Tracing Your Great War Ancestors Read online

  THE ROYAL NAVY

  Commissioned Officers and Warrant Officers

  Brief details of officers’ postings and ranks can be found in published Navy Lists. You are likely to be able to get an idea of when they entered, the branch they were in, subsequent promotions and the ship they were serving on at the time the List was published. A set of Navy Lists can be found online at www.archive.org, although they are not easy to use. Promotions and resignations are also included in the London Gazette, which is online at www.thegazette.co.uk.

  Service records for officers and non-commissioned warrant officers who served during the war are in ADM 196. You should find details of the officer’s family and his date of birth, promotions and ships served on, together with brief notes about his performance. Another useful resource is the summaries of confidential reports (also in ADM 196) containing candid comments written by senior officers on an individual’s abilities. Also worth checking are the record cards and files in ADM 340.

  Ratings and Petty Officers

  Records of ratings are in series ADM 188. They can tell you the ships a man served on, any medals won, promotions and remarks about conduct, and an indication of how and when he left the navy. Incidentally, the abbreviation DD means ‘discharged dead’, while the word ‘run’ indicates that he deserted. Generally the forms are easy to read.

  THE ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE AND THE ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE

  As well as the regular navy, there were also the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), recruited from merchant seamen, and the larger Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), previously yachtsmen or members of the general public. Again officers are listed in the Navy Lists and the London Gazette. Service records for officers and other ranks in both Reserves are easy to use, although their content is rather brief.

  The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR)

  At the outbreak of the First World War the RNR had a strength of around 30,000 men.

  Officers are listed in the Navy Lists, where information given includes name, rank, date of commission and seniority, as well as the ships on which the officers served. Service records up to 1920 are in ADM 240. They are arranged by rank and seniority, show details of merchant as well as naval service, and are arranged in numerical order of commission. Additional information can often be found in the service cards and files in ADM 340.

  Records of RNR Ratings between 1914 and 1919 are available in ADM 337 with additional records in BT 377.

  The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR)

  The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), founded in 1903, comprised officers and ratings who undertook naval training in their spare time but were not professional seamen. Officers are listed in the Navy Lists. Service records of RNVR officers can be found in two series: ADM 337 and occasionally ADM 340. Service records for ratings are also in ADM 337. They record when a man joined, which ships he served on and his reasons for leaving the Reserve. There is also a physical description.

  THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION

  The Royal Naval Division (RND) was initially set up to make use of reservists for whom there were no places on board ships, although most members were recruits who preferred to enlist in the navy than the army. They served at Gallipoli and then in Flanders and eventually transferred to the army in 1916 as the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. Individual brigades were named after naval heroes. Even on land the RND retained many naval traditions, much to the annoyance of the army high command. They flew the White Ensign, used bells to signal time, used naval language (including ‘going ashore’ and ‘coming on board’ for leaving and arriving in the trenches), preferred naval ranks to their army equivalents and sat during the toast to the king’s health. Attempts were made to persuade the RND to conform with army practice but were generally unsuccessful.

  Service records for officers in the Royal Naval Division (RND) are in ADM 339/3, with the equivalent for ratings in ADM 339/1, although the records for ratings who died on active service are in ADM 339/2.

  The service records can be fairly informative, particularly for officers and for men killed in action. In all cases they give details of next of kin, date of birth, address, religion and civilian occupation, together with a physical description. Within the division the card records movements and postings and, where appropriate, a date of death. For men who died in service, the information is largely summarised in databases of the division’s casualties, which are on both Ancestry and Findmypast.

  ROYAL MARINES

  During the First World War the Royal Marines were divided into RM Light Infantry and RM Artillery. Both served on land (as part of the Royal Naval Division) and at sea. Royal Marine officers’ records (including warrant officers) are in series ADM 196. They give full details of service and include, in some cases, the name and profession of the officer’s father. Officers are also listed in both the Navy and Army Lists.

  Service records for Marines are in ADM 159. They provide date and place of birth, trade, physical description, religion, date and place of enlistment, and a full record of service with comments on conduct. In addition, there are attestation papers in ADM 157, which are loose forms, compiled for each Marine on enlistment. They give birthplace, previous occupation, a physical description and often a record of service.

  Many service records for men who served in the Chatham, Deal and Plymouth Divisions (but not Portsmouth) during the First World War are at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton (www.fleetairarm.com/naval-aviation-research.aspx).

  Awards of campaign and gallantry medals are in the Naval Medal Records series, online through Ancestry. Perhaps of more use are the transcriptions of the Cards for the Marines on Findmypast. Marine casualties are listed alphabetically in series ADM 242/7–10 (and on Findmypast), giving name, rank, number, ship’s name, date and place of birth, cause of death, where buried and next-of-kin. Some war diaries for Marine units serving with the army are in WO 95. In addition, some material is held at the Royal Marines Museum in Southsea: www.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk.

