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Searching the Military Genealogy records

Searching

A precise and comprehensive initial selection will only reveal records that exactly match the chosen criteria. If you key in a selection and the record is filed under a slightly different spelling etc, it is not possible for this website to show the result you want.
You will not get a ‘hit’. To obtain a ‘hit’ it is sometimes better to make a more general initial choice and then scan the records shown to reveal the one you seek.
Tip: Less [input] can often give more [hits].
If you wish to search for a name or place, only enter the full name or place if you are sure of its spelling. Otherwise a very useful tool known as ‘wild-cards’ can be used.

Automatic Wild-Cards

An ‘automatic wild-card’ has been entered in the following search fields. ‘Christian names’, ‘Initials’, ‘Place of Birth’ and ‘Place of Residence’. That is because so many names or places appear in the original work in different ways. For example a search on ‘Lewes’ gives hits not only on ‘Lewes’ but also on ‘Lewes, Sussex’, which could easily have been missed.

There is a small price to pay. If your chosen town has a short name it will be listed along with others that start with your town name. For example ‘Ham’ is a place-name. It also is the start of ‘Hammersmith’, which is likewise revealed. A search on ‘Albert’ will also reveal every Albert with a second Christian name.

It is however simple to isolate your selection by asking for the data to be sorted in a particular order and then going through the records to find those you desire. This feature will naturally not find a name or place that has a different spelling from the one you enter. That is where the use of manual ‘wild-cards’ is so useful.

A reminder

Don’t enter too much data. The entry ‘Lewes’ gets ‘Lewes’ and ‘Lewes, Sussex’ automatically. If you enter ‘Lewes, Sussex’ you won’t get “Lewes? on its own. If you enter ‘Lewes Sussex’ you will get nothing having missed off the comma after Lewes.

About the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 - 1919 records

Accuracy of the Soldiers Died records

The original version Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 - 1919 unfortunately contains many errors. They were made at the time. It is not possible to speculate on the number of original errors, even less to correct the majority of them. This is primarily because of the destruction of the military records from which Soldiers Died… was compiled in the first place by the War Office in 1921. It nevertheless remains a unique source of the most valuable information. The basic editorial rule we have adopted is that, if it appears in the original printed edition, it has been copied thus into this database. In response to numerous requests it has however been decided exceptionally to amend, where appropriate, the dates of death of those 110 casualties recorded as dying either before the war commenced or after 1/1/1921. Additionally a small number of dates, which made no sense at all, have been corrected. The authority adopted for the amended dates of death is that published by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Duplication

There are many apparently duplicate entries, for example the same surname, Christian names and number. But on examination some of the data in other fields varies. For example a different battalion or date of death may be given in the 1921 text. In these instances the duplicate entries remain and the results are for the researcher to interpret. Much evident duplication occurs in to Officers records especially in connection with the Royal Flying Corps and attachments to other units from the officer’s former regiment.

Places of birth, enlistment or residence

These fields are only available for Soldiers. The War Office did not record the places of birth and residence for Officers.

The information given in the 1921 Edition has been transcribed into the appropriate fields but it must be realised that many variations of place names exist in those old records – and hence on this website. This is partly dependant upon what abbreviations, and punctuation were used by the War Office clerks. They in turn could only copy what they were given! Whether true or not, whether abbreviated or not, whether punctuated or not – the information has been copied by our transcribers, exactly as per the original, and as accurately as humanly possible. It is for the researcher to interpret the data.

Place of Birth

Not every record has a place of birth recorded. Occasionally, because of the way the original records were typeset, the places of enlistment and residence may be entered in this field. Hopefully this should appear obvious to the researcher. Unfortunately such original errors cannot be corrected now.

Enlistment

Not every record has a place of enlistment recorded. There are more entries for places of enlistment than for the other place fields.

Residence

There are fewer places of Residence than birth recorded. This is partly because not every unit gave that information for inclusion in the original records. Some Regiments have few places of residence shown e.g. Cheshire Regiment; some have none e.g. Royal Sussex Regiment. Again please see Para 7.51 for general comments. Select and sort by Residence.

Ranks

There are 547 ‘different’ ranks for soldiers, which can appear on a Record – just as they were originally printed. Many of the variations come about because different clerks at the War Office used different abbreviations, or even different punctuation, to represent the same rank.

Counties

One must remember that county boundaries have changed considerably since 1921, especially around London. Many places currently thought of as being within London were, at the time of the Great War, in Surrey, Kent, Essex or Middlesex.

Date of death

The exact date of death of many soldiers is not known. In the majority of cases the War Office made an assumption and a specific date was attributed to the death. Most often this was the first possible date the soldier could have died in action. Sometimes however an, ‘in between dates’ situation is recorded.

Miscellaneous

Memorial Scroll

You may purchase a Memorial Scroll, very similar to the ones sent to the next of kin of deceased officers and soldiers. This will include colour, like the originals. The full information contained in Soldiers Died… will appear at the bottom of each scroll. If you wish to keep this please ensure that you either download it to your hard disc or email it to a computer.