Pals re-formed online

A legend in his own lunchtime:



Pals battalions explained by Paul Nixon on findmypast.

Military search tip - findmypast

Findmypast is changing, and whilst it settles down, here's a tip to deliver more accurate search results when searching for military ancestors.

Resist the temptation to use (or browse) the Regiment or Soldier Number fields. Instead, go straight for the Optional keywords (a new and very useful feature which was not present in the older version of search) and type in the search terms there. 

Earlier this evening I was looking for information on Corporal Michael Gleeson who died this day, ninety-nine years ago. I typed in his forename and last name and then entered his regimental number - 7090 - in the Soldier Number field. No less than 173 results were returned. However, ignoring the Soldier Number field and typing the number into the keywords field instead, gave me the one result I was looking for: Michael Gleeson's entry in SDGW.  I could of course, have filtered on SDGW but I wanted to see if there were any other records for a man with this number. There were not.

The Married Roll

This from page 166 of the essential "The Army Book for the British Empire", published in 1893.

"Every corps has its married establishment and the families on this establishment are given quarters with fuel, or lodging money in lieu, and certain privileges as to rations; separation allowances when the husband is on duty, free passage from place to place on relief etc.

"The establishment allows 50 per cent of the sergeants and three or four per cent each of the rank and file to be married. The first essential for a candidate is that he should have his commanding officer's leave before contracting, marriage; next, that there should be a vacancy on the establishment.

"The commanding officer may not give leave to a corporal or a private t in the savings bank, to marry unless he has £5 in the savings bank, two conduct badges, and seven years' service.  All warrant and superior non-commissioned officers and men may be married and on the establishment.

"Thus the policy is to make satisfactory provision for superior non-commissioned officers and sergeants in respect of marriage, and to keep it within strict limits as to rank and file, whose re-engagement in army service it is not sought to encourage.  Indeed it would seem more logical to let all sergeants be married and to reduce the numbers allowed amongst other ranks, whose continuance in service with the colours is not so much desired.

"The class formerly known as 'married without leave' were and are a trouble and discredit to the army; the proper place for a man who is married, for whom there is no room in the establishment, is with the reserve."

The image, borrowed from From Tuddenham to Cambridge, dates to around the time of the First World War (when the regulation was presumably not applied to war-time service enlistments). The newly married artilleryman wears one good conduct chevron on his lower left arm, indicating at least two years' service with his regiment.

Naval & Military Press - Warehouse Clearance

Hart's 1908 Army List

 

I see Ancestry has published Hart's Army List for 1908.  If it's anything like the Army List for 1909 on my desk at work it's a mighty tome.  The 1908 list publishes, for the last time, details of officers serving with the militia.  One year later and the militia was a thing of the past, replaced by Special Reserve and Extra Reserve battalions.  For me, the beauty of these books is not only details of the men in every conceivable British Army unit, but the incidental adverts like the ones above and below.

 

 

Soldiers in the News

More and more pages from British newspapers are now appearing online as part of the British Newspaper Archive. Long-overlooked as a research tool, it's now easier than ever to search hundreds of periodicals at the click of a mouse.  I've been a subscriber for a long while and now I've just joined the British Newspaper Archive's affiliate programme.  The BNA website says that 7,390,497 pages have already been scanned, and by the time I finish this post the total will probably be 7,390,498. There are already a lot of First World War era pages online and you can bet that there will be plenty more added in time for the onslaught of centenary memorial programmes. If you've not already visited the BNA, you can do so right now by clicking on the link above.

Middlesex Military Service Tribunals online

The National Archives writes:

You can now explore the case papers of over 8,000 individuals from the Middlesex military service appeal tribunal. These records provide a unique insight into the impact of the First World War on families, businesses and communities far from the battlefields.

