World War 1

Background - soldiers

Between 1914 and 1919 over 5 million men served in armed forces during World War One. 1.6 million soldiers were wounded and 673,375 had died or were missing by September 1919. Recruitment began on the day after war was declared, with 30,000 men joining up on that one day alone. By January 1916 2.6 million men had volunteered. Conscription was introduced in March 1916. Single and then married men aged 18-45 were called up for active service. Some men were in reserved occupations, such as mining and manufacturing, so were not asked to fight. Due to the high number of men who fought, most families, communities, businesses and societies have links with world war one soldiers.

What records are there and what information will they contain?

Service Records and Pension Records

Unfortunately few service records for World Ward One soldiers have survived. This is because they were stored in a warehouse in London that was bombed in 1941. Those that have survived are held by the National Archives. They have been digitised and can be searched and viewed online through www.ancestry.co.uk. Service records of Officers were kept separately. These are held at the National Archives (Ref: WO339 and WO374). A service record will give you information about the battalions/companies the soldier served in, where he served, information about his appearance (e.g. height), personal details, offences, injuries and much more. The actual amount of paperwork available varies depending on the career of the soldier.

Pension records have a higher survival rate as they were kept separate to the service records. But these were not issued for every soldier. Generally a pension file was only created for soldiers who survived the war or were invalided out of service. They usually contain similar information to the soldier’s service record.

If a soldier served after 1920, either in the Regular Army, in the Reserves, or possibly in the Home Guard, there records might still be held by the Ministry of Defence. See the gov.uk website for more information.

Medal Roll Index Cards (WO372)

Every soldier who fought between 1914 and 1918 should have received at least one of the following medals: the 1914-1915 Star, Victory Medal, British Medal. The name of each soldier who was issued with a medal was recorded in a regimental medal roll. These were then indexed by name on Medal Roll Index Cards. The cards will contain a reference to the roll(s) the soldier appears in, the medals they were awarded, their regiment and service number. Sometimes their home address is noted on the card, along with other details. It is also usually noted whether the soldier was killed in action (KIA), discharged or demobbed, the theatre of war they first served in (France, Egypt etc) and the date they arrived on the front lines. Medal Roll Index Cards can be searched and downloaded from the National Archives website for a fee. Alternatively they can be viewed on www.ancestry.co.uk.

Rolls of Honour

A large number of different Rolls of Honour have been produced. Some were produced by the Army, Navy or Air Force, others by volunteers or individuals. Most are based on information inscribed on a headstone or memorial. A large number of local Rolls of Honour have been produced for places in Gloucestershire. These can be identified using our online catalogue. Try searching for “roll of honour” and the name of the village/parish/place you are interested in.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The CWGC has over 1.7 million names in their database. This can easily be searched on their website The index will tell you their rank, regiment, date of death, area of death and the cemetery/memorial where the name is listed. Servicemen who died in the UK are also listed. Sometimes the age and next of kin is listed, but this is not always the case.

Databases of deceased soldiers

If the soldier died during WW1 they should appear in a number of databases. First, try the “UK Soldiers who died in the Great War 1914-1918”. which you can search via Ancestry or Find my Past. This database is based on a register created by the Government in 1921. It does not cover officers. For each soldier it usually gives their birthplace or where enlisted, service number, rank, regiment and battalion, type of casualty, death date (and possibly place), theatre of war.

Unit War Diaries

Each unit or battalion within a regiment kept diaries during the First World War. Most unit diaries do not refer to individual soldiers. They describe troop movements, battles, incidents and may refer to the number of men who died rather than naming individuals. But they can be useful to find out what a battalion was doing when a soldier was serving or was wounded or killed.

Most of these diaries are held at the National Archives under the reference WO95. The easiest way to find them is to search the National Archives catalogue using a keyword from the regiment name e.g. Gloucestershire. You can then narrow the result, e.g. Reference WO95. Be aware of abbreviations e.g. Glos could be used instead of Gloucestershire. The diaries are not sorted in the catalogue by regiment. They are sorted by Theatre of War (e.g. Europe, North Africa), Division, Brigade, Corps/Regiment and finally Battalion. You will often find that different battalions of the same regiment are in different brigades and divisions and therefore have very different reference numbers.

