This is a brief guide to researching Royal Naval records for a warrant officera person who holds their position by Admiralty warrant - they are junior to commissioned officers and senior to ratings. These records are comprehensive and varied, though sometimes complicated. While many records are available at The National Archives, some service recordsservice record - a document recording the career of an individual in the armed forces are currently held by the Ministry of Defence.
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
- a date range to help focus your search
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What records can I see online?
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Battle of Trafalgar database (1805)
Search the Trafalgar ancestors database by name for a British warrant officera person who holds their position by Admiralty warrant - they are junior to commissioned officers and senior to ratings who served in the Battle of Trafalgar.
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Service records (1830-1931)
Search Royal Naval officers' service records on our website (ADM 196) by name for records of most of the warrant officerswarrant officer - a person who holds their position by Admiralty warrant - they are junior to commissioned officers and senior to ratings who entered the Royal Navy between 1830 and 1931.
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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.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Service records (1802-1894)
Search Discovery, our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies by name for certificates of service in ADM 29 for warrant officerswarrant officer - a person who holds their position by Admiralty warrant - they are junior to commissioned officers and senior to ratings and ratingsRating - a seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. who served between 1802 and 1894 and applied for a pension in the Royal Navy. The date range is specific to the application for a pension rather than the date of service of the rating involved.
Please note, this is a search across the entire catalogue description of each record, not just the name. A search for someone called Barnes, for example, may give results for people born in Barnes.
Narrow your search by using quotation marks to find a person's full name, for example "John Williams".
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, pay for 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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Service records (1931-present)
Visit the Veterans UK website for information about how to request a summary of a service recorda document recording the career of an individual in the armed forces from the Ministry of Defence. These are not available to members of the general public, though next of kin may request access to them.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Books
Read Tracing Your Naval Ancestors, Bruno Pappalardo (The National Archives, 2003).
Consult the published Navy Lists to follow an officer's career.
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Births, marriages and deaths in the armed forces
Royal Navy commissioned officers
Royal Navy ratings 1853-1923