More service records from World War One go online

Ancestry.co.uk has completed digitising the surviving World War One British army service records.

The 32.5 million paper records now online detail the full military careers of more than two million soldiers,who served during the Great War.

Each service record a variety of information concerning all aspects of the army careers of those who completed their duty or were either killed in action or executed.

These latest military records to go online are often called the ‘burnt documents’; being the surviving service documents rescued after the War Office in London was bombed in 1940 and the subsequent fire destroyed 60 per cent of the paper originals.

They complement the British Army World War One Pension Records, 1914-1920, which contain 9.7 million pages of personal information relating to almost one million discharged soldiers.

William Spencer, Military Records Specialist at The National Archives, said: “It is fitting that the digitisation of surviving First World War soldiers’ records of service should be completed at this time.

“With Harry Patch’s death last July [just days after the death of another WW1 veteran and then the world's oldest man, Henry Allingham and in January, Bill Stone], any direct living connection to these records has finally been severed and marks the passing of this significant period in British military activity into history.

“Digitising these records makes them accessible to people around the world, many of whom had ancestors who served in the “war to end all wars”, and who will now be able to discover so much more about them.”

Each individual record in the British Army World War One Service Records, 1914-1920 contains an average of 16 pages of personal information; however they can contain as many as 60 pages.

Information available from Ancestry.co.uk includes the soldier’s name, date and place of birth, address, next-of-kin, former occupation, marital status, medical records, service history, regiment number, locations of service and discharge papers.

Together, the service, medals and pension records form the definitive source of information in existence on more than three million ordinary soldiers who fought in the British Army during World War One.

The sheer volume of material has meant that the collection has been digitised in stages in a process that has taken three years.

Among the surviving service records are those of a number of both famous and ordinary, brave soldiers, including actor Basil Rathbone, best known for the portrayal of Sherlock Homes in 14 movies between 1939 and 1946.

The kind of detail contained in the records is highlighted by the information contained by one soldier Henry Mays.

Henry’s service record contains a letter from his sister revealing that he enrolled under a false name to avoid being traced by his mother. This solved a family mystery that had spanned 90 years.