Tracing your military relatives is a crucial part of family history. Few of our family members deserve to have their memories preserved more than those who fought to secure our freedom. The detailed records of these heroic forebears provoke feelings of awe, sorrow and pride that you won’t experience with any other documents.
Many of us are aware of grandparents or even parents who fought for their country in World War I. However, these courageous people were often understandably reluctant to talk about their experiences. We have an array of records that let you piece together their military careers, and honour their bravery.
Service records provide a complete picture of your relatives' military service. They reveal their ranks and regiments, where they served, what medals they received and many more personal details.
This exclusive collection includes the records of many soldiers who either died during WWI or remained in service until the end of the War. If you don't know what happened to your forebears, it's usually the best place to start your search.
This huge collection includes another 5 million service records. It covers soldiers who were discharged to pension during WWI – usually because they were injured.
Between them, our Pension Records and Service Records reveal the experiences of almost three-quarters of the entire British Army. Your courageous relatives shouldn't appear in both, so if you can't find them in the Service Records, this should be your next port of call.
Just about everybody who served in WWI was due a medal of some sort. As a result, this collection – 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 DCM collection.
When you find a relative’s Service or Pension record, note down his regimental number. You can then use this to pick him out in other collections.
All WWI Medal images courtesy of Medal Yearbook, Token Publishing
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We're proud to be contributing to the Poppy Appeal - see our facebook page for details. This worthy cause has been raising money for ex-Service men and women, and their families, since 1921. If you can, we urge you to also support it.
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