Learning Centre \ Military Records \ De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour


De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour

If any of your ancestors were professional soldiers who fought and died in the early days of WWI, you may be able to find them in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour.

The roll features details of 25,000 members of the British armed forces (rather than conscripts or volunteers) who gave their lives for their country.

What can I find in this collection?

Depending on the entry, you can discover a varying amount of information. Sometimes, details are limited to regiment, place and date of death.

However, where the family has provided the background, the entries are much more detailed, giving a fascinating biographical account. Over 7,000 of the entries are accompanied by a photograph — so you can meet your ancestor face-to-face.

Sample records: [+] Click to magnify

 
 

A brief history of De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour

In the early days of World War One, it was believed that the war would be won swiftly and that casualties would be relatively small. In a time of fervent patriotism, the Marquis de Ruvigny began to compile a Roll of Honour as a tribute to the fallen few.

Sadly, as casualties mounted, it became clear that this would not be the case and the Roll features just a tiny fraction of those soldiers who died.

In a way, De Ruvigny’s is a fascinating insight into the overconfidence of a nation and gives a picture of a more naive time. But it can also give you a unique picture of your military ancestors if they are featured.

How do I search this collection?

As well as searching by personal information like name, date of birth or residence, you can also search by rank, regiment or regimental number. The more information you have, the more accurate your search results.

Go

If you can’t find your ancestors here (or if you’ve made a match but want to discover more), you can search our other WWI records — like the British Army Pension Records, British Army Service Records or Medal Rolls Index. Or to look for family members closer to home, search the WWII British Army Roll of Honour and WWII British Army Prisoner of War Records.

What's my next step?

Once you find a match, save it to your family tree — that way you can easily share your discoveries with your family, and quickly find the historical record again later. You can then search other record collections to discover more about your military ancestors.

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