This is a brief guide to researching records of British army regiments. Regimental records are varied, sometimes incomplete and can be complicated. They are held in a variety of places. 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. This guide is for people interested in regiments themselves as opposed to those interested in finding a specific person.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the identity (name and number) of the regiment
- a date range and location to help focus your search
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What records can I see online?
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First World War unit war diaries (1914-1923)
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, for selected unit war diaries (WO 95) for a British or colonial regiment which served in the First World War. You may need to try several different keywords or an asterisk when searching, for example, 'Bucks' may produce different results to 'Buckinghamshire'.
Only about 4% of WO 95 is available online. The rest can be accessed at The National Archives at Kew. Unit war diaries do not generally contain biographical information.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Regimental muster books, pay lists and records (c1730-1991)
Search our catalogue by regiment name, number or county for a regimental muster book or pay list between c1730 and 1898 (WO 10, WO 11, WO 12, WO 13, WO 14, WO 16, WO 68, WO 69) or for other regimental records between 1737 and 1991 (WO 379 and WO 380). These are arranged by unit type, regiment and date. They are also incomplete.
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Second World War unit war diaries (1938-1947)
Refer to section 5 in the research guide British Army operations in the Second World War for a list of seriesa grouping of records held by The National Archives, based on common function or subject containing unit war diaries for the Second World War. Unit war diaries do not generally contain biographical information.
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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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The National Army Museum
Visit the National Army Museum's website for more information on what records they hold on British army regiments.
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Regimental museums and other records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records held in regimental museums and local archives.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Browse the British Army, the Army Museums Ogilby Trust and The Long, Long Trail websites for regimental histories, including name changes for British, Empire, Indian and Commonwealth land forces.
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Books
Read Army Records by William Spencer (The National Archives, 2008).
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British Army soldiers up to 1913
British Army officers up to 1913