For some individuals we will have ‘service records’. These are records that directly describe different aspects of an individuals time in the armed forces, including, for example, when and where they signed up, where they might have served and whether they were entitled to a pension. A service record is the best overview of someone’s military career but you might not always be able to find a service record for an individual, for reasons explored below.
We also have records of when people were entitled to medals. Participants in different campaigns received ‘campaign’ or ‘service’ medals and the lists of people given those medals are recorded on ‘rolls’ (usually a kind of register or book). Some individuals were awarded gallantry medals for particular acts of bravery. These were similarly recorded on rolls and additionally also announced in the government publication the London Gazette. Sometimes the London Gazette would also provide the ‘citation’ or reason that they were being awarded the gallantry medal.
The National Archives also holds records that describe specific military campaigns and operations in more detail. It is much rarer to find individuals named in these, but even if an individual is not named the records of operations can offer an extraordinary insight into daily lives in the armed forces, particularly in combat. To locate the records that describe the operation an individual was involved in, you would usually need to know quite a high level of detail about their service – the particular unit, squadron or ship they served on, for example.
Finally, it is important to know that we don’t have ‘case files’ on particular individuals that bring these different types of records together. Researchers have to do that by themselves. However, the family history websites Ancestry and Findmypast have digital copies of some of our records. The search functions on these websites are able to do a little of that work for you by suggesting other records that are potentially relevant to your search. Those websites have subscription fees but we provide free access to them in our reading rooms, and many local libraries and archives also offer free access.