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Thomas R Cole
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FINDING YOUR ANCESTORS IN THE MILITARY

Much info is available on microfilm through the LDS  branch libraries. -Finding ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, or the War of 1812,or the Civil War. These records often contain details of their birth,residence & physical aspect, & of course, details of service.

- The Army Lists are indexed beginning in 1766, & beginning in 1798 theyinclude the location of the regiment at that time.

-Generally, they are viewed on two levels; officers & enlisted men.Officers' records are usually more complete than those for those in the lower ranks.

-Most of the records for the British military are arranged along regimentallines, so the usual starting point is to determine which regiment yourancestor belonged to. If this is already known, the regimental files can beexamined directly. However, If you don't know which regiment yourofficer/ancestor was assigned to, a good place to begin is with the Army Lists.

Army Lists

The first official Army List was published in 1740, & they were published annually from 1754 through 1878,-The Army Lists begin with a list of the officers by rank, generals throughlieutenants, giving their name  & the date they received their commission tothat rank. Following this the officers & their assignments are shown byregiment, beginning with the cavalry & following in order through theregiments of foot. The regiment listings include the number & name (ornames) of the regiment, the names & ranks of the officers, & the dates of their commissions in the Army & their assignment to that regiment.

-Regimental Records of Service

Once the regimental assignment has been established, the Records ofOfficers' Services  can be searched for data on your ancestor. The earliestof these regimental records begins in 1771, the last ending in 1919. Again,these service records are available  at the LDS Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City, or at one of the LDS Branch Genealogical Libraries.

-After the index come lists of succession for the offices in the regiment,giving the name of the officer, the exact date of his appointment, his agein months & years at the time of his appointment, his country of origin, & the date of his first commission in the Army.

-Columns are also available for the name of the officer he replaced  & why,& remarks on the officer. This section is followed by the Statements ofService for each of the officers. This is the heart of the officers' servicefile. Although the exact contents of each file will vary from regiment to regiment, they generally contain more info as time goes on.

-The Statement of Service from volume 61, for the Surrey (70th) Regiment ofFoot covers two pages & contains a wealth of info on the officer. His fullname is given at the top, along with his birth date & place, regimentalassignment, & his age at the time of he entered the Army.-Info on the ranks he attained, pay, regimental assignments,instances ofdistinguished service, medals, wounds, & foreign service are all provided in some detail.

-Genealogists will especially appreciate the sections of the Statement form devoted to the details of his marriage, & the names & birth data concerning the officer's legitimate children.

-Certificates of birth, marriage & death for both officers & members of their families can also be found in War Office file number 42.-Using the details from the service record, a family historian can go directly to the appropriate registers of the parish in which the officer wasborn for info on his parentage. If the officer was married, the service record's indications of the marriage date & place, as well as the birth info on his children, will prove equally valuable.

-Enlisted Men's Service Records

As with the service records of officers who served in the British Army, the key to locating the record of an enlisted man is the name of his regiment.-Occasionally the regiment in which an ancestor served is known from the outset, but all too often the only facts known about an ancestor's service are when & where he served. Even with these sparse facts it is often possible to pin down the one regiment, or at most, a handful of regiments that were in service in that particular place & time.

-Determining the Regiment

There are several books devoted to the subject of the regiments & corps ofthe British Army, but the genealogist may find particularly useful a trio ofbooks discussing the history & accoutrements of the British regiments. TheRegimental Records of the British Army, by John S. Farmer contains info onthe names & nicknames of the regiments, their uniforms & badges, dates of formation, honors attained by the troops, & lists of their principal campaigns & battles.

-To locate the proper regiment, you begin with what is known about yourancestor. This could be the fact that he took part in a certain battle, orwore a certain type of uniform, or belonged to a regiment with a certainnickname. Then, you go through the regimental listings seeking for one (o rmore) that would conform the the facts as you understand them.

-For example, if your ancestor was posted to Gibraltar in the early part ofthe 18th century, he may have served in the 30th (or Cambridge) FootRegiment. This regiment was stationed on Gibraltar during 1704 & 1705, & atthe time was known as Colonel Thomas Sanders Regiment of Marines. Nicknames included The Triple X's & The Three Tens, both of which were obviously based on the number of the regiment.

Station Returns

Another source of info on regiments that can be useful if you already knowthat your ancestor was stationed in a particular place at a particular timeis the collection of Station Returns (W.O. 17), located in the Public RecordOffice. These Returns are yearly lists of the disposition of Army regiments,beginning in 1759. If, for example, you know that your ancestor was in Egypt in 1882, these lists can be searched for a list of the regiments stationed in Egypt at that time.

-Once you have determined the regiment in which your ancestor served, you will want to search two sets of records; the Muster Rolls & the Regimental Description Books.

The Regimental Description & Succession Books (W.O. 25) are available onmicrofilm copies  at the LDS Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City, or atone of the latest dates are 1756 & 1900, there is some variation betweenregiments. Volumes 266 through 688 cover the regular Army regiments, with aseparate file of bundles for engineers, &  another set of bundles for officers.

-These Description Books begin with an index (using the first letter of thesurname only), & follow with the entries in chronological order. The entries contain quite a lot of detail, filling 39 columns across two pages.

-Each entry begins with the full name of the soldier, the number of thecompany in the regiment he was assigned to, his height (both at the time ofenlistment & at age 24), & his age (in years & days) at the time of his enlistment.

-The next four columns describe the soldier's complexion, the color of hiseyes & hair, the form of his visage, & whether he had any physical marks.The country or town & parish of his birth are given (but not the date), &any occupation he had outside of the military is noted. The date, place, &period of enlistment are all given, along with the name of the person bywhom the soldier was enlisted. Details of any previous military service &dates of promotion are also noted, details of desertion, transfers,discharges, & if applicable, where & when the soldier died. The final column is reserved for comments on the soldier's character & conduct while in the service of his country.

