Discuss Researching your ancestors? Look in here at the Military History and Militaria forum within the The Army Rumour Service website; We regularly get people in here asking for help researching their ancestors. I have discussed ...
We regularly get people in here asking for help researching their ancestors. I have discussed this with PartTimePongo (the mod) and we have agreed that it might be clever to have a sticky thread for people to look at and get the easy questions out of the way before they start with their unusual questions.
I know I seem to have written one paragraph half a dozen times. (I don't begrudge sharing the information, it just saves repetition). PTP has promised that once the thread gets some meat on the bones, he'll keep it in order.
Only post tips here. Particular queries can go in new threads, and any info worth repeating can be added here, with a pointer in the new thread to this one. "Reply posted in 'Researching your ancestors? Look in here' sticky" or the like. Keeps this thread on topic.
So here's my tip.
If your ancestor served in a county regiment or similar, it's quite possible County Hall Records Office has a microfilm copy of one or more battalion's war diaries. For example, this DLI war diary was opened in June 1944 as the battalion was camped on the outskirts of Southampton (and I pass the site every day - how spooky is that for a Co Durham lad?) camped waiting to embark for D-Day and went on (I only scratched the surface because it wasn't what I had gone looking for) presumably until the battalion disbanded or returned to the UK.
Last edited by AlienFTM; 29-10-2010 at 10:16.
Reason: Add highlight
Thanks for getting this started Alien. I know we have some top rate researchers banging about the place who can supply tips. So , don't be shy, share the secrets of researching your ancestors here :D
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
Museums - Ogilby Trust: here
Reiterating AlienFTM's advice, some museums have moved their documentary records to the County Record Offices/Archives. Some of the latter have online catalogues (e.g. the Durham Record office).
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
I originally posted this on another military history forum, so might as well share it here...
A little guide on how to find a particular British Army war diary at the National Archives.
1. The vital piece of information you need to know is what theatre the unit was in at a particular time or under whose command. The war diaries are arranged by command, following the Order of Battle.
For example if you were searching for the war diary of the 225 Field Company RE in May 1940, you need to search the index for the British Expeditionary Force as they were at Dunkirk at the time.
Here is the list of commands with their associated TNA reference series number:
War Office Directorates - WO 165
Home Forces - WO 166
British Expeditionary Force - WO 167
North-West Expeditionary Force - WO 168
Middle East Forces - WO 169
Central Mediterranean Forces - WO 170
North-West Europe - WO 171
South-East Asia Command - WO 172
West Africa Forces - WO 173
Madagascar - WO 174
British North Africa Forces - WO 175
Various smaller theatres - WO 176
Medical services - WO 177
Military Missions - WO 178
Dominion Forces WO 179
GHQ Liaison Regiment* - WO 215
Special Services - WO 218
Ships Signals Sections* - WO 257
Royal Marine Commandos - DEFE 2
* These series include associated papers
For the 225 Field Company RE war diary for May 1940, you need to search in WO 167 – British Expeditionary Force.
3. In the box for “Department or Series Code” enter the reference series number you found above, e.g. WO 167
4. In the box for “Word or Phrase” you can try a number of things. If you tried “225 Field Company” you’re not going to find anything because abbreviations are used in the index.
In this particular case I’d try the search phrase “225”.
If the unit/company number is low then try something like “Royal Engineers” to find the subdivision in the listing and then use the “Browse from here” button to scan through the entries from the start of that subdivision, as all the Royal Engineer units will be grouped together. The same for Royal Artillery, etc.
Museums - Ogilby Trust: here
Reiterating AlienFTM's advice, some museums have moved their documentary records to the County Record Offices/Archives. Some of the latter have online catalogues (e.g. the Durham Record office).
I used the above websites to do my research on a member of my family .
these other websites may also be of intrest to you .
In my experience i also had to do some research and find the full name of the person i was looking for , D.O.B. ,Address , Other members of the family .Miltary number if possible ,When they was killed in action . Army records if possible and medal adwards etc .
Also be prepared to find out details that was never spoke about in your family if you look up your ancestors details .
To use Ancestry.com you need to pay a sub. However your local public library may have a subscription to www.ancestrylibrary.com which carries the same information, but you don't have to pay to use it - however it is only available in the library, not on the library's online service, so you can't get into it from home. Ancestry carries all the UK census data.
It is always worth a google search if the regiment was a county one. I traced a fair bit or information on my great uncle via a tribute site about his regiment.
The site I found is HERE and is a good example of resources that are already partially researched.
I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on.
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