diploma in family history occupational records. why? the irish in the british army
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Where are the originals?Where are the originals?
National Archives, KewSome few exceptions
Guards regiments ...Post 1920 records
Why are they so hard to grasp?Why are they so hard to grasp?
1660ReformsSheer scaleGenealogy subscription sites
Where are the online copies?Where are the online copies?
In general ... TNA commercial deals withPre-1913 FindMyPast.co.ukWW1 Ancestry.co.uk
But ... exceptions
Army List from 1740 . Annotated copies downloadable from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (“digital microfilm”)At Kew:
WO 31, 25: Commissions WO 64: PromotionsWO 25: PensionsNational Archives catalogue search
Commissioned officersCommissioned officers
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.ukdiscovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.ukdiscovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Service records pre-1913Pension or non-pension?
• Pension: Chelsea or Kilmainham: FindMyPast• Soldiers’ Documents (Discharges) – pension to 1883, all
thereafter WO 97 • To 1915 (?) on FindMyPast.co.uk• Other, piecemeal, on FindMyPast.co.uk
Records of the non-commissionedRecords of the non-commissioned
Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Register of Soldiers who served in Canada 1743-1882 (ancestry.co.uk)
Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Register of Soldiers who served in Canada 1743-1882 (ancestry.co.uk)
Non-Pension records (Kew only)WO 12: Muster Books and Pay Lists (1732-1878)13,307 volumesKnow the regiment!
Campaign and Service Medals and Awards (ancestry.co.uk)
Army service recordsArmy service records
Post 1913: Ancestry.comPost 1913: Ancestry.com
• Service: 3.6 million records• Pension: 2.1 million records• Medal Index: 5.3 million
Medal index cards 1914-1920Medal index cards 1914-1920
Created c.1917/185 million entriesEveryone who “served in a theatre of war”
British War MedalVictory Medal1914-15 Star
name, rank(s), unit(s), regimental number, medal entitlement [...]www.1914-1918.net for explanation
Medal index cards 1914-1920Medal index cards 1914-1920
War diaries 1914-1922War diaries 1914-1922
Pot luck, partially digitised, payingwww.nationalarchive.gov.uk => War diarieswww.operationwardiary.org (crowdsourced)
Miscellaneous (!)Miscellaneous (!)
www.bmdregisters.co.uk (prisoners of war)Enlisted men
Other Records• Casualties and deserters 1795-1875• Description Books 1756-1900• Regimental Registers of Births, 1761-1924
MiscellaneousMiscellaneous
OtherDeaths of Irish [...] African War (1898-1902) (GRO)Ireland's Memorial Records (FindMyPast.ie)
soldierswills.nationalarchives.iesoldierswills.nationalarchives.ie
9,000 pre-printed Free, fully-searchableIrish
Ancestry.comAncestry.com
• Service: 3.6 million records• Pension: 2.1 million records• Medal Index: 5.3 million
POLICEPOLICE
1814: Peace Preservation Force 1822: County Constabulary 1836: Irish Constabulary 1867: Royal Irish Constabulary Dublin Metropolitan Police
POLICEPOLICE
General Register 1816 -1922 NA- Kew(mf NAI, PRONI, LDS ...)Herlihy, Jim: The Royal Irish Constabulary: a complete alphabetical list of officers and men, 1816-1922 DMP: Garda Archives (mf NAI)
LAWYERS: KING’S INNSLAWYERS: KING’S INNS
Up to 1867: solicitors (apprentices); barristers (students). Family information requiredKing's Inns admission papers, 1607-1867, edited by Edward Keane, P. Beryl Phair, and Thomas U. Sadlier (Dublin : Stationery Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1982).www.irishmanuscripts.ie
Later: Dublin directories
CLERGYCLERGY
Catholic: think sidewaysC of I: Biographical succession lists, RCBLPresbyterian: www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com