-The mobility indicated in these books can be amazing. An example is John Kennedy, a brass-foundry worker who was born in Dublin. In 1808 at the age of 19, John Kennedy enlisted in the 1st Foot Regiment on the Isle of Wight after serving eight months with the 17th Light Dragoons (later known as the17th Lancers). He served in the seventh company of The (Royal) 1st Regiment of Foot until 1831, when he was pensioned at York. Presumably he also accompanied the regiment during its tours of duty in Europe, Iberia, America & India.

-In short, service records for the enlisted man can provide far more thanthe bare facts of his birth, enlistment, & discharge from service or death.They can also give an accurate personal description of his physicalcondition & character, & chronicle both his military service & his civilian occupation. For the descendant of a British Soldier they are in invaluable.

-Pension Records

Three of the main record types available at the Public Record Office whichcontain pension info are the Chelsea Regimental Registers (War Office file120), the records of Soldiers Discharged Through Chelsea Hospital (W.O.97), & the Applications for Pensions for Widows & Children [of officers], 1755-1908 (W.O. 42).

-Like many of the other records concerning British Army personnel in theearly part of the nineteenth century, the pension records discussed in thisarticle are organised along regimental lines. So, to use them efficiently,you must know which regiment your ancestor served in before you can begin.Chelsea Regimental Registers.

-The Chelsea Regimental Registers are available at the LDS Centres. Thefirst fifty volumes of these registers cover the period of about 1715-1843,& are arranged chronologically by the date of admission (to the hospital)within each army regiment. The last twenty volumes include the years1845-1857, noting the actual pensions being paid. In this second series, the admissions occurring prior to 1845 have been arranged by the rate of the pension, while those after 1845 are recorded chronologically. (BRITISH ARMYPENSIONERS ABROAD 1722-1899   By Norman Crowder  is intended to serve as an index to the Chelsea regimental pension registers).

-Here again, we find an excellent picture of the soldier, in this case, at the time of his admission to the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. The register rbook includes his full name, date of admission to the hospital, his age,rank(s), time of service, & the rate of pay. The column noting his "complaint" (reason for hospitalization) often includes mention of where the illness was contracted, of the wound was suffered. Finally, the registers give the town & county of birth, civilian occupation, & miscellaneous remarks.

-The Regimental Registers can also be found at the Public Office in W.O. 23, with extensions to 1876.

-Soldiers Discharged Through Chelsea Hospital

These documents, filed as W.O. 97, were compiled at the same time as the Regimental Registers, & thus contain much of the same info. Here, the data is recorded on separate sheets for each man, rather than in aregister format as the records in W.O. 120. The 1,279 volumes in the series are arranged alphabetically within each regiment, covering a period approximately from 1760 through 1872.

-The form itself is used to chronicle the soldier's service, & to provide proof of his discharge from the military. Among the info included in hisfull name, town & county of birth, date, place & term of enlistment, & theperiod of his service (in years & days) from the time of his 18th birthday. This allows for an easy calculation of the exact date of his birth.

-His service record notes all of the regiments in which he served, with both beginning & ending dates, ranks attained, & the total service rendered, again in years & days, in each rank & regiment. Service in either the East or West Indies is noted separately. The reason for his discharge (illness or wounds) is given, as are remarks on his general conduct while in the service, & notations on his height, complexion, eye & hair color, & civilian occupation. The form is dated & signed by both the discharged soldier & his commanding officer.

-As with the Regimental Registers, these Soldiers' Documents can be obtained on microfilm through the LDS Family History Library & its Family History Centers, with the originals being deposited at the Public Record Office.

-Pension Applications

To make a proper application for pension benefits, the widow or her children had to include a variety of documents proving both military service by the officer to the Crown, & their legitimate relationship to the deceased officer. Thus, the Applications for Pensions for Widows & Children (W.O. 42) are organized into numbered bundles, each including the application for the pension along with the supporting documents. These bundles have then been filed alphabetically by the surname of the officer, with bundle numbers beginning anew at one for each letter of the alphabet (e.g., bundles 1-203for the letter A, 1-739 for B, etc.). The time period covered by these documents is 1755-1908.

-Although the exact contents of each bundle varies somewhat, it is possible to find statements of service & commission for the deceased officer, as well as certificates of birth, marriage or death. In the absence of civil certificates (which began in 1837), there are usually signed statements certifying legitimate marriages & births. Of course, these certificates and statements include the names of the persons involved, with the date &location of the birth (or baptism), marriage, or death (or burial) indicated.

-As is the case with the Regimental Registers & the Soldiers' Discharge papers, these Pension Applications can be consulted at the Public Record Office in Surrey, the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, or at an LDS Family History Center

-In this article on British military records, I've been able to cover several collections & their contents, but by no means have I exhausted the list of such records available for research by genealogists & historians. If you wish to go into the records available at a greater length, you should consult the list of sources at the end of the article. Of special interest are Hamilton-Edwards' In Search of Army Ancestry, & Records of Officers &Soldiers Who   served in the British Army, an excellent booklet published by the Public Record Office.

-Certainly seeking info on military ancestors is not always a bed of roses,but the records available can make the study fascinating, while providing a variety of unexpected rewards for the diligent researcher.

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This is a condensed version to help others locate their ancestors by using the material at their local LDS centers . From the original publication  titled  BRITISH MILITARY RECORDS  by Jay Hall.

Obtainable from: Director, Global Research Systems, A Division of The Everton Publishers [This article originally appeared in the September- October 1987 issue of  Everton's Genealogical Helper. Some updates have been made to the article, and additions have been made to the Source list at the end of the article.]

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