Chris Baker Military Research

Author: Chris1418

  • Some examples of what my clients say

    Please see this page for client comments

  • My report and copyright

    The report that I compile for you will remain as my copyright, but you as my client are granted a free, permanent, royalty-free right to use or reproduce it in any way you wish.

    The various documents found during the searches have different copyright status depending on where they originated and who owns them. There are some restrictions in what I am able to send to you. They are explained below.

    Where it is possible from a copyright viewpoint I will incorporate the document in my report. In most cases this is not permissible and instead I will provide you with a precise citation so that you can easily locate it and obtain a copy if needed.

    Public domain works

    Works such as books, photographs and printed maps have copyright that expires 70 years after the death of their creator. They then become public domain and I can use them as necessary in helping to compile the report.

    Crown Copyright works

    Works produced by British government departments, such as the war diary of the unit with which a soldier served, are subject to Crown Copyright.

    Many have been digitised and are available from the National Archives website. This is currently free of charge if you register, which is also free. I will provide you with a citation and link.

    Some Crown Copyright works held by the National Archives have not been digitised. Where necessary I will obtain a digital photograph for you and will add it into my report.

    The “London Gazette”, which is a key source for information on officers and gallantry and bravery awards, is free to use under Open Government Licence.

    Digitised works

    This includes the scanned or digitised images of documents that are available through fee-paying subscription services. Such things include army service records, medal records, casualty lists, and military pension records. Each provider has its own terms under which these works can be used. Here are the key ones that I will need to use.

    Ancestry and associated sites such as Fold3:

    In using my Ancestry account I have agreed (as have all users),

    “To use Ancestry Content only in connection with your personal use of the Services or professional family history research; To download Ancestry Content only in connection with your family history research or where expressly permitted by Ancestry”

    In other words, I am permitted to find things for you in my role as a researcher, but not to download them for you.

    Findmypast:

    In using my Findmypast account I have agreed (as have all users),

    “You cannot use the Records to create your own work such as databases, articles, blogs, or books, or copy or reproduce the Records (either in whole or in part), or publish them, for a purpose other than personal use, without our prior written permission (and/ or that of the Licensor of the Records).“

    British Newspaper Archive:

    In using my BNA account I have agreed (as have all users),

    “If you use any content from the website, whether online or offline, you must make it clear where you have found the material by including a reference to the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk); The British Library Board and also the copyright statement that appears on the page you are on.”

    In other words, once again I cannot download for you (although in any case this is very rarely necessary for newspapers as it is more a question of using text) but I will provide you with the exact citation.

    Scotlandspeople:

    “You agree not to (and agree not to assist or facilitate any third party to) copy, reproduce, transmit, publish, distribute, commercially exploit or create derivative works of the Website or Content.” It does state that I can search on your behalf in my role as a professional, but I can;t send a downloaded copy on to you.

    Imperial War Museum photographic archive:

    “You can download standard-resolution images and embed films or sound recordings from the IWM website free of charge, for your own private and Non-Commercial use, under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence.” But this rules out using images in my reports as they are the output of a commercial venture. Where there are relevant photographs in the IWM collection, I will provide you with a citation and link where you can download them free of charge. Improved quality prints or digital files can be purchased from IWM.

  • Back again – in a new way

    I just couldn’t put it down.

    In early 2022, my wife Geraldine suffered a severe stroke. It has turned our lives upside down and means that I need to be an ever-present carer, for she is physically disabled by it. The time involved made it really hard for me to do that and keep up with my research at a tempo and standard that I had applied for the past decade and more. I decided that I just had to stop, and I retired my business which was known as Fourteeneighteen. Bad move. It left a big hole in my life.

    So I had a rethink and three things emerged.

    Eureka! Epiphany!
    1. I have to limit how much of this work I take on. Sometimes I am going to have to say no.
    2. I have a problem if any project involves a need for a physical visit to an archive (which is not many these days thanks to digitisation and my accumulated library). It’s not insuperable, as I can subcontract photographing records, for example. But I will try to steer away from projects where this is a key element and may recommend an alternative researcher for a prospective client.
    3. The largest time element is in writing up the narrative. Doing the searches for information or interpreting what they say is not an issue: I can usually do those things in a short timeframe, just through experience. No, it’s the typing and the page formatting and all that stuff that goes with producing say a Word document, and then sending it all electronically to my client. But wait a moment: I write web pages all the time and find that much easier than Word, so why not present my reports that way? That is how the method of presenting via a web page came into my head.

    If I do all that, then I can probably achieve a good balance between being a carer and a military researcher. And that would suit me just fine. So let’s see!

    Oh, and another thing. Fourteeneighteen was structured as a legal partnership, so all my fee income went into it and it had its own tax return, etc. That has been terminated now. So I from now on am doing this on a self-employed basis.