Catalogue description ORIGINAL SERIES (3rd group): 1914-1934

This sub-series (known as Original Series, Group 3) like other parts of ADM 1 contains a wide range of papers on official business sent to, or created by, the Admiralty.

As with the preceding Group, these pieces are arranged by year, but within each year they are ordered by original Admiralty register number (ordered by date of registry by the Admiralty Secretariat), which has been incorporated into the piece reference. As a result, the piece references for this Group are anomalous.

For example, the first piece in this group is: ADM 1/8365/1. Broken down, this includes: the series code (ADM 1), the core piece number as used in standard The National Archives references (8365) and the anomalous suffix (1). A group of core numbers relate to a single year: in this case core numbers 8365 to 8407 inclusive cover 1914 (8408-8443 cover 1915 etc.). However there are many more pieces than would be inferred from this number range. Each core number relates to a number of pieces, differentiated by the anomalous suffix number. However, the suffix number does not return to 1 with each new core number, but instead does so only at the end of each year. For example, the pieces for 1914 are numbered thus: ADM 1/8365/1 to 8365/10, ADM 1/8366/11 to 8366/20, ADM 1/8367/21 to 8367/27 etc. through to ADM 1/8407/474 to 8407/494. In 1915, the core number continues its numerical progression, but the anomalous suffix starts at 1 again (i.e.: ADM 1/8408/1 to 8408/13 etc.). As a result, references which one would expect to exist under normal piece number progression, do not in this case; e.g.: there are no pieces with the references ADM 1/8366/1 to 8366/10.

In addition, from 1922 onwards, weeding of papers transferred to the Public Record Office was undertaken and as a result the suffix number progression for each year has been broken. In some instances the missing piece numbers have been included in the catalogue with a cross reference to strays held in other sections of ADM 1, but this is not the case in all instances. For example: for ADM 1/8732/221, 222 and 223, readers are directed in catalogue to ADM 1/8969-8971 (in Original Series, Group 4), but there are no pieces covering suffixes 215-219. These pieces have almost certainly been weeded and either no longer exist or are still retained by the department. The breaks in suffix progression become particularly acute from the late 1920s onwards. For example, in 1927 the first piece is ADM 1/8709/82 implying the weeding of the 81 preceding pieces.

There are some strays relating to this period in Original Series, Group 4; Series I; Series II and the Final Series of ADM 1 (ADM 1/8780-31037).

The ADM 12 indexes (registers by personal or ship names) and Digests (summaries by subject) are useful finding aids for this series. Other registered papers for this period can be found in ADM 137 (papers used in the Official History of the First World War) and ADM 116.

ADM 12

ADM 116

ADM 137