Scotland Military Records

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Military Records

Online Resources

• c.1600-1650 Database of Scots in the Italian Peninsular during the Thirty Years War c.1600-1650, pdf download
• 1615-1930 UK, Roll of the Indian Medical Service, 1615 -1930 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
• 1650 Battle of Dunbar: Follow the trail of the 1650 Scottish Prisoners
• 1661-1826 British Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826 at Findmypast — index & images ($)
• 1715-1947 Prisoners of War, 1715-1947 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1746-1939 UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
• 1760-1915 British Army Service Records 1760-1915 at Findmypast - index ($)
• 1772-1935 Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1786-1882 Wills Of Royal Navy & Royal Marines Personnel, 1786-1882 at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1796-1857 Edinburgh, Scotland, Army Attestation Registers, 1796-1857 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
• 1800-1915 Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Militia Attestation Papers, 1800-1915 at Ancestry - index ($)
• 1802 Perthshire, Scotland, Militia Survey, 1802 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1815 United Kingdom, Waterloo Roll Call 1815 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index; Also at: Findmypast ($)
• 1912-1945 United Kingdom, Royal Air Force Service Records, 1912-1945 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1914-1945 Web: Scotland, National War Memorial Index, 1914-1945 at Ancestry - index ($)
• 1914-1921, 1939-1947 Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921, 1939-1947 at MyHeritage ($), index and images
• 1923-2021 British Army, Honourable Artillery Company Journal 1923-2021 at Findmypast — index & images ($)
• 1935-1990 British Army, Recommendations For Military Honours and Awards 1935-1990 at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1939-1945 Royal Air Force, Operations Record Books 1939-1945 at Findmypast- index ($)
• 1939-1945 British Royal Air Force, Combat Reports 1939-1945 at Findmypast - index ($)
• 1939-1945 Bomber Command Losses, 1939-1945 at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1939-1945 Cupar, Fife, Scotland, World War II Evacuation Indexes, 1939-1945 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1939-1945 Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee, D C Thomson Staff War Album 1939-1945 at Findmypast ($), index and images
• 1939-1946 Airmen Died in the Second World War, 1939-1946 at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1939-1950 Scottish Women's Land Army Records at ScotlandsPeople
• 1940-1945 Second World War Civilian Casualties In Britain 1940-1945 at Findmypast — index & images ($)
• British Military Lists, index
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Regiments of Foot - a historical record of all the foot regiments of the British Army
• Research Guide: Soldiers' and Airmen's Wills
• Rolls of Honour, Scotland, index
• Scotland National War Memorial; Also at: MyHeritage ($)
• Scotland's War Dead, World War II
• The Scottish Military Research Group

Introduction

Military records identify individuals who either served or were eligible to serve in the military.

1707 was a pivotal year because it was when the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were unified and became the Kingdom of Great Britain. This brought about a new British Army, which incorporated regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland.

Further information: British Military Records

Before 1707 Scotland had its own military. During that time, people were only called up when needed. They were dismissed when the need was met. Few records were kept during this time.

In 1707 the governments and militaries of England and Scotland united. Most records from this time forward are housed in the Public Record Office in England. The information contained in the records varies depending on the record, but you will generally find the following information in military records:

• Date of enlistment
• Date of release
• Record of service
• Age
• Place of birth
• Residence
• Spouse
• Children

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the military had the following branches:

• Army
• Navy
• Militia
• Fencible
• Yeomanry
• Territorial Armies
• Coast guard
• Royal Marines.

Military service (other than the militia) was usually a lifetime career. Officers came from the upper classes and soldiers often came from the working class. Compulsory draft was generally not used except in times of greatest need, and people could purchase substitutes if they did not wish to serve.

The navy sometimes used force to make men serve on their ships. This was called impressment. The navy stopped this practice in 1815 when it became illegal.

Research Strategy

To find a person’s military record, you must know the regiment or ship on which the person served. You can often find this information:

• home sources
• certificates of births, marriages, and deaths

Branches of the Military

Army

21st Foot Royal Scots Fusiliers.jpg

Pre-1872 army records are organized by regiment. Most regiments have published histories which tell the places they served and the battles they fought. A bibliography of these histories is:

White, Arthur S., comp. A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army. London, England: The Society for Army Historical Research, 1965. (not at FamilySearch Library)

To find military histories at the FamilySearch Library, use the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

GREAT BRITAIN - MILITARY HISTORY

Records of officers and enlisted men are usually separate. Records of officers usually include only commissioned officers, they included:

• Field marshal
• General
• Lieutenant-general
• Major-general
• Brigadier
• Colonel
• Lieutenant-colonel
• Major
• Captain
• Lieutenant
• Ensign
• Cornet
• Paymaster
• Adjutant
• Quarter-master
• Surgeon
• Assistant surgeon
• Chaplain.

