This is a brief guide to researching British government and military records of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleonic War records are wide-ranging, sporadic and are kept in a variety of places. This guide will help you gain a general overview of the main sources of the information that exists, and where to find it. This guide is for people interested in the subject of the Napoleonic Wars as opposed to those interested in finding a specific person who fought in the conflicts.
-
What records can I see online?
-
There are no significant collections of records on the subject of the Napoleonic Wars available online.
-
-
What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
-
Foreign Office general correspondence: France (1781-1905)
Browse Discovery, our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of 11 million documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies, for general correspondence relating to France and British diplomatic activity before, during, and after the Napoleonic wars in FO 27. You will need to use the registersRegister - a volume of regularly and formally recorded information and indexes in FO 605 to access these records.
-
General records
Search and browse the WO, FO and HO departments to gain an overview of various government and military records from the Napoleonic wars.
-
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).
-
-
What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
-
Records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records held in local archives.
-
-
What other resources will help me find information?
-
Books
Consult An Alphabetical Guide to certain War Office and other Military Records preserved in the Public Record Office (Lists and Indexes no.53, 1931; Kraus reprint, 1963) to help find records at The National Archives by subject, name or keyword.
Read Army Records by William Spencer (The National Archives, 2008). -
Websites
Visit The National Archives' online exhibition on Nelson, Trafalgar, and those who served.
Search The Times Archive and the Guardian and Observer Digital Archive to view articles (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) about the Napoleonic Wars.
-
Other wars
Crimean War
British Army soldiers up to 1913