Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Ancestry adds British military records

Click for Military Records page
With Armistice Day fast approaching, Ancestry has had a rush of new military collections. The following databases were added yesterday.

Commonwealth War Graves 1914-1921 and 1939-1947: This collection of cemetery and memorial registers from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission contains 560,902 entries.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission honours the men and women of the British Commonwealth who died in the World Wars. Cemeteries and grave headstones are erected by the Commission as part of that memorial.

There are currently over 2,000 Commission cemeteries in about 150 countries. The registers of the cemeteries in this database account for only a small percentage of the total cemeteries in existence; this collection is by no means complete.

Cemetery registers generally provide details on who is buried in the cemetery and where they are buried. The memorial registers list the names of individuals with no known grave.

UK Memorial Books WWI and WWII, 1914-1945 The three books in this database contain names of people from the University of London Officers Training Corps and the London City Council staff who served in World War I and residents from the Borough of Croydon who served or were killed in World War II.

The volumes typically provide some biographical details for each of the 24177 persons mentioned. Information provided varies, but may include: name, date of birth, residence, military unit(s), rank, dates of service; date, place, and cause of death; place of burial; POWs; honours and awards; photograph.

British Officer Prisoners of War 1914-1918 This database contains a listing of 8317 World War I British Army officers who were held as prisoners of war (POW). Information provided about them includes: name, rank, regiment, POW number, date missing and repatriation date.