Types of Records

Army records include the following:

• Chaplains’ Returns. Army chaplains throughout the British Empire kept records that list the baptisms, marriages, and burials by regiment. These returns (from 1796 to 1880) are indexed and available at the Family Records Centre in London.
• Lists of Officers. Published annually, these records give the name, rank, and regiment (FamilySearch Library book 942 M25g;film 856427-452).
• Muster Rolls. Records usually list name, age at enlistment, date, and place of enlistment. Army musters exist from 1760 to 1878.
• Pay Records. These include pay lists, warrants, and ledgers.
• Pension Records. Pensions were available to officers, their widows, and children. The earliest of these records date from 1713 and include both service and personal information.
• Records of Service. These records are for officers and were kept from 1771 to 1911.
• Regimental Description Books. These books include name, age at enlistment, birthplace, previous trade, and physical description. Most books start about 1805 and continue to 1850.
• Regimental Registers. These are registers of births, baptisms, marriages, and burials of soldiers or members of their families that were compiled by regiment. Baptisms are indexed. Marriages and burials are partially indexed. These records (1761 to 1924) are available at the Family Records Centre.
• Soldiers’ Documents. Since military service was usually for one’s lifetime, discharge was often due to wounds or other physical impairment. Soldiers were discharged through an Army hospital, such as Chelsea. These records are available only for those soldiers who were discharged to pension. They have various arrangements depending upon the time period. Records exist from 1760 to 1914.

Location of Original Records

The above records are at the Public Record Office, Kew, unless stated otherwise. Pre-1707 records are at:

Scottish Record Office
P.O. Box 36
HM General Register House
Edinburgh EH1 3YY
Scotland
Website: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk

Post-1914 records are at:

Army Records Centre
Bourne Avenue
Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1RF
England

Records at the FamilySearch Library

The FamilySearch Library has:

• Soldier’s documents
• Regimental description books
• Lists of officers
• Records of service

You can find military records by looking in:

• Army Records. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978. (FamilySearch Library book 942 M2a; film 990313 item 5.) This is a typescript list of army records in the FamilySearch Library’s collection.

You can also find them by looking in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under either SCOTLAND or GREAT BRITAIN and the following topic headings:

MILITARY

MILITARY HISTORY

MILITARY - ARMY

Navy

Numerous navy records were kept after the union of England and Scotland in 1707. However, unless you know the name of a ship, they may be difficult to use. Many are available only at the Public Record Office.

Royal Scottish Navy.jpg

Records for officers and seaman were generally kept separately. The ranks of officers were as follows:

Commissioned officers include:

• Flag officers—admiral of the fleet, admiral, vice admiral, and rear admiral.
• Ship officers—captain, commander, lieutenant.
• Posts for men aspiring to be commissioned officers—first class volunteers, midshipmen, executive mates.

Warrant officers include:

• Wardroom rank—master, surgeon, purser, chaplain, schoolmaster, cook.
• Not of the wardroom rank—gunner, boatswain, carpenter.

Many sources list navy ships with descriptions, dates, and places of service. A good example is:

Colledge, James J. Ships of the Royal Navy. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987. (FS Library book 942 M3c.)

Official list books, available from 1673, give ports of call for ships during each year.

Types of Records

Navy records include:

• Officers Service Records. These date from about 1795 and list officers’ service information.
• Navy Lists. Starting in 1782, these lists contain seniority lists of officers from lieutenant upwards.
• Succession Books. Arranged by ship, these books give the successive appointments to each position on the ship.
• Musters and Pay Books. These are lists of the ship’s company and give information such as appearance, whether or not pressed into service, age, birthplace, and discharge.
• Certificates of Service. Starting in about 1790, certificates were needed to support a claim to receive a pension.
• Continuous Service Engagement Books. From 1853, navy ratings (seamen) were assigned continuous service numbers. The records give name, birth date, birthplace, description, and ship. From 1872 to 1892, merchant seamen were included.
• Registers of Service. There are several different types of service registers with the earliest dating only from the 1840s and pertaining to officers. Before that time, officers were issued certificates of service only when they needed to prove qualifying service. The earliest service registers for ratings (seamen) are for those entering the service from 1873.
• Bounty Papers. These give the name and address of the relation to whom bounty is to be paid in case the seamen is killed in action or dies. They include baptismal and sometimes marriage certificates of next of kin.
• Lieutenant’s Passing Certificates. Registers of those young officers or gentlemen examined for promotion to Lieutenant in the Navy from 1691 to 1848. From 1789 onwards baptismal certificates were attached to them. They are indexed to 1832.

