1. Introduction
For most of its history, the Army has not kept systematic records of its officers. However, there are several different places to look. The broad outline of an officer's career is traceable from the printed British Army Lists but there are plenty of other manuscript sources to explore.
2. Officers commissioned 1660-1913
For officers commissioned before 1754, try the commission books in WO 25/1. Warrants for commissions during the late 1600s should be in the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic for each reign. Manuscript lists of army officers were kept from 1702 to 1752 (WO 64).
To trace an officer's career from 1754, try using the British Army Lists, arranged by regiment. From 1867 they are indexed.
3. Officers and their families
Records of service of officers fall into two main groups - those compiled by the War Office (WO 25) and those compiled by the regiment (WO 76). There is a single card index to the service records mentioned in the table below (as well as the separate indexes mentioned in the table), but it does not go beyond c. 1915.
| Date range | Description | Catalogue reference |
|---|---|---|
| 1764-c1915 | Regimental records of serving officers. These give ranks held by the officer, and age, marriage and children. Some records are later than 1915 for a few regiments. |
WO 76 |
| 1796-1935 | Royal Engineers: age, marriage, children etc: indexed | WO 25/3913 |
| 1799-1882 | Reports of officers' marriages: indexed up to 1851 by maiden name of wife, giving place and date of birth and marriage, and witnesses | WO 25/3239 |
| 1809-1810 | Serving field officers: details of military service only | WO 25/744-748 |
| 1828 | Retired and half pay officers: date and place of birth, marriage and children. Index to officers. | WO 25/749-779 |
| 1829 | Serving officers: date and places of birth, of marriage and of children. Index to officers. Wives indexed separately, by maiden name, giving date and place of birth, marriage, children's birth, and sometimes death | WO 25/780-806 |
| 1847 | Retired officers: date and place of birth, marriage and children | WO 25/808-823 |
| 1868-1872 | Serving officers: date and place of birth, marriage and children | WO 25/824/1 |
| 1817-1843 | Army chaplains' certificates of service | WO 25/256 |
4. Other sources for personal details
As well as the family information found in WO 25 and WO 76, records giving personal information about an army officer were created routinely at various stages in his career: upon the granting of his commission, his promotion, his resignation or his being placed on the half pay list. Provision of an authentic baptismal certificate was mandatory for those in government service: membership of the established church implied loyalty to the crown. As a result there are many baptismal certificates for army officers in the War Office records. There are two main caches, for 1777-1868 in WO 32/8903 to WO 32/8920 (code 21A) and for 1755-1908 in WO 42. The latter also contains certificates of marriage, birth of children, death and burial. There are index books to both, with separate indexes for French, Swiss, Italian and Greek corps; Loyal American and Canadian corps; and the King's German Legion.
Personal information may also be found in the registers of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which include details of cadets who attended the academy 1783-1964. These can be searched by name online at the Sandhurst Collection and, as well as details of attendance at the academy, can contain information such as the cadet's date of birth, regiment, the school previously attended, religion, nationality, personnel number and the profession of their father.
5. Pension records: widows' pensions, half pay, and disability pensions
Indexed registers of the annual bounty paid to officers' widows, 1755-1856, are in WO 25/3995 and WO 25/3069-3072: there is also much more material about widows in WO 25, such as applications for pensions, and information on remarriages.
Officers were not entitled to a pension as of right until 1871. Before then, officers wishing to retire sold their commissions or went on half pay. Half pay became a retaining fee paid to the officer, so long as he held a commission and was still (in theory) available for future service. There is little genealogical information in these documents. Officers on half pay can be traced in the British Army Lists, which gives date of commencement of half pay: half-pay officers are not always indexed.
Information about retired officers and their widows can also be found in PMG 3 to PMG 14. The most useful records of half pay are the ledgers of payment, 1737-1921, in PMG 4. These give details of death or sale of commission; and, from 1837, addresses: after 1841 they are arranged alphabetically, not by regiment (this may be helpful if you do not know the regiment). Date of birth is also given in later registers. Records of Ordnance officers' half pay, 1839-1857, are in PMG 12.
