This is a brief guide to researching records of Royal Navy ratings before 1853. Royal Naval records are informative and varied, though sometimes complicated. The Royal Navy did not keep individual service recordsservice record - a document recording the career of an individual in the armed forces on ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. before 1853, so it can be difficult to trace a person in this period. The majority of records which may help, however, are available at The National Archives.
This guide will help you to find out if the information you are looking for exists and, if it does, where to find it or more information about it.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the name and rank of the person
- the name of the ship the person served on
- a date range to help focus the search
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What records can I see online?
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Medal rolls (1793-1972)
Search by name for information about the award of campaign, long service and good conduct medals in the Royal Navy medal roll (ADM 171) using Ancestry.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.). These rolls do not usually contain biographical information. Digital microfilm copies of these records are also available to download and browse from DocumentsOnline free of charge.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Ships' musters and pay books (1667-1878)
Search the Cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies for a musteror muster roll: a list of people in receipt of pay or pay book for a particular ship to find lists of ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. serving on the ship (ADM 31 - ADM 39, ADM 115, ADM 117, and ADM 119).
Search below by name of ship, excluding HMS or other prefixes.
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Pension records (1789-1894)
Search the Cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies by name for ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy.' pension records. These include ratings' applications for admission to Royal Greenwich Hospital in ADM 73 - surnames A-M only and the certificates of service that accompanied these applications in ADM 29.
Search below by forename and surname (ADM 29, ADM 73).
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Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
Search the Trafalgar ancestors database by name for a British officera senior member of staff in the armed forces or ratingA seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. who served in the Battle of Trafalgar.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) database to find records held in local archivesregional archives, libraries, and museums.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Books
Read Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Bruno Pappalardo (The National Archives, 2003)
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In-depth research guides
Births, marriages and deaths in the armed forces
Royal Navy commissioned officers
Royal Navy warrant officers