Records of service
Regimental record office returns in series WO 76
cover various dates from 1764 to 1961. There is a card index to these returns in the Open Reading Room but it is incomplete.
Artillery and Engineer Officers
Early records of artillery officers are in WO 54/684 from 1727 to 1751, later ones are in WO 76. Returns of engineer officers are in WO 54/248-259 from 1786 to 1850, and service records are in WO 25/3913-3919 covering 1796 to 1922.
Staff Officers
Officers attached to the War Office and not regimental officers can be found in WO 25. There is a staff pay index from 1792 to 1830 in WO 25/695-699. Lists of staff at various dates between 1802 and 1870 are in WO 25/700-702.
Medical Officers
Surgeons were appointed to regiments from 1660 until the regimental system was replaced in 1873 and medical officers became part of the Army Medical Department. This was merged with the Army Hospital Corps to form the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1898. Records of service of medical officers from 1800 to 1840 are in WO 25/3896-3912.
Commissariat Officers
Registers of Commissariat Officers are in series WO 61 from 1791 to 1889. The records include pay lists from 1791 to 1876, and registers of appointments, services etc from 1798 to 1889. There are also some establishment records and half pay and pension material.
Militia and Volunteer Officers
Appointments of officers to the militia and volunteer units from 1782 to 1840 can be found in the Home Office Military Papers in HO 50 and Entry Books in HO 51. Papers include establishment and succession books but there is no name index and little information beyond dates of commission.
Other records of service are in WO 68 covering the period from 1757 to 1925, but they are not complete. Registers of pensions paid to militia officers are in WO 23/89-92. A selection of birth and baptismal certificates are in WO 32/8906-8913.
Chaplains
Army Chaplains appear in the Army Lists. Before 1796 they were appointed on a regimental basis by commanding officers. Registers of certificates of service from 1817 to 1843 are in WO 25/256-258. Payments to chaplains from 1805 to 1842 are in WO 25/233-251 and those receiving retired pay from 1806 to 1837 are in WO 25/252-253.
