First Steps

I forgot to mention last time that my wife had booked us on an introduction course at the Public Records Office (as it was then - now the National Archives) at Kew. More of that later.

I started my online research with good old Google and one the first sites that I came across was the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. This site has an online database of all (well probably about 99%) of the men and women of the Empire who died during the Great War. Searching the database is very straightforward and fast. Within a few minutes I had gathered information about three of my great-uncles who died as a result of the war. I knew all their names because my father was named after them by my grandfather (their brother) when my Dad was born in 1925.

Typical information given is date of death, where buried, regiment and service number. It is also worth noting that after the war the IWGC ( Imperial as it was then) sent all recorded next of kin a form. This form allowed the nok to add details such as age, and any additional info that they wanted to provide such as Fred Bloggs is the son of Wally and Alice Bloggs, 21 Letsby Avenue, London. I believe that the form also allowed the nok to supply the inscription for the gravestone. I think that UK nok were charged 3d (in old money) for each letter in the inscription.

If you look through the database you will find quite a few records where this info is all missing, there are basically two reasons for this - either the nok could not face returning the form or the form never reached the nok in the first place. Many women re-married and moved and of course changed their name!

Anyway, having obtained the regiments of my three men, I wrote to the regimental museums of the three in hope of further information. They all replied asking for more info and a request to museum funds. Three cheques were duly sent and I awaited the posty with bated breath.

Now it was time to go to the PRO for our course. It was well structured and very informative - well worth the time beacuse it saved me a lot of time when I went back for my first day of research.

To my way of thinking the medal index cards held at Kew (and online both at the NA and ancestry websites) are a primary research source (others may disagree). They are in alphabetical order and again list regiment, service number, medals awarded, date of entry into a theatre of war and sometimes other info. So, this was the object of my first visit to Kew (they were not online then). These cards have been microfilmed and can also be printed. I found all my family - 2 grandfathers and five g-uncles in total.

But that was only the beginning!