specialist at London’s National Archives since 1996. He formerly served in the Royal Navy and holds an MA in War Studies from the prestigious Department of War Studies at Kings College, London. He is the author of the successful Medals: the Researcher’s Guide (2006), the bestselling Army Service Records of the First World War (now in its third edition), and the forthcoming Family History in the Wars (all published by The National Archives).