British Military Records

British military records are particularly valuable for family historians because they can provide personal details that are not available from census records. The term military records can cover service records, pension records, medal rolls, casualties, army rolls, prisoners of war records and news reels (from the Second World War).

The Boer War

The census of 1911 was the first census to record the personal details of members of the British Army (and their families) posted overseas. This means that soldiers fighting in the Boer War (1899 – 1902) were not included in the Census of 1901. Thankfully, Findmypast.co.uk holds digitised records of almost 300,000 Boer War records. These military records include the personal details of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who fought in the Boer War in large numbers.

For more details about this conflict, visit our sister site FamilyHistory.co.uk which has a useful history of the Boer War 1899-1902.  

War records for WWI, WWII, Napoleon Wars etc.

Findmypast.co.uk also holds digital copies of over a million other military records including records dating back to the Napoleonic Wars including records from World War I and World War II.

Merchant Sailors

Let’s not forget the unsung heroes of the First and Second World War. Merchant navy casualties were extremely high in both WWI and WWII.  A War Office report 1922 entitled Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914-1920 – War Office listed British Merchant Navy losses separately at a figure of 14,661.

Second World War Merchant Navy total casualties are recorded at 45,329. The Dover War Memorial Project confirm that one in three Merchant Navy seamen did not survive the 2nd World War.  Those killed number 30,248, missing 4654, wounded 4707, prisoners of war 5720.  There is a lot of information on the Dover War Memorial Project website.

For information on Merchant Navy Sailors from 1835-1857 visit Findmypast.