Genealogy Chat

I know this is the long way round, but when i started my tree, i didnt know where to start, with ww1, so i stated looking on line at the war memorials around the areas my family was connected with, and it worked i found family members, 3 with sad endings, 1 with a happy ending and a hero, puls some give you extras like parents and where and when they enlist, which helps place them in your tree, it took a couple of eveings ,but it was very intresting. good luck and happy hunting Sandra

Thanks Sarah, i think maybe i will have to make the trip to Kew at some time.

Hi Snowdrops/Ann

Thankyou both for help

Army Lists are only for Officers. If there is a Regimental Museum for that regiment, they may have a little info on him.

Yes, in the Army Lists.

But your best bet (if you can) is to look in the local papers of where the man lived. Quite often there were small write ups about them and they often had accompanying photos.

You should be able to find the newspapers in the local study area of the library in the town they lived.

Hi again all

Can I ask another question please. When people joined the Army WW1. Surrey Regiment. Would there be a list somewhere of recruits?

Hi Folks
Sorry for being late in replying. Thankyou to you all.

There are 2 series of WW1 records for "other ranks" Ref WO364, the so called pension records, which are all on Ancestry, and WO363, which are only on Ancestry for surnames A-H, along with missorts for A-Z. So there are LOADS more still to come.

Im not sure what you mean.....I only know that if you type in the name 'Williams' you get 6,539 WW1 pension records.

Yes they have the letters A - Z and there are a few for those beyond H, but if you look at "Further information" or something like that , it says they have only got to H.There are still plenty to come! :)

They can take a long time to load though :(

WW1 on Ancestry covers A to Z ( I think they are still adding) but a lot of the records were destroyed in a fire in WW2 so sadly for some they may never find them.

No problem - it is a very interesting site. Many thanks to whoever put it on here.

I just checked and only A to H are on Ancestry - it could be that your How(e) looks like Low(e) or something! Worth checking for later on.

I am just having a look around the site now Petrina..... looks interesting. Thanks for all your time and effort.

Julie

http://www.1914-1918.net/mics.htm

Found it!

Can't find the post, but someone was very sure that there were more records to be added by Ancestry! I was pleased because I have some that I can't find yet.
Good Luck

I have a copy of his medal card........given to me by his son (my gf brother) but it doesn't say a lot just the corps he was in, the medals and that he was a private.

I will keep looking Petrina.....you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Didn't you say he died in 1980? His record wouldn't be with the CWGC in that case.
There is a very useful link on medal cards given on here somewhere and it seems not all the records are on Ancestry yet.

Thanks Sarah I will try that.

Ann, I believe he left the army after the war but maybe worth a try anyway.

Julie

CWGC also covers Second World War so if you lost a relative in that this too is the place to look

Tetley

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is a database of men who died during the period of the Great War (which includes dates up to 1921).

If you have a relative who died (or need to check if they died) you can log in their details (as much as you know about) and their database will tell you when they died and where they are buried (or commemorated if they have no known grave).

They can often tell you how old the man was and who his parents were - but this isn't always the case so it's taken as an added bonus.

You can google for the address using the acronym cwgc and take it from there (it's also an extremely interesting website for anyone interested in knowing more about WWI)

Kim

Hi Tetley,

CWGC stands for Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Hollyd