  MEDALS

  Naval personnel were entitled to the same campaign medals as their army counterparts. Rolls are available through Ancestry, although they are much less informative than the Army Medal Index Cards. A full list of men who received gallantry medals, taken from entries in the London Gazette, can be found at http://naval-history.net. Reports from captains about individual actions or other occurrences often include recommendations for gallantry medals.

  CASUALTIES

  Sailors who died during their naval service are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in exactly the same way as soldiers or airmen. Officers and ratings with no known graves, including men who were lost at sea around Gallipoli, are commemorated on memorials at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth.

  Details of some 45,000 Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers and ratings who died during the First World War are listed in the War Graves Roll in ADM 242. The roll gives full name, rank, service number, ship’s name, date and place of birth, cause of death, where buried and next of kin. The records are on Findmypast. Further registers of killed and wounded are in ADM 104/145–6.

  Both Ancestry and Findmypast have databases of the casualties of the Royal Naval Division. There is an online list of naval casualties at http://naval-history.net which can be searched by name or by ship. Entries are quite detailed, giving the man’s name, rank and ship, together with the date of death and occasionally the cause of death.

  Often captains’ (and other) reports into actions involving naval ships will include lists of casualties; these reports appear in series ADM 137, ADM 116 and ADM 1. Generally they just give the deceased’s name, rank, trade and next of kin, but the reports themselves may indicate how he lost his life. These reports are not online.

  Further Reading

  Three excellent websites are www.worldwar1.co.uk, www.uboat.net/wwi and www.naval-history.net.

  The most up-to-date guide to researching sailors is Simon Fowler, Tracing Your Naval Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2
011).

  Chapter 7

  RESEARCHING DOMINION AND INDIAN TROOPS

  Gallipoli was a particularly international campaign. On the Allied side were British soldiers from the four corners of the British Isles, Australians, Gurkhas, New Zealanders, Newfoundlanders and Sikhs. With the French served Algerians and Senegalese. And on the Turkish side were Turks and men from across the Ottoman Empire, as well as Germans and Austrians. All of them were engaged in bitter fighting over a few square miles of mountainous scrubland.

  When Britain declared war on 4 August 1914 she did so on behalf of the Empire as well as the United Kingdom itself. The five dominions – Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa – were self-governing, but generally left their defence and foreign affairs to the British government. In part this reflected the belief in most people’s minds that they were as British as any Londoner, Yorkshireman or Glaswegian. So it was natural that when the call came the dominions would not be found wanting.

  The landings of the Australian and New Zealand troops at what became known as Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 changed the relationship between these dominions and the Mother Country for ever and rapidly led to a burgeoning sense of national identity on both sides of the Tasman Sea. The myth is so powerful that the tendency is to forget that the Anzacs made up only a relatively small part of the Allied forces on the peninsula, and their contribution, great though it was, was part of a wider effort. And it is important to remember that Anzacs came from two distinct nations, a distinction subtly reinforced by the New Zealanders’ inclusion of the simple inscription on the base of their memorials ‘From the uttermost ends of the earth’. Individual diggers and kiwis had subtly different personalities. According to Lieutenant Colonel M.E. Hamilton, ‘The Australian fighter was an individualist. He would go off and fight his own battle in his own way. And he didn’t take very kindly to discipline … [The New Zealanders were] equally brave, equally tough soldiers. But you could talk to a New Zealander almost as you would to English people … You didn’t have the same rapport with the Australians who were a rougher diamond.’

  Anzac soldiers using trench periscopes to keep an eye on the Turks across no man’s land.

  No Canadian (or South African) units were at Gallipoli, but the Newfoundland Regiment served as part of the 88th Brigade.

  There was also the semi-autonomous Indian Empire based in New Delhi, which maintained the Indian Army, under the direct control of the Viceroy. It was largely led by British officers, with native troops as ordinary soldiers and non-commissioned officers. A number of Sikh and Gurkha units fought at Gallipoli. Their contributions have perhaps not been sufficiently recognised by historians, but at times they played a key role. Major Cecil Allanson of the 1/6th Gurkha Rifles wrote in his memoirs that in the battle for Hill Q on the morning of 9 August his men ‘fought hand to hand, we bit and fisted, and used rifles and pistols as clubs; blood was flying about like spray from a hair-wash bottle. And then the Turks turned and fled, and I felt a very proud man …’.

  In general the records for dominion and Indian servicemen are very similar to those used for researching British servicemen or British army units. Indeed, there are some shared records:

  • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the last resting place of all Dominion and Indian troops;

  • Gallantry awards for all ranks, and the commissions and promotion of officers in Dominion forces, appear in the London Gazette; and

  • Copies of the war diaries of many ANZAC units are at The National Archives, although the quality of the copying is poor.