One of only two complete surviving collections of tribunal records, they reveal the stories of men seeking exemption on medical, family or economic grounds, as well as the relatively small proportion wishing not to fight on moral grounds as conscientious objectors. Digitised in partnership with the Friends of The National Archives and the Federation of Family History Societies, they are free to search and download.

findmypast reduces prices

FINDMYPAST OFFERS EVEN BETTER VALUE WITH NEW SUBSCRIPTION PRICES

New findmypast.co.uk prices give even better value at a lower price

•             Monthly subscription offered for the first time, for less than £10

•             12 months’ access to all UK records now less than £100

•             Simpler options give better value without compromising quality

Leading family history website findmypast.co.uk is changing subscription prices to create a more accessible service and provide even better value to both new and existing customers.

 

Anyone can start discovering their family history from only £9.95 with findmypast’s brand new one month Britain subscription. This allows you to explore all records from the UK for an entire month for under £10, a unique price point in the family history market. Findmypast is also offering a one month World subscription for only £12.95, which includes access to records from around the world, including the largest collection of Irish records online.

 

This is the first time that findmypast has offered a monthly subscription, giving family historians the opportunity to get to know the site without any long-term commitment. Viewing all of the UK records for a whole year is now available for less than £100, and the findmypast 12 month world subscription is now only £129.95. Findmypast aims to make subscription options simpler, offering consistently better value while maintaining a premium quality service. Customers will see new records published every month, constantly increasing the value of all findmypast subscriptions.

Paul Yates, Brand Director for findmypast, says: “At findmypast we believe everyone should have the opportunity to understand their place in history through their ancestors’ stories. By offering a new monthly subscription for under £10 we are making family history more affordable and accessible, enabling more people to share magical moments of discovery.”

Ancestry thumbnails back on WO 363 and WO 364

For those with good eyesight this is a boon.  It means that you can now see the first page in a man's series of papers.  So, for instance, you can tell if a man is enlisting into the TF or Special Reserve without having to open his record.  For those of us, like me, who have an interest in regimental numbers and are searching for particular types of enlistment, this is good news.  I don't know why Ancestry discarded the thumbnails in the first place.  Now, where are my glasses?

Posters of The Great War

This review first published on The Great War Forum on 6th August 2013:

Title: Posters of The Great War
By: Frederick Hadley & Martin Pegler
Published by: Pen & Sword
ISBN: 978-1-78159-289-2
Published on: 20^th May 2013
Price: £19.99

In my own personal library of military literature there are some books that I delve into time and time again and generally come away having learnt (or re-remembered), something new. Martin Middlebrook’s Your Country Needs You, covering the formation of the British Army’s divisions during the First World War is one such book whilst The Army Book for the British Empire (published in 1893) is essential (and highly readable) reading for anyone wishing to understand the late Victorian British Army. To these titles and in the category of “essential reading”, I would unhesitatingly add Posters of The Great War.

Frederick Hadley has been the curator of the Historial Museum in Peronne since 2001 and has written a number of books on the Great War. Martin Pegler, a former curator of firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds has also written a number of books on 1914-18 and is a leading authority on the history of military sniping. Together, the two men have come up with an absolute cracker of a book which, lavishly-illustrated throughout with images from the Historial’s poster collection, is an absolute bargain at £19.99.

Chapters are arranged by theme rather than as an evolutionary run through the war years and so the reader can dip into Recruiting, Loans and Money, The Enemy, The Home Front, and so on. This is most certainly a book to be dipped into, and dipped into again and again; a coffee table book in one sense but also a fantastic reference source teeming with little nuggets. Page 57, for example displays a poster for the Charity for the devastated Somme which lists the destroyed villages and their populations. It’s an absolute gem, made even more interesting by the accompanying text which ends with this little cameo of the obliterated village of Maurepas:

“The first donations here after the war were a cow and a bicycle. For months the inhabitants had to live in abandoned bunkers and crumbling cellars. A cow provided vital milk, butter and cheese, while a bicycle allowed access to nearby markets.”

The reproductions of the posters are first class and of a standard that book lovers have come to expect from Pen & Sword. Nor is the scope of the work confined to