Tag Archives: First World War

Findmypast makes entire collection of more than 70 million world military records free for four days

Leading family history website, Findmypast, has just announced that they will be making their entire collection of military records free for four days to coincide with Remembrance Day 2016.

From 09.00 GMT, 10th November until 23.59 GMT, 13th November 2016, all 70 million records within Findmypast’s “Military, Armed Forces and Conflict” category will be completely free to search and explore, providing family historians from around the globe the opportunity to uncover the stories of the military heroes within their own family.
This will include free access to:
Over 26.4 million British military Records
Over 43 million US and Canada military records
The most comprehensive collection of British Army service records both for WW1 and pre WW1 – these multiple page documents were released in partnership with The National Archives and are packed with fascinating biographical details such as the names and addresses of next of kin, physical descriptions and character references from commanding officers.
The most comprehensive British Naval collection available online
The most comprehensive Royal Air Force collection online
Over 2.6 million POW records in our exclusive Prisoners of War 1715-1945 collection.
Over 1.1 million WW2 casualty records in our collection of British Army Casualty Lists.
Exclusive Pals battalion records covering major cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham.
Soldiers Died In The Great War 1914-1919 records
Comprehensive, illustrated Victoria Cross records
Over 1.5 million medal index cards, memorial rolls and roll of honour records
Military tribunal records – the records of thousands of men who attempted to avoid conscription
Military Nurses 1856-1994 records
Over 25,000 British Red Cross records

Free Access to Military Records on Ancestry {today only}

Did you know today commemorate 100 years since British tanks were first deployed at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette during the First World War?

For one day only Ancestry is giving us free access to their UK military records, but only until midnight.

The Military records include millions of service records, medal records, casualty lists and other Army records and Navy records.

Soldiers’ Effects Records now online

Earlier today I received an email from lost cousins about First World War Soldiers’ Effects records now online. Years ago I contacted the National Army Museum about thee records  as I wanted to see if they had any record of my great uncle Alfred Mansel Young. They did, but I subsequently lost the information.

Anyway, last night I searched on Ancestry which is where the records are now available and was able to re-discover the record.

Soldiers' Effects Records

I am so happy to have a copy of this record. I don’t understand much of it but it does show that the money was paid to his father Mansel Young. I find this interesting as at the time of his enlistment he was living in South Wales and I’m not sure why.

The Soldiers’ Effects Records, 1901-60, relating to monies owed to soldiers who were killed in action are held by the National Army Museum (NAM Accession Number: 1991-02-333; Record Number Ranges: 317501-319000; Reference: 164). You can access them via Ancestry and search them here.

The Times Daily Casualty List

As I mentioned the other day I signed up for a free trial with The Genealogist and already I have found a new record! My great uncle is mentioned in the Daily Casualty List published in The Times, 4th September 1916.

Daily Casualty List

Missing and Killed in Action records go online

I recently read that The Genealogist has released some new records  from the First World War. This new release contains over 800,000 records. Included are 575,000 Killed in Action records, over 226,000 unique Missing-in-Action records and 14,000 Status Updates.

My great-uncle Alfred Mansel Young was killed in action in 1916 so I was interested to see if I could find out any more information about his death.

Unfortunately The Genealogist is a subscription site and although it looks like they might have some interesting records I can’t afford a subscription. However, they offer a 2 week free trial here so it looks like I shall be signing up later tonight to take a closer look!

Let’s #Remember together

Tonight I spent some time uploading information to the Lives of the First World War site about my great uncle Alfred Mansel Young (you can see his life story page here). As you all know, this weekend is Remembrance Sunday which seemed like the perfect time to encourage you to use the site too.

Alfred Mansel Young

The site is really easy to use:

Go to livesofthefirstworldwar.org

Who will you remember? – type in a surname (and service number, if known)

Find your connection in millions of Life Stories already started by IWM

Create a free account and press the ‘Remember’ button on the Life Story page – so everyone can see who you are Remembering

Use email, Facebook and Twitter to Share the link to the Life Story page with your family and friends.

Use #remember and #LivesOfWW1 to join the community remembering together on Twitter.

Who will you remember? Your First World War connection could be a relative who served, someone who shares your surname or a person listed on your local war memorial.

Upload your story to ensure that these Life Stories are remembered now and saved for future generations on Lives of the First World War.