Military records

Get an insight into what life was like for family members left back home during wartime with our new exclusive records collection—WWII Civil Defence Gallantry Awards. Nearly 2 million people volunteered for Civil Defence duties during WWII, which ranged from Air Raid Protection wardens to first aid and fire watching. Even boys and girls between 15 and 18 years old had a role, mainly as messengers.

You can explore our new collection to find out if any of your relatives won a medal (the George Cross is the highest civilian gallantry award) and uncover detailed accounts of heroic acts by ordinary people on the home front.

In 1815, Napoleon attempted to reclaim his title as Emperor of France but was soundly defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by a coalition of British and Prussian forces. Over 25,000 British troops fought in the battle and these records will help you find your ancestors who were there.

Our Waterloo Medal Roll collection provides a list of all the troops who participated in the battle, but you can search the UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817, for even more details about your ancestor’s service. These troop accounts span the years of the Napoleonic Wars and include information such as rank, pay, regiment, start date, and more.

Find out exactly what your relatives experienced during World War I, with two new collections of detailed War Diaries. These collections are extra special as they include daily reports on operations from the Western Front and the Gallipoli Campaign. You can find out where your ancestors were and what they were doing at particular periods during the war.

The level of detail varies depending on who was filling in each diary - but at times you can read what the weather was like and how morale was holding up. You'll even find hour-by-hour accounts of some of WWI's largest battles, from the soldiers' point-of-view.
 

Service records are the perfect place to start your search for World War I heroes. They reveal their ranks and regiments, where they served, what medals they received and many more personal details.

This collection, British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920, includes soldiers who either died during WWI or remained in service until the end of the War. Its sister collection, British Army WWI Pension Records, 1914-1920, covers soldiers who were discharged to pension — usually because they were injured.

Just about everybody who served in WWI was due a medal of some sort. As a result, British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 — put together to record what awards each soldier had earned — is the most complete list of Britain's heroes.

If you find a relative received the Distinguished Conduct Medal, you can learn more about the courageous deeds that earned it for them in our separate DCM collection.

Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, provides details of more than 2 million soldiers over three centuries of warfare. It lists those who were eligible for a huge variety of campaign medals — which were usually awarded to everyone who fought in particular battles.

You can discover whether your relatives fought in the Napoleonic Wars, The Indian Mutiny, The Crimea or dozens of other conflicts. The two World Wars aren‘t included — you‘ll find the WWI rolls in our separate collection.