Newspapers

Local newspapers often ran rolls of honour of local men who died, were injured, missing or received medals. These were usually based on information and photographs sent in by relatives. A good place to start for Gloucestershire men is the Gloucester Graphic, which was a weekly pictorial supplement to the Cheltenham Chronicle. These are available onsite. Otherwise try the Gloucester Journal or Citizen. For a full list of Gloucestershire newspapers and where they are held please see the Newspaper Guide (Handlist), available from our website. The Cheltenham Chronicle is indexed up to 1950 on the British Newspaper Archive website. You can access the Gloucester Journal and Citizen via the Find My Past website

Documents held at Gloucestershire Archives

We hold the Gloucestershire Hussars archive (Ref: D4920). This collection does not include service records for individual soldiers. But it does include copies of war diaries, personal diaries, biographies, photographs, correspondence, reports, news cuttings and articles. We also hold other records which have been deposited by individuals, families and businesses which relate to WW1 soldiers. This includes some who fought in one of the Gloucestershire Regiments, lived in Gloucestershire or the family had connections with Gloucestershire. These can be found by searching our online catalogue for the name of a soldier, the regiment name or other keywords.

Other Repositories

Some personal diaries and papers (particularly those of officers) and other regimental records might be held at the Imperial War Museum or Regiment Museums. The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, in Gloucester holds records relating to the Gloucestershire Regiment and other Gloucestershire soldiers. Try emailing Curator@sogm.co.uk

Want to know mMore?

See the dedicated “WW1 in Gloucestershire” pages on our website for information, research toolkits and much more!

Gloucestershire Remembers WW1

Background - the homefront

WW1 was the first British war to affect every member of society. Hundreds of thousands of men left to go fight. This meant that there was a shortage of labour in factories and on the fields. Eventually women and children were brought in to replace them. Blockades in the Atlantic meant that there were food shortages. The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) enabled the government to control the lives of civilians. The government could take over any land it needed and could censor newspapers. Later restrictions included the introduction of British Summer Time to allow people more daylight for working, the watering down of beer and reductions in pub opening times.

What records are there and what information will they contain?

Local Government Records (Ref: GCC or C)

Within the County and District Councils various committees were set up to oversee the administration of agriculture, war relief and unemployment after the war. The following minute books might be of interest.

Parish Records (Ref: P)

Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials can include additional notes about local/national events and involvement in the war effort. Parish magazines are very eclectic and can include very specific information about local reactions to/effects of the war and the church community’s contribution to the war effort.

Minutes and correspondence of the Parish Councils are the most useful sources for information about the effects of the war on the community and the contribution of the civilian population. The survival rate varies and there is no consistency in the amount of information they include.

For more information see our research guide on Parish records.

Magistrate Court (or “Petty Sessions”) Records (Ref: PS)

The Petty Sessions heard cases brought under the Defence of the Realm Act and contraventions of the food rationing laws. They don’t usually include much specific information: just the details of the offence and sentence. More generally the court registers will provide information about the range of minor criminal offences. For more information see Research Mini Guide: Petty Sessions.

School Records

School records often contain a lot of information about what is going on in the local community. Log books contain entries about what pupils and staff were doing. They contain entries about staff joining the army, pupils planting potatoes and picking berries, ex-pupils in the Army visiting the school, the shortage of coal and much more. For more information see Research Mini Guide: School Records.

Newspapers

Newspapers contain a wealth of material regarding everyday life, national and local politics, war news, plus local events, local services, entertainment and sport. They are also useful for finding information on local deaths and reports on coroner’s inquests. The war news included tends to have a positive slant in order to improve morale.

For a list of Gloucestershire Newspapers and where to find them please see our comprehensive Newspaper Guide.

Personal Records

Gloucestershire Archives holds a wide range of diaries and letters with both male and female authors ranging from housewives and school teachers to landed gentry and members of parliament.

When looking at these records, remember that they can be biased. Exaggerations or understatements should be allowed for. Letters were generally written for the recipient and not for posterity. Diaries were often kept as a personal record and not meant for public use. Some personal records may make little or no mention of the situation. Even if the effects of the war are not directly mentioned, authors of letters and diaries still bear witness to history.

How to find the records

To view a list of records in these collections please use our online catalogue, Type the references given above into the Quick Search box as your search term. You can search for diaries, letters and other items by searching for keywords (e.g First World War) using the “advanced search” option. You can refine your search, for example by place.

For more guidance on using our online catalogue, please see the Help page and the FAQs. Or you can watch a YouTube tutorial.

Want to find more?

You can find lots of help about researching into WW1, factsheets, toolkits and much more at: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/article/115324/Resources-for-researching-WW1.

You can also find more through our Military Guide  Handlist