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What do we do? Our services
Our primary service: reporting a man's (or woman's)
army service history
- We search the archives for documents
that mention your soldier. These are listed below.
- We obtain a copy of
each document. Increasingly this is by photograph
or downloadable image.
- We examine the documents and reassemble the facts
into a narrative. This is where expertise comes in.
- We provide you
with all the documents and our narrative, in hard copy and/or through
our client portal.
- We also provide you with
useful supporting documents. So for example if he was recruited under
the "Derby Scheme" we tell you exactly what it was and how it affected
him. For soldiers who died, we do our best to pinpoint the place and
circumstances.
What do we search?
The documentary archives we search
as standard are:
| Document |
Source |
Reference |
Remarks |
Service record |
National Archives |
"Burnt
series" WO363 |
Alternatively
officers, WO339 and WO374. For women WO398 and WO399. For certain
regiments, WO400. |
| |
National Archives |
WO364 |
|
| |
Ancestry.com** |
Service records |
|
| |
| Pension record |
National Archives |
PIN26 |
|
| |
Ancestry.com** |
Pension records |
|
| |
| Medals entitlement |
National
Archives |
Index card and
rolls |
|
| |
Ancestry.com** |
Index cards |
|
| |
| Promotions
and appointments |
National Archives |
The
Army List and London Gazette |
Officers only |
| |
| General |
Our own
library |
National
Roll of Honour |
|
** No need for you to pay to search the Ancestry.com
records. We do it for you.
The documentary archives we also search
depending on individual circumstances are:
| Document |
Source |
Reference |
Remarks |
| Gallantry awards |
National Archives |
Index card and roll, London Gazette |
For those who won such awards |
| |
Times Digital Archive |
Announcements |
Ditto |
Records
of death and burial |
Commonwealth
War Graves Commission |
Commemoration
record |
For
men/women who died |
| |
Our own
library |
"Soldiers/Officers
Died in the Great War" |
For men who
died |
| Records
of prisoners of war |
National
Archives |
WO161 index of reports |
For
men who were captured |
| Unit war diary
and similar operational records |
National Archives |
WO95 |
For
all who died, captured, won gallantry awards or where other specific
events (e.g. wounding) can be identified from service record |
| |
Our own
library |
Regimental histories,
etc |
Ditto |
| Location |
National
Archives |
Trench and other
maps |
Ditto |
| |
Our own
library |
Ditto |
Ditto |
All of the searches listed above are undertaken as part
of our usual service and are included in our fee. We have been known
to dive off into other areas of interest, depending on the project, and
again this is all included. We always do our best to illustrate the individual's
service career as fully as we possibly can.
You may already have some of
the documents
Some
of our clients have been fortunate enough to have, for example, a
soldier's discharge papers. Others have found a pension
or service record at Ancestry.com.
That's great! It will help to get us off to a flying start. Just tell us
about it when you place your order and we will adjust our work and fee
accordingly.
Where expertise comes
in
Military records are often incredibly difficult
to understand. They are full of jargon, abbreviations, acronyms and other
elements that make it almost impossible for a layman to fully understand
what they are saying. To make matters worse, WW1 records are often faded,
damaged, in unfamiliar handwriting and out of sequence!
It is even worse
if the records are partial or if all that is left are medals records,
for example. That is where we come in. We have seen so many of these
documents it is now that we can pick out the tiniest item of significance.
We still occasionally find things that are puzzling - but that gives
us a bit of extra fun in finding out. Our job is to create for you from
the military detail a plain English narrative. We'll tell you what happened,
put it in context and generally do our best to give you the best possible
understanding of your soldier's story.
Can I see an example?
Of course. Some individual stories are
here and another is illustrated in our client
portal.
Let's get going!
We would love to undertake your project and look forward
to welcoming you into our client family.
Get a quote and place your order today.
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