Location of Original Records

Pre-1914 navy records are at the Public Record Office, Kew.

Post-1914 navy records are at:

Ministry of Defense
Main Building, Whitehall
SW1A 2HB
England
Website: www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/home

Records at the FamilySearch Library

The FamilySearch Library has:

• Continuous service engagement books
• Indexes to commission and warrant books
• Bounty papers
• Some navy lists

You can also find them by looking in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under either SCOTLAND or GREAT BRITAIN and the following topic headings:

MILITARY

MILITARY HISTORY

MILITARY - NAVY

Militia

Militia units were generally raised on a county basis. Each unit kept its own records. Lists of eligible men were compiled, and compulsory draft was used as needed. The decision of who would serve in the militia was usually left up to the individual parishes.

Location of Original Records

Records of muster up to the Act of Union of 1707 are kept at the Scottish Record Office in Edinburgh. A list of these records is in:

Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1989. (FamilySearch Library Ref. 942 M2gj.)

To find post-1707 muster lists held by the Scottish Record Office and other Scottish archives, see:

Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876.Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1989. (FamilySearch Library Ref. 942 M2gmm.) This source also lists regimental returns for the reestablished militia from 1798 onwards, which are at the Public Record Office, Kew.

Some militia records are found with the army records mentioned previously, particularly the records of service of officers and the soldiers’ documents.

Scotland National War Memorial: contains a Roll of Honour database of Scottish casualties from both world wars and those who died in conflict since 1945

Records at the FamilySearch Library

Many militia records have been microfilmed and are available at the FamilySearch Library.

You can also find them by looking in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

GREAT BRITAIN - MILITARY RECORDS

SCOTLAND - MILITARY RECORDS

SCOTLAND [COUNTY] - MILITARY RECORDS

Other Branches

The following other military branches have separate records:

• Fencibles were army units raised for home service only. Fencibles were usually classed with the militia, and records are kept with militia records.
• Yeomanry were volunteer regiments, records of which often do not survive or are not very complete.
• Territorial armies were forces raised in other countries. Records of these forces are usually in the country where the forces were raised. A notable exception is the Indian Army, for which many records are held at the India Office Library.
• Coast Guard (1816-1923) and Royal Marines (1790-1914) kept their own records, including pension, description, and other records.

These records are at the Public Record Office, Kew.

For more information on military records for branches of the service other than navy or regular army, see the military record handbooks listed next.

Books on Military History and Military Records

Because the records are vast and varied, it would be useful to read some of the following books to learn more about the military and what is available for each branch of the service:

• Barnes, R. Money. The Scottish Regiments: Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, 1625 to the Present Day. London, England: Seeley Service, 1956. (FS Library book 941 M25b.)
• Calder, Jenni. The Story of the Scottish Soldier, 1600- 1914. Edinburgh, Scotland: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1987. (Family HHistory Library book 941 M2c.)
• Fowler, Simon. Army Records for Family Historians. London, England: Public Record Office, 1992. (FamilySearch Library Ref 942 M27f.)
• Hamilton-Edwards, Gerald. In Search of Army Ancestry. London, England: Phillimore & Co., Ltd., 1977. (Family History Library book 942 M2ha.)
• Higham, Robin. A Guide to the Sources of British Military History. London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. (FS Library book) 942 M2h.
• Kitzmiller, John. In Search of the Forlorn Hope. Ogden, Utah: Manuscript Publishing Foundation, 1988. (FS Library book 942 M2kj.)
• Records of Officers and Soldiers Who Have Served in the British Army. London, England: Public Record Office, 1984. (FamilySearch Library Ref. book 942 M23gb.)
• Rodgers, N.A.M. Naval Records for Genealogists. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1988. (FS Library book 942 A5p no. 22.)
• Swinnerton, Ian. The British Army: Its History, Tradition, and Records. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1996. (FS Library book 942 M2si.)
• Swinson, Arthur S., ed. A Register of the Regiments and Corps of the British Army. London, England: Archive Press, 1972. (FS Library book 942 M2am No. 1.)
• Thomas, Garth. Records of the Royal Marines. London, England: Public Record Office, 1994. (FamilySearch Library Ref 942 M27tg.)
• Watts, Michael J., and Christopher T. Watts. My Ancestor Was in the British Army: How Can I Find Out More About Him? London, England: Society of Genealogists, 1992. (FamilySearch Library Ref 942 M27wm.)