England Army Colonial Regiments - International Institute

Colonial regiments
During the 18th and 19th centuries Britain was establishing colonies around the world and the army raised separate colonial regiments as needed, often including former members of the British Army. Britain also used some foreign regiments as mercenaries, the most notable perhaps being German:


 * Hessians fought in North America from 1776.
 * King’s German Legion, which fought during the Napoleonic Wars and was formed from the disbanded Hanoverian army.

Many such former soldiers chose to remain in the lands in which they had served or came to Britain. The Public Record Office recommend R. Perkins’ Regiments and Corps of the British Empire and Commonwealth 1758-1993: a Critical Bibliography as the best review of these regiments. Records exist at the Public Record Office in London as well as in the archives of the former colonies themselves. As a general rule the following are available from The National Archives (TNA):


 * Casualty Lists and associated indexes 1798-1817 in WO 25.
 * Half Pay Returns for officers from the Canadian
 * forces 1783-1813 in WO 24.
 * Muster books in WO 12.
 * Pension records including:
 * Admission books for pensions 1817-1875 and 1880-1903 in WO 23.
 * Registers in WO 22.
 * Records of Colonial Militia in WO 13.
 * Returns of ordinary soldiers and non-commissioned
 * officers 1806 in WO 25.
 * Soldiers Documents 1760-1872 in WO 97.

Records of the Cape Mounted Rifles, Ceylon Rifles, Royal Canadian Rifles and the West India Rangers are in WO 25 at TNA. The CO (Colonial Office) records also contain material on some colonial regiments.

Australia
Those interested in tracing members of the Australian Imperial Force who served 1914-1919 will be assisted by the AIF Project databas, of all the men and women who served overseas (Bastow).

North America
Those interested in soldiers who came with the British Army to Canada should consult Stewart (1962) for information on which regiments, battalions and companies served where and when. This information can also be found in Kitzmiller’s ''In Search of the Forlorn Hope. A Comprehensive Guide to Locating British Regiments and Their Records 1840-WWI.'' There are 571 films of British forces in North America from the Canadian National Archives C series, starting at.

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