Royal Navy: Officers' Service Records

Military Records Information 30

1. The Navy List

The starting point when researching an officer's career in the 19th or 20th Century is the official Navy List, published quarterly from 1814 (preceded by Steele's Navy List from 1782). It contains seniority lists of all officers, and from 1810 lists Naval ships with the officers appointed to each. The Navy List will give you a basic outline of your officer's career from lieutenant onwards. Confidential editions, covering the two world wars, are in ADM 177 , and other seniority lists of officers are in ADM 118 . The unofficial New Navy List, 1841-1856, is also well worth checking, as it gives potted biographies, often stretching back decades before 1841. Apart from the Navy Lists, there are three main types of record in which you may find details of an officer's service.

2. Registers of Officers' Services (1756-1966) ADM 196

During the 19th century the Admiralty started to keep service registers for officers in which a page was opened for recording each man's career. Most of the entries cover 1840-1920, with deaths entered to the 1950s. Most registers give dates and places of birth and death, home address, name of wife and date of marriage. All will give you the names of the ships on which the officer served.

These registers on microfilm in ADM 196 , provide the most complete and convenient source of information about the career of an officer. There is a partial name index to ADM 196 located in the Microfilm Reading Room. Note down the document references that appear in the top right-hand corner of a card or cards that relate to your officer's service in this index. This will be in the format " ADM 196/11 page 34." If you find more than one reference it is worth looking up each one.

If the reference on the card is wrong and you cannot find the correct man, you can try using the original indexes to the registers. These are part of the existing run of ADM 196 films and their references are: ADM 196/7 , 26, 27, 28, 33, 57. However, the indexes and the covering dates of the volumes are unreliable, and you may have to try several different volumes. The references take the form: Volume/Page. For example, 2/28 means Volume 2, page 28. If the volume is not given then assume the entry will be in volume 1. The Introductory Note to the class list includes a table showing which film within ADM 196 you should look at when you have found your officer in one of the 6 indexes. The film numbers are given on the right of the table. A summary of the naval ranks included in the registers is also given. It can be complicated so don't hesitate to ask staff for help.

If you are researching an officer that served in the First World War see Military Records Research Guide 79 - Royal Navy: Officers' Service Records, First World War, and Confidential Reports 1893-1943.

3. Returns of Officers' Service (1817 and 1846) ADM 9

In 1817 and 1846 the Admiralty tried to improve its personnel records by sending out surveys for officers to complete and return. Many officers did not receive or return their forms, but those which survive for commissioned officers are mainly to be found in ADM 9 . Nominal indexes to these surveys can be found in the Supplementary Finding Aids section in the Research Enquiries Room. Other survey returns from Warrant Officers can be found in ADM 6 and ADM 11 .

4. Officers' Passing Certificates

These certificates were issued to men who passed an examination which established their suitability for appointment to a particular rank. They often provide information about a man's service prior to the examination and sometimes have supporting papers such as certificates of birth or baptism.

Lieutenants' passing certificates can be found in ADM 6 , ADM 13 and ADM 107 . A nominal index to these records can be found in B. Pappalardo's Royal Navy Lieutenants' Passing Certificates, 1691-1902 (List and Index Society, volumes 289-290) located amongst the Supplementary Finding Aids in the Research Enquiries Room.

Passing certificates for Boatswains 1810-13, 1851-87 can be found in ADM 6 and ADM 13 ; Carpenters 1856-87 in ADM 13 ; Clerks and Assistant Clerks 1852-99 in ADM 13 ; Engineers 1863-1902 in ADM 13 (a name index to these certificates can be found in the ADM 13 series list); Gunners 1731-1812, 1856-87 in ADM 6 and ADM 13 ; Masters 1660-1863 in ADM 106 , ADM 6 and ADM 13 ; Paymasters 1851-89 in ADM 13 ; Pursers 1813-20 in ADM 6 ; Surgeons 1700-1800 in ADM 106 (a nominal card index to these records is available in the Research Enquiries Room.)

5. Certificates of Service (1802-1894) ADM 29

These records give the service of Warrant Officers (and ratings) who applied for a naval pension or admission to Greenwich Hospital. They give a brief record of ships and dates, and total time in paid employment. For further details see Military Records Information 31, on ratings' service records.

6. Full and Half Pay Registers (1697-1924) ADM 22-ADM 25 , PMG 15

Certificates of service were compiled by the Navy Pay Office from the Full or Half Pay Registers which can be used to assemble similar records. These registers usually give simply the name and the sum payable, but they can be used to confirm when an officer was employed or unemployed. Half pay was officially a retainer for officers, but in practice was a form of superannuation.

7. Wives and Next-of-Kin

Wives and dates of marriage are usually included in the service registers, and a collection of marriage certificates is held in ADM 13/70-71 (these are searchable by name on the Catalogue), and in ADM 13/186-192 , submitted from 1866 to 1902. The names of officers' widows and children can often be found among the records of pensions or payments made by the Admiralty or charities listed below.

Description	Date range	Catalogue reference(s)
Charity for Sea Officers' Widows	1732-1835	ADM 6/332-402 (card index for 335-356), ADM 22/56-237
Additional pension books: officers	1830-1934	ADM 23
Widows' pensions: officers	1836-1929	PMG 19
Admiralty pensions: officers' widows	1694-1934	ADM 7/809-814 , ADM 22 , ADM 23 , PMG 16 , PMG 20
Chatham Chest: warrant officers' (and ratings') widows	1653-1799 1831-1837	ADM 82 ADM 22/52-55
Royal Bounty: officers' (and ratings') lump sum for widows or mothers	1675-1822	ADM 106/3017-3035
Next-of-kin and address: officers and ratings	1914-1920	ADM 242/7-10
Compassionate Fund: officers' dependants (mainly children)	1809-1926	ADM 22 , ADM 23 , PMG 18
Greenwich Hospital: grants to orphans	1872-1959	ADM 162-164
Pension pay books: Greenwich and Chatham Chest	1734-1961	ADM 22 , ADM 165 , PMG 70 , PMG 71 , WO 22 ,
Next-of-kin: officers' back pay claims	1830-1860	ADM 45 (fully searchable on the Catalogue .)

8. Black Books, Leave Books and Examinations

Black books, kept by the Admiralty to record the names of officers who had misconducted themselves and who were not to be employed again, are in ADM 12/27B-27E (officers 1759-1815), and ADM 11/39 (warrant officers 1741-1814). Leave books recording leave granted to officers 1783-1847 are in ADM 6/200-211 . Examination results from the Royal Naval College , Greenwich, 1876-1957, are in ADM 203 .

9. Further Reading

Bruno Pappalardo, Tracing Your Naval Ancestors (Public Record Office, 2003)
Bruno Pappalardo, Using Navy Records (Public Record Office, 2001)
N A M Rodger, Naval Records for Genealogists (PRO Publications, 1998).

(ri2030) Last updated: 10 March 2008| © Crown Copyright 2001