Research Guides

War Dead: First and Second World Wars

Military Records Information 13

WO 304/26, World War II Roll of Honour

1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission
2. All services: death certificates
3. Officers of all services: published works
4. Soldiers died in the Great War
5. Royal Navy and Royal Marines
6. Air casualties: supplementary sources
7. Merchant Navy
8. Obituaries
9. Newspapers
10. Second World War - Army Roll of Honour
11. The National Archives' Library Bibliography

1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website holds the Debt of Honour Register.

This gives quick access to formal records of the war dead, including regiment, and place of burial. It can also include some personal information.

2. All services: death certificates

Death certificates for the British war dead are held by the General Register Office not The National Archives. Postal applications should be sent to the General Register Office, PO Box 2, Southport, Merseyside PR8 2JD (Telephone 0845 603 7788, or for international callers: +44 151 471 4200; fax 01704 55 00 13). For further information please contact their website www.gro.gov.uk

French and Belgian death certificates for British and Commonwealth soldiers and airmen, who died in hospitals or elsewhere outside the immediate war zone, are at The National Archives, in RG 35/45-69 .

They are arranged alphabetically.
Certificates for surnames beginning C, F, P, Q, and X are missing.
Certificates for unknown soldiers are under U.
They are in French or Flemish and can be informative.

3. Officers of all services: published works

For officers, look at Cross of Sacrifice by S and B Jarvis (1993).

This is an alphabetical record of officers who died serving in British, Commonwealth, and Colonial regiments and Corps, in all services

For Army Officers, however, start with Officers died in the Great War.

4. Soldiers Died in the Great War

Originally published in eighty volumes in 1921, this lists Army officers and men who died between 1914 and 1919.

Now available on CD-ROM at The National Archives. The CD-ROM is searchable

by name
by regiment
by date
by operational theatre

It gives place of birth; place of enlistment, cause of death, theatre of war where the soldier died, and date of death. Gallantry medals, if any, may also be listed.

5. Royal Navy and Royal Marines

ADM 242/7, Royal Navy War Graves Roll

Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers and ratings who died during the First World War are listed in the War Graves Roll in ADM 242/7 , ADM 242/8 , ADM 242/9 , and ADM 242/10 .

This gives full name, rank, service number, ship's name, date and place of birth, cause of death, where buried, and next of kin.

Registers of killed and wounded, August 1914-1929, are in ADM 104/145 , ADM 104/146 , ADM 104/147 , ADM 104/148 , and ADM 104/149 .

They are indexed by ADM 104/140 , ADM 104/142 and ADM 104/143 .

The original card index of naval (commissioned and warrant) officers who died between 1914 and 1920 (ADM 242/1-6 - on permanent open access at The National Archives), gives

name, date, place and cause of death
which naval memorial his name is engraved on
(sometimes) the person informed of the death - usually the next of kin

Lists of Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers and other ranks who died in the early years of the war are given in the annual Navy List.

6. Air casualties: supplementary sources

There are Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service casualty cards, which give the reason for the casualty, type of aircraft involved, and sometimes next of kin

These are held by the RAF Museum, not by The National Archives.
They are incomplete, especially for the earlier part of the war, and are mainly for casualties occurring in Britain or the Western Front.

The National Archives holds

many lists and related correspondence about casualties in AIR 1/860/204/5/423 , 914-916, and 960-969.
records of squadrons and other units in AIR 1 .
some lists of RFC officers reported missing in AIR 1/435/15/273/1 to AIR 1/435/15/273/15 1-4.
examples of messages dropped by German aircraft during 1916 and 1917 are in AIR 1/435/15/273/11 . Both sides regularly informed the other of pilots captured or killed in action, by dropping messages over the other's airfields.

7. Merchant Navy

BT 334/73, Register of Deceased Seamen, 1918

Try the Registers of Deceased Seamen for 1914 (BT 334/62 ); 1915 (BT 334/65 ); 1916 (BT 334/67 ); 1917 (BT 334/71 ) and 1918 (BT 334/73 ). These give

full name, age, rank or rating, nationality or birth place, last place of abode, name of ship, official ship number, port of registry, net tonnage, date/place cause of death, remarks.
The remarks column will usually state: ship sunk by enemy, ship missing, ship sunk by mine, etc.

8. Obituaries

Obituaries, apparently written by relatives, for all ranks of Army and Navy personnel, appear in the two volumes of Roll of Honour, ed. Marquis de Ruvigny (The London Stamp Exchange Ltd, n.d.). This can be seen at The National Archives.

This contains several sequences of names: look right through the work.
The entries vary in length and detail: some have a photograph.
A fee was charged for an entry in this publication, and it is not comprehensive.

9. Newspapers

The Times (available online at The National Archives) often contained daily "Killed in Action" and "Died of Wounds" listings on the front page.
Most towns and country districts had one or more newspapers published at least weekly. They are listed in Jeremy Gibson, Local Newspapers 1750-1920: a select location list (Federation of Family History Societies, 1987).
An almost complete set of newspapers is held at the British Library Newspaper Library. Local papers may also survive in local record offices and libraries.

10. Second World War - Army Roll of Honour (WWII)

A Roll of Honour for the British Army was compiled during the years 1944-1949, and the resulting original documents are held in record series WO 304 . The information given includes name, service number and date of death, together with coded information on rank, unit first served in, unit at time of death, place of birth, domicile and place of death. The roll covers those who died between 1 September 1939 and 31 December 1946, and it includes those who died of natural causes whilst serving, although it does not include "disgraceful" deaths, such as those executed for capital crimes. The Roll of Honour is now available on a fully searchable CD-ROM, published by The Naval and Military Press in association with The National Archives, and it is available on computer terminals in the reading rooms at The National Archives..

11. The National Archives' Library Bibliography

The following recommended publications are available in the The National Archives' Library (www.library.nationalarchives.gov.uk/library). Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/bookshop).

Officers died in the Great War, 1914-1919 (London, 1979), XV
Amanda Bevan, Tracing Your Ancestors in the The National Archives (7th edn, Kew, 2006) - Available to buy
S D and D B Jarvis, The cross of sacrifice: an alphabetically compiled record of British officers who died in service of their country identifying where they died and are commemorated (Reading, 1993), V
Imperial War Museum, Tracing your family history: Army (London, 1999)
M A Ruvigny, The roll of honour: a biographical record of members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who fell in the great war, 1914-1918 (London, c.1987), II
M J and C T Watts, My ancestor was in the British army: how can I find out more about him? (London, 1995)

The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU
Tel: +44 (0)20 8876 3444 Fax: +44 (0)20 8392 5286
Contact us: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact/
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


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