Catalogue description Armed Forces Service Records

Armed forces service records containing records of individuals' service in the British armed forces.

Pre First World War and general:

• Annotated copies of published Army Lists recording officers' services from 1754-1900, WO 65-WO 66.
• Manuscript army lists, 1702-1823, WO 64.
• Records and returns of officers' services, WO 67 and WO 76.
• Records of the Army Purchase Commission, WO 74.
• Royal Artillery, WO 69.
• Royal Garrison Regiment, 1901-1906, WO 19.
• Local armed forces and the Imperial Yeomanry in the Boer War, WO 126-WO 127.
• Officers' certificates of births, etc., WO 42.
• British and Palestine Garrisons, registers of baptisms, banns of marriages, etc., WO 156.
• Officers Services (including Civilian Dependants and Civilian and Military Staff Appointments), WO 340.
• Soldiers of the Household Cavalry WO 400.

First World War:

• Regular Army and Emergency Reserve Officers, registered in a 'Long Number' series, WO 339, with index to long numbers, WO 338.
• Temporary commissions and Territorial Army Officers, WO 374.
• Non commissioned officers and other ranks, WO 363-WO 364-WO 400.
• Women's (later Queen Mary's) Army Auxiliary Corps, WO 398.
• Nursing Service Records,WO 399.

Second World War:

• Second World War roll of honour, WO 304.
• Home Guard records, WO 409.
• Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, WO 345.
• Allied Prisoners of War Hospitals, Thailand and Burma, WO 347.
• Japanese Registers of Allied Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees held in Camps in Singapore, WO 367.
• Prisoners of War Lists, WO 392.
• German Index cards of British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War, WO 416.
• Army Casualty Lists, WO 417.
• The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Other Ranks: Service Records, WO 420.
• Selected Smaller Corps Other Ranks: Service Records, WO 421.
• Women's Services in East Africa, Nurses and Other Ranks: Service Records, WO 427.
• Indian Army Casualties, WO 429.
• Indian Army: Honours and Decorations, British OfficersWO 432.
• Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships (DEMS) Ships Cards WO 435 .

Award of medals:

• Victoria Cross, WO 98.
• Campaign Medal & Award Rolls, WO 100.
• Meritorious Service Awards, WO 101.
• Long Service & Good Conduct Awards, WO 102.
• Order of the Bath, WO 104.
• Royal Red Cross, WO 145.
• Military Medal, Second World War, WO 326.
• Albert Medal, WO 327.
• Service Medal & Award Rolls, First World War, WO 329.
• Volunteer Officers' Decoration & King George V's Coronation Medal, WO 330.
• Service Medal & Award Rolls Index, First World War, WO 372.
• Indian Army: General Service Medal, WO 430

For other means of tracing service, provided the regiment is known (muster books), see: For records of service of local armed forces and the Imperial Yeomanry in the Boer War see: Service records post-First World War are retained by the Ministry of Defence for administrative use. A paid enquiry service for relatives exists and enquiries should be addressed to Army Personnel Centre, Historical Disclosures, Mail Point 555, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow, G2 8EX.

WO 10

WO 11

WO 12

WO 13

WO 14

WO 15

WO 16

WO 128

WO 129

WO 136

For discharge papers of soldiers discharged to pension prior to the First World War see WO 97

For files of in-pensioners who died while resident at Chelsea Hospital see WO 324

For pension files for service before 1914 see PIN 71

Army, 1660-

War Department, 1855-1857

War Office, 1857-1964

For more detailed information, readers should consult the variety of Public Record Office Military Information Leaflets available on army records, as well as two PRO publications, Army Records for Family Historians (Public Record Office Readers' Guide, II, 1992) and First World War Army Service Records in the Public Record Office (1998).