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Photograph of prisoners of war in the First World War (Catalogue reference: FO 383/413/20)

This is a brief guide to researching records of British prisoners of war during the First World War. Records of British prisoners of war for this period are varied and can be complicated. They are also incomplete. Those records which do exist are available either online or at The National Archives. This guide does not cover prisoners of war in British hands.

  • What do I need to know before I start?

    • Try to find out:

      • the name of the person
      • the rank and regiment (where applicable)
      • a date range and location to help focus your search

  • What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?

    • Foreign Office reports (1915-1919)

      Search the Cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for correspondence and reports on people who became prisoners of war during the First World War in FO 383. If you get any results, click on the descriptive text in blue for each one and scroll down to find the match highlighted in yellow.

  • What other resources will help me find information?

    • Websites

      Browse the Long, Long Trail website for information on tracing a person during the First World War.

  • The National Archives is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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Did you know?

An estimated 192,000 British and Commonwealth captives were taken during the First World War. There is no comprehensive list covering all of these prisoners of war, and any documents which are known to survive only cover a fraction of those who were captured.

There is very little information on prisoners of war who were liberated after the Armistice on 11 November 1918.

When searching reports for a prisoner of war, you may find information on a person's:

  • unit
  • home address
  • details of capture
  • activities before and after capture

Approximately 750 pages of interviews and reports on other ranks who were prisoners of war during the First World War are known not to have survived.

Upon repatriationreturn or restoration to a citizen's own country, officers were required to detail the circumstances of their capture. If you know an officer was a prisoner of war, their service record may have their capture report with it.

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