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England Military Records: Difference between revisions
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3. The person died more than 25 years ago. | 3. The person died more than 25 years ago. | ||
There is currently a £30 fee for copies of these records and the record copies are normally heavily censored. | There is currently a £30 fee for copies of these records and the record copies are normally heavily censored. | ||
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= Royal Air Force = | = Royal Air Force = | ||
Formed on 1st April 1918 by merging the aviation branches of the existing services, namely the Royal Flying Corps | Formed on 1st April 1918 by merging the aviation branches of the existing services, namely the Royal Flying Corps (Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service (Royal Navy). This merger created the totally independent Royal Air Force (RAF), and is the oldest air force in the world. | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
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The RAF maintains its own records archive although officers papers are downloadable (£) from TNA here: [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=43&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1 RAF Officers records.] Other ranks service records are not online but if service ended prior to 1920, can be accessed at TNA. Post-1920 records are dealt with in the same way as army & Navy records under FOI requests(see above). | The RAF maintains its own records archive although officers papers are downloadable (£) from TNA here: [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=43&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1 RAF Officers records.] Other ranks service records are not online but if service ended prior to 1920, can be accessed at TNA. Post-1920 records are dealt with in the same way as army & Navy records under FOI requests(see above). | ||
RAF Officers can also be found listed in the Air Force lists, which have been published annually since August 1918, Most public libraries have copies available to browse. | |||
There are a large number of records held at TNA that can be researched such as Station and Squadron record books; photo albums and so forth.<br><br> | There are a large number of records held at TNA that can be researched such as Station and Squadron record books; photo albums and so forth.<br><br> | ||
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= '''Medals''' = | = '''Medals''' = | ||
'''Campaign Medals:''' | '''Campaign Medals:''' | ||
Tokens or medals have been awarded to British service personnel since the medieval times although the first officially recognised campaign medal is the Military General Service Medal instituted in 1847 and awarded to all army personnel that had served on active campaigns between 1793-1815. Each medal was named to the recipient along with his unit details. A clasp (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a bar) bearing the name of the relevant campaign or battle was attached to the ribbon suspension, with subsequent clasps being added in the sequence in which they were earned. In some cases 10 or more campaign clasps were earned. 29 clasps were authorised in total. Altogether, over 25,000 medals were issued. | |||
The Royal Navy instituted its own equivalent, the Naval General Service Medal, also in 1847 but covering the slightly longer period of 1793-1840. Whilst a staggering 231 different campaign or battle clasps were authorised, not all were issued. The most clasps issued to any single recipient was 7. As the medal was authorised some considerable time after most of the campaigns and battles had taken place, and also due to widespread illiteracy, a large number of men did not claim their medals. In total just over 20,000 medals were actually issued. | |||
These two medals started a precedent of issuing campaign medals that still continues to this day, with the RAF joining the process in 1918 by following the lead set by the Army. It is a widely collected field and there are many resources on the subject. From a family history perspective, knowing what medals a relative was entitled to can lead to fascinating journies of discovery as well as the medal themselves providing useful information. | |||
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'''Awards & Honours:''' | |||
Brave conduct, meritorious service and so forth have long been rearded publicly. Since the 19th century, such awards to the military have generally taken medallic form although it has historically been shown that a reward may also involve a promotion or a share of the spoils, particularly if at sea and an enemy vessel was captured, | |||
As such, honours and awards tend to be publicly announced in the London Gazette newspaper. The online search archive can require a certain amount of skill to find what or rather who you are searching for but it can yield fantastic results: [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search London Gazette Archive] | |||
'''Online Resources:''' | |||
WW1 Army medal index cards are available through [http://www.ancestry.co.uk www.ancestry.co.uk] - if you have a subscription they are free. Otherwise you will have to pay £2 fee to download it if you get it through The National Archives website: [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=10&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1 Medal Index Cards] . These cards contain details of name, rank, service number(s), unit(s) as well as confirmation of medal entitlement. Some of the cards have additional information on the reverse such as theatre of operations, home addresses, next of kin and so forth. Only Ancestry have copied both sides of these cards. | |||
There is not an equivalent system for detailing medals awarded to members of the Royal Navy and RAF - medal details were recorded on the service papers and likewise, non-WW1 medals are only annotated on service records for all services. | |||
Various medal rolls for different campaigns also exist in various forms e.g. printed books; CD's; TNA records etc. Some are also available on the subscription based sites such as Ancestry and Find My Past. | |||
The [http://www.britishmedalforum.com British Medals Forum] is probably about as definitive a website as one can find when it comes to the subject of British medals of any type. A huge fount of knowledge resides on the forum and membership is free. | |||
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