This is a brief guide to help you with your research. Records of Royal Navy ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. are kept in different places depending on when the rating served. This guide will help you to find out if the information you are looking for exists, and if it does where to find it.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the ratingA seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy.'s full name
- his approximate dates of service
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What records can I see online?
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Registers of seamen's services (1853-1923)
Search the registers of seamen's services on our website (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. who entered the Royal Navy between 1853 and 1923 (ADM 139 and ADM 188).
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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 rolls (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 our catalogue free of charge.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Pension records (1789-1894)
Search the Catalogue 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.
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Ships' musters and pay books (1667-1878)
Search the Catalogue 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). When searching, enter the name of the ship not including HMS or other prefixes.
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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) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records held in local archives.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Search for an announcement of a 19th or 20th century gallantry awardmedals awarded for heroic or exceptional service on the London Gazette website. -
Books
Read Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Bruno Pappalardo (The National Archives, 2003).
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In-depth research guides
Merchant seamen serving 1858-1917
Royal Navy commissioned officers
Royal Navy ratings after 1923