FEBRUARY 5, 1998

TRACING ANCESTORS IN THE BRITISH ARMY

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

Although we are close cousins and speak the same language (somewhat), American genealogists soon discover British records are called by unfamiliar names, kept differently and can be confusing to us "colonist''. Military records are a typical example.

If your ancestor served in the British Army before 1913 the major source to search is a class of records known as War Office 97 (WO97). However, because of the arrangement of these records, you cannot write to the Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, England, and request a search for your William Winterbotham. You will have to make the trip to England or hire a researcher there to do the work for you.

The WO97 records contain the personal documents of soldiers, but not officers, who were discharged to pension (or as we would say who were pensioned off). If your ancestor died in service, completed a limited non-qualifying period of service, purchased his discharge, negotiated a free discharge or deserted, you will not find anything about him in these records.

British army records start in 1760, and the WO97 records are divided into five periods by dates, with each group arranged differently, meaning that the researcher needs to know some of the peculiarities of this filing system in order to be successful.

-- From 1760-1854 these records are arranged alphabetically by regiment, so you need to determine that information first. However, there now is a computerized alphabetical surname index. It was compiled by volunteers from the Friends of the PRO, and there is a printout at the PRO in England. However, if there are several soldiers of the same name -- a rather common problem -- you still will have to determine which one is yours.

-- From 1855-1872 the records are arranged by regiment, and there is no index.

-- From 1873-1882 the documents are filed alphabetically by name within the arm of service -- i.e., cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, and corps -- rather than by regiment. If you do not have this information, start with the infantry, which was the largest group.

-- From 1883-1899 and 1900-1913 the records for the entire army are filed alphabetically by surname in these groups.

If your ancestor was an officer, tracing him is rather straightforward since there is a variety of sources available. The key one is called "Army Lists'' and it covers the period from 1702 to the present. There is a reference set of the published "Army Lists'' at the PRO.

Until 1871 officers were not entitled to a pension per se. When they retired they either sold their commissions or went on what is called 'half pay". Payments of half pay and pensions rested with the paymaster-general (PMG), and it is among those PMG records that the genealogist will have to search at the PRO. They date from 1737.

If you are tracing an ancestor born after 1837 in England and Wales or after 1855 in Scotland, it is quite possible to find a reference to a soldier's regiment on a birth, marriage or death certificate. Therefore civil registration records should be searched as well as the census returns of 1841-1891, where reference to professions and occupations are found.

The PRO's website (http://www.open.gov.uk/pro/prohome.htm) offers some downloadable leaflets, including one called "British Army.'' Under PRO Publications heading you can order several small guidebooks, such as "Army Records for Family Historians'' and "Records of the Militia". Details about the publications and instructions for ordering are posted at the site.

(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate