Military Research

Alongside my interest in family history I have held a long-time interest in military history in general, and in World War I in particular. Besides possessing a large collection of books concerning the Great War service of various Regiments and Units, I have been a member of The Western Front Association for many years, and have also contributed to several of the Military Forums found on the Internet.

I have extensively researched the WWI services of my Grandfather who served with one of the many Battalions of the London Regiment and also one of his brothers who served in the Canadian Army. (My Grandfather’s records were amongst the many thousand that were destroyed during the Blitz of the Second World War. This necessitated the use of Battalion War Diaries, together with other documents held at the National Archives and elsewhere, in order to reconstruct his service). I have also assisted many friends by researching the military services of their own ancestors.

Another ongoing WWI project I am conducting is researching the men whose names appear on the War Memorial of the (then) small village in Huntingdonshire where I was born. I have made several journeys to the battlefields and cemeteries of the Western Front where they fought and died, photographing the graves and memorials of some of them, and hope to publish the results of my research once completed.

WWI Medal and Memorial Plaque Research

WWI Medals:

If you have any WWI medals that were issued to a relative they will have been inscribed with that person’s name, their service number, and the unit they served with. I can use this information to see if any of their original documents survived the bombing during the Blitz in WWII of the records office where they were stored. Even if they have been destroyed (As were my own Grandfather's), if the person concerned received a post-war pension resulting from their being left disabled or partially invalided by their military service, it should still be possible to collect some personal information. This would be obtained from the copies of the original records that were produced for the use of the Ministry of Pensions. Should there be no such records, providing the unit they served with is known, I can use Divisional and Battalion records to reconstruct with a fair degree of probability the persons likely movements and possible involvement in any major battles in which their unit participated.

Memorial Plaques:

memorial plaques dead mans penny

If the person concerned was killed or died from any other cause whilst serving, their next-of-kin received a Memorial Plaque and scroll in recognition of their sacrifice. These Plaques (Known as ‘Dead Men’s Pennies’) were inscribed only with the person’s name, so unless it is a highly unusual name if there is no other supporting evidence these can be difficult to attribute to particular individuals.