England Military Records

Military records identify individuals who served or were eligible to serve in the military. Military service (other than the militia) was usually a lifetime career. Officers came from the upper classes; soldiers usually came from the poor. On occasion, compulsory conscription was enforced and even "press-gangs" were used. Evidence that an ancestor served in the military may be found in family records, biographies, censuses, probate records, civil registration, or church records.
England has been regularly involved in military action. Examples of these are:

1284: The Norman invasion of Wales from 1067–1283 (formalized with the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284) put Wales under England's control. Wales came under English law with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542.
1455-1481: Wars of the Roses. These ongoing wars involved mostly knights pledged to lords or vassals. Few commoners were involved, and few records were kept.
1642–1651: Civil War and Cromwellian period. Disputes over the form of government and religion led to civil war. Only very brief military records of officers still exist.
1707: The unification of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain bring about the new British Army incorporating Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland

Types of Records[edit | edit source]

Available military records include:

Militia lists and musters (beginning as early as 1297) contain the names of men eligible for military service. Militia musters are lists of men in the militia. Early militia lists and most militia musters contain only the men’s names. A brief explanation of musters and the location of available pre-1707 lists are given in:

Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls, by Jeremy Gibson and Alan Dell. Birmingham, England:Federation of Family History Societies, 1989. FS Catalog book 942 M2gj; At various libraries (WorldCat)

Ship logs exist from 1673. While they usually give information only on position, weather, and sightings of other ships, records of shipboard events may include names of individual seamen.

Boer War has information on the ships used by each regiment. It names the regiments, dates of sailing, dates of arrival and ports of departure and arrival in some cases.

The National Archives (TNA), located at Kew, West London, houses information on military personnel.

Branches of Service[edit | edit source]

Britain's armed forces comprise, in order of seniority, the Royal Navy (including the Royal Marines), Army and Royal Air Force. Other units can include local militia, fencibles, yeomanry and territorial units of the army.

Royal Navy The first permanent naval fleet was formed during the reign of King Henry VIII (1509–1547). The earliest surviving navy records are from 1617, but the majority of the extensive collection date from the mid-1600s. Many records are available only at The National Archives.

Several sources list navy ships with descriptions and the dates on which they were placed in service.

Ships of the Royal Navy. Annapolis, by J. J. Colledge. Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987. FS Catalog book 942 M3c

The Navy Official List books, available from 1673, give ports of call for ships during each year. Some of these lists are available in the FamilySearch Library. Seamen often moved between the navy and the merchant marines. Until 1853 enlistment was informal and lasted for the ship’s commission, usually three years. Individual "ratings" (seamen) were not mentioned in navy records other than musters or pay lists unless they deserted, misbehaved, or earned a medal. After 1853 seamen often made the navy their career. They were assigned continuous service numbers and records were maintained for the duration of their careers.

Navy Officers - Navy officers may be found in the Navy Lists (1782 to the present) or in the Index to Commission and Warrant Books (1695 to 1742).
Royal Marines (Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines) - The Royal marines originally maintained military discipline on navy vessels. It has been a separate corps of the military since 1755, although under the control of the Admiralty and forming part of the Naval Service.

Army - The army began as a permanent organization in 1660. Earlier armies were raised as needed, usually as county militia units. The oldest known regiment is the Honourable Artillery Company, formed in 1537. The Soldier in Later Medieval England database has names of about 250,000 soldiers. Before 1847, English army service was usually for life. Some soldiers were discharged early for disability, which was liberally defined. A soldier was often discharged by the age of forty. Army records are organized by regiment. The basic unit of the Army is the regiment under a colonel or lieutenant colonel. Regiments are usually divided into two or more Battalions. The main types of regiments which should be searched are: Cavalry, Infantry, Corps (e,g, Army Service Corps; Royal Signals; Royal Engineers etc.). Most regiments have published histories that tell the places where they served and the battles they fought.

A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army, by White, Arthur S.East Sussex, England: Naval and Military Press Ltd., 1992. FS book 942 M23was; Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive

Yeomanry - volunteer regiments, records of which often do not survive or are less complete than other military records.
Colonial armies - 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 British Library Oriental and India Office Collections, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB England.

Search Strategies[edit | edit source]

It is difficult to locate an individual’s record without knowing his ship or regiment. Once you know the regiment or ship, consult the muster rolls, records of service, or other records available for that ship or regiment.

See British Military Records Online for more resources.

Further information: British Military Records