Looking for records of a person in the Women's Royal Naval Service

• What do I need to know before I start?

  • Try to find out:

    • the name and rank of the person
    • a date range to help focus the search

• What records can I see online?

  • Registers of Women's Royal Naval Service officers (1917-1919)

    Consult the registers of appointments of WRNS officers (ADM 321) and the service record cards and files (ADM 340) for registers of appointments, promotions and resignations of WRNS officers. 

    Details of service during the First World War (if an officer served in the Second World War) are also included.

  • Service records (1917-1919)

    Search the Women's Royal Naval Service records online (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for a person who served as either an officera senior member of staff in the armed forces (ADM 318) or a ratingA seaman ranking lower than an officer. These are the most junior class of seamen in the Royal Navy. (ADM 336).

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

  • Naval medal records (1914-1920)

    Consult the Roll of Naval War medals in ADM 171/133 to find a person who received a decoration during the First World War.

  • 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).

• What records can I find in other archives and organisations?

  • Service records (1939-present)

    Visit the Veterans UK website for information about how to request a summary of a service record from the Ministry of Defence. These are not available to members of the general public, but next of kin may request access to them.

• What other resources will help me find information?

  • Books

    Read Tracing Your Naval Ancestors by Bruno Pappalardo (The National Archives, 2003).

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

Related guides

• Women's Royal Air Force personnel
• Women in the British Army
• Births, marriages and deaths in the armed forces
• Women's military services in the First World War
• British military campaign and service medals

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