The Compassionate Fund was created c.1720 to give relief to children of deceased officers who were incapable of maintaining themselves. The mother or guardian had to swear that the child was the legitimate offspring of the officer, that they were under 18 (if a boy) or 21 (if a girl), and that they had no other income from the government. Details of the surviving records are included in the table below.
6. Other useful record sources
| Date range | Description | Catalogue reference |
|---|---|---|
| 1660-1938 | Various registers: a treasure trove for both officers and their families - look through the list and experiment | WO 25 |
| 1713-1809 | Records of officers on half pay (name, rank and regiment) | WO 24/660-747 |
| 1783-1813 | British-American forces | WO 24/748-762 |
| 1810-1880 | Artillery and engineers officers' half pay | WO 23/82 |
| 1812-1855 | Claims for disability pensions | WO 4/469-493 |
| 1812-1892 | Registers of disability pensioners | WO 23/83-/92 |
| 1814-1920 | Payments of disability pensions | PMG 9 |
| 1819-1824 | Half pay to foreign officers | WO 24/763-766 |
| 1858-1876 | Half pay for officers of foreign regiments | WO 23/79 |
| 1822-1885 | Half pay for officers of foreign regiments | PMG 6 |
| 1858-1880 | Alphabetical registers of officers on half pay giving name, regiment date of commencement, rate and records of pay | WO 23/75 |
| 1891-1894 | Alphabetical registers of officers on half pay giving name, regiment date of commencement, rate and records of pay | WO 23/68 |
| 1843-1874 | Pensions to officers (and their widows) at Hanover | PMG 7, PMG 8/1 |
| 1811-1817 | Commissariat officers' pensions abroad | WO 61/74 |
| 1817-1833 | Commissariat officers' pensions abroad | WO 61/83 |
| 1840-1855 | Commissariat officers' widows | PMG 5 |
| 1815-1817 | Secretary of War out-letters on foreign pensions | WO 4/376 |
| 1712-1856 | Nominal lists and registers of warrants for half pay | WO 25/2979-3019 |
| 1872-1894 | Registers of officers retiring on full pay | WO 23/66-82 |
| 1813-1920 | Full pay retirement ledgers | PMG 3 |
| 1815-1892 | Widows pension and Drouly Annuities registers | WO 23/105-112 |
| 1735-1811 | Pensions to widows of full pay officers | WO 25/3020-3045 |
| 1755-1778 | Pensions to widows of half pay officers | WO 25/3046-3058 |
| 1713-1829 | Ledgers of widows' pensions and Drouly Annuities | WO 24/804-883 |
| 1808-1920 | Ledgers of widows' pensions (see PMG 10 below) | PMG 11 |
| 1870-1882 | Ledgers of widows' pensions | PMG 10 |
| 1822-1885 | Ledgers of widows' pensions for officers who served abroad | PMG 6 |
| 1809-1857 | Claims for widows' pensions or children's compassionate allowances | WO 42, WO 43 |
| 1746-1816 | Letters from widows claiming pensions | WO 4/1023 |
| 1773-1812 | Records of those on the Compassionate List | WO 24/771-803, WO 25/3124 |
| 1815-1894 | Registers of amounts recieved by those on the Compassionate List | WO 23/113 |
| 1827-1855 | Payment ledgers for the Compassionate Fund and Royal Bounty | PMG 10, PMG 5/7, WO 25/3118 |
| 1803-1860 | Compassionate Fund claims from widows of officers | WO 4/521-590 |
| 1837-1921 | Ledgers of payments to those on the Compassionate Fund | PMG 18 |
| 1873-1928 | Rewards to officers for distinguished service | PMG 35 |
| 1857-1920 | Pensions and allowances to widows and children of army civil officers | PMG 57 |
| 1793-1927 | Allowances paid to Militia and Yeomanry officers | PMG 13 |
| 1806-1837 | Army chaplains on retired pay | WO 25/252 |
7. Further reading
The following recommended publications are available in The National Archives' Library. Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop.
AS Bevan, Tracing your ancestors in The National Archives, chapter 18 (The National Archives, 2006) - Available to buy
S Fowler and W Spencer, Army records for family historians (PRO Publications, 1998 reprinted 2000)