  AUSTRALIA

  The National Archives of Australia holds service documents for, among other formations, the 1st Australian Imperial Force (AIF), the Australian Flying Corps, and the Australian Army Nursing Service, and has Depot or home records for personnel who served within Australia. The records are at www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/army-wwi.aspx. Also of interest is the AIF Project, which lists the details of those who served overseas with the Australian Imperial Force (www.aif.adfa.edu.au).

  The Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au) has a superb collection of material relating to Australian forces since 1901. Many records have been indexed or digitised, and placed online free of charge. You can find details at www.awm.gov.au/collection/digitised-record.

  They include:

  • A roll of honour with some personnel details;

  • a First World War Embarkation Roll which contains details of approximately 330,000 AIF personnel as they left on overseas service;

  • a First World War Nominal Roll with details of 324,000 AIF personnel who served overseas;

  • honours and awards, with details of recommendations, made to members of the AIF;

  • war diaries compiled by Australian units; and

  • official histories commissioned by the Australian government.

  Through the Anzac Collections programme the Memorial is digitising the personal papers and diaries of 150 Anzacs. Details are at www.awm.gov.au/1914-1918/anzac-connections. One of the most poignant diaries is that of Private Cecil McNaulty of the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade. He kept it from the time he left Australia until 6 August 1915, when he was one of the nearly two thousand men of the brigade to charge the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine. In what he described as being a trance-like state, Cecil pushed through the heavy machine gun and rifle fire with shrapnel shells bursting around him. Having advanced to the Turkish lines, he found himself in an extremely exposed position along with several other Australians. ‘This is only suicide, boys,’ Cecil told them. ‘I’m going to make a jump for it.’ Cecil’s account of what happened next ends mid-sentence with the words: ‘I sprang to my feet in one jump …’. There are no further entries. But official records show that he was not killed then, but died a few days later.

  Also available are the papers of General John Monash. By profession a civil engineer, Monash became one of the war’s outstanding commanders. His papers give a comprehensive view of his wartime military career, from his command of the 4th Australian Brigade at Gallipoli to the Australian Corps in 1918.

  If you are ever in Canberra, the Australian War Memorial is definitely well worth visiting.

  The National Library of Australia’s Trove website (www.trove.nla.gov.au) is a brilliant resource with digitised newspapers, books, photographs and personal papers. As might be expected, there is a lot of material about the Dardanelles, including newspaper reports, contemporary books and photographs.

  There are also a number of excellent websites devoted to the Anzacs. Start with www.anzacsite.gov.au, which is an impressively well written and well researched site devoted to the Anzac involvement in the campaign. The Australian War Memorial (www.awm.org.au) has masses of information about the Australian (and to an extent New Zealand) involvement at Gallipoli, although it is not always easy to find. For New Zealanders there is the slightly disappointing Anzac Day website (www.anzac.govt.nz).

  Another useful site is the Australian Light Horse Study Centre (http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog?topic_id=1113739), which has many copies of original reports and other documents including war diaries.

  Official histories prepared by both the Australian and New Zealand governments in the early 1920s can be downloaded from the Internet Archive free of charge. There are links on the Gallipoli Association website at www.gallipoli-association.org.

  NEW ZEALAND

  Personnel records of nearly 120,000 men who served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and were discharged before the end of 1920 are held by Archives New Zealand and can be downloaded at http://archway.archives.govt.nz. In addition, the Archives also has nominal and casualty rolls, rolls of honour, unit (war) diaries and records relating to honours and awards, which are briefly described in a research guide at http://archives.govt.nz/research/guides/war#first. Unfortunately these records are not yet online.

  Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Cenotaph Datab
ase at http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/cenotaph has brief details about most New Zealand troops, particularly those who did not return. The Database is being redeveloped for the centenary.

  The National Library of New Zealand has digitised many of the country’s newspapers, which are now available through the excellent Papers Past website (http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz). As might be expected, there is a lot about the Dardanelles campaign from the moment the first New Zealanders landed up to the present day.

  The Library also has a very good introductory leaflet explaining how to research the war, with links to key resources and archives (http://natlib.govt.nz/researchers/guides/first-world-war), as well as to those of the Library’s own collections that have already been digitised. This includes several collections of photographs.

  INDIA

  The location of the service records of Indian privates and noncommissioned officers is not known. A few medal index cards survive, generally for men who served in colonial campaigns that took place in 1918 and 1919. These are available on both The National Archives website and Ancestry. The remainder of the cards are presumed to have long since been destroyed.

  Records for British officers in the Indian Army are at the British Library in London (www.bl.uk). Unfortunately, there are many different, and at times duplicating, sources, which can make research difficult. Perhaps the best place to start is with an online database (http://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI) of British civil and military employees living in India, but it is by no means complete.

  Service records for officers and warrant officers are in series IOL L/MIL/14. Some indexes are online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a. However, it may be easier to use the British Library’s catalogue to its own Archives and Manuscripts at http://searcharchives.bl.uk.