England Miscellaneous Army Records - International Institute

Prisoners of War
Very few records exist at the The National Archives (TNA) for prisoners of war before WWI and these are only for the American Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The London Gazette reported on some Boer War prisoners. For the First and Second World Wars the records are kept by the International Council of the Red Cross (Wynn-Jones) and are not open to the public for 100 years. A written request can be made in English for records older than 50 years and an hourly fee is payable for which they accept credit cards.

Fowler and Spencer in their book Army Records for Family Historians have surveyed the existing records at the Public Record Office which include the following:br&gt;


 * WWI interviews of prisoners that returned home were kept by the Committee on the Treatment of British Prisoners of War, and they and the repatriation reports are in WO 161.


 * World War II records include lists of all British and Dominions POWs held by the Germans and Italians from 1939 to 1945 in WO 392. An even more comprehensive list of prisoners of the Japanese can be accessed through a card index in WO 345.

Other fragmentary records do exist, for example contains information about Napoleonic War prisoners in France. Paterson (2002) has written a useful article on sources called Tracing Prisoners of War in Family and Local History Handbook 6th edition. Wood (2001) presents a good overview of the history of POWs, the influence of the Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions, and the records that are available for British POWs in British Prisoners of War and Their Records. Family Tree Magazine. Vol 17 #8, page 55-56. Paddy White gives information about education in POW camps in Student POWs. Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #6, page 64. Extracts from John Bell’s WWI POW diary were published in Family Tree Magazine (Sharman), the story of a search for a WWI POW is recounted by M.A.Williams in ''You Won’t Find Anything on Him, Dear! Search for a POW''. Family Tree Magazine Vol 10 #11, page 41. The TNA has three finding aids, M29 for 1698-1919 and M19 and M20 for 1939-1953. See also TNA leaflet M12.

Records of Women in the Army
There are very few records for women as they were not officially employed until the mid-19th century as nurses in the Crimea. Wives of soldiers are recorded in the soldiers’ discharge documents WO 97 from the 1850s, and occasionally those retained on the strength appear in muster rolls in WO 12 and WO 16 under the Married Establishment. See also TNA leaflet M74.

Records of Officers
There are references to commissioned and warrant officers between 1661 and 1782 in class SP 44. Officers records, arranged by regiment, begin to be really useful in 1829 and go up to 1870. More of them have survived than have records for lower ranks. These records contain place of birth, details of service career, marriage and children with their dates of birth. Thereafter one has to rely on the Army Lists that are not so detailed. See TNA leaflets M4, M10, M17, M23, M24, and M73 for information on officers.

Army Lists: 1702-1879 WO 65, 1880-1900 WO 66 The Army Lists date from 1702, and were published officially from 1740, and printed annually from 1754. They are arranged by regiment, and from 1879 give names of officers in order of seniority, their dates of birth and promotions, with service details from 1881. It tells where each battalion of the regiment was stationed that year, and can also list names of officers on half pay. There are several overlapping series, some being annual, others half-yearly, quarterly or even monthly. Various indexes are available starting at 1766 and this is a good place to start when the officer’s regiment is not known. There are films available from 1754 until 1915 under various headings on the FamilySearch Catalog, for example -452; Kitzmiller in his book ''In Search of the Forlorn Hope. A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records 1840-WWI'' lists them all.

There is an alternative version with more details, Hart’s Army List, which started in 1839 and was issued until 1915. It lists the date of purchase of commissions. The years 1862-70, and 1905-1908 are on 10 films starting at. Whitaker’s Naval and Military Directory and Indian Army List is another good one available on film.

Separate lists of officers are available for:


 * Royal Artillery 1716-1914 
 * Royal Engineers 1660-1898 
 * Army Medical Officers 1660-1960 (see book by Wellcome Historical Medical Library) 
 * War Office staff 1861-1964

Transfer of Commissions
A paper trail was kept as officers were appointed, promoted, transferred or purchased commissions, the latter being the most personally informative. They are in a wide variety of classes described in Fowler and Spencer’s Army Records for Family Historians, for example WO 31, the Commander-in-Chief’s Memoranda which contains small packets of letters relating to each officer.

Service Records
Regimental Records WO 76 and War Office Records WO 25 The Regimental records in WO 76, some of which are still in the hands of the individual regiments, and some of which do not survive, start around 1755 going to 1961. 1770-1919 are available through FamilySearch Centers on 96 films beginning with. Details given vary with the regiment and the information may be supplemented by reading published regimental histories (Hook 2001-1, Arthur White).

The War Office records in WO 25 were compiled by the officers themselves in the years 1809-10, 1828-9, 1847, and 1870-72. A new system was introduced in 1870 and records survive until 1914. Records of officers discharged between 1914 and 1920 were lost during bombing in WWII. Further details should be sought in Fowler, Spencer and Tamblin’s Army Service Records of the First World War.

Records of Payments to Officers PMG 3, 4 The Paymaster General Department’s records for officers retired on full pay are in class PMG 3, and for those retired on half pay in PMG 4, and there are several miscellaneous others.

Pensions and Half Pay WO32 and WO 42 Until 1871 there were no retirement or disability pensions for officers; instead they were released from active service and put on half pay, as were many officers superfluous to current needs in peacetime in a kind of retainer capacity. Some officers might sell their commissions and live off the proceeds. The Army Lists record officers on half pay, (although they may not occur in the indexes), and there were also separate pay records for example those starting at film.

Wounded officers could receive pensions from 1812 to 1892. Widows of officers killed on active service could claim pensions from 1708, and a fund for needy widows was set up in 1818. The Compassionate Fund and the Royal Bounty were set up in 1720 to provide for other dependants in need. About 2000 application records containing much personal detail, including copies of birth, christening, marriage and death records, survive from 1755 to 1908 and are on film from 1776-1881; some examples follow in charts 12-15.

Pension Application by Officer’s Widow
Widow’s and Children’s Pension Applications The collection starts at film and an example is shown below.

CHART: Pension Application by Officer’s Widow                                           '''Page 1. Application Form '''

'''Page 2. Certificate of Marriage accompanying Officer’s Widow’s Application'''

Application for Back Pay
CHART: Application for Back Pay                                                                                            '''Page 1. Application Form '''

'''Page 2. Doctor’s Certificate accompanying Back Pay Application '''

Certificate of Death on Battlefield
Papers accompanying other applications include these:

CHART: Certificate of Death on Battlefield 

Medical Certificate
CHART 15: Medical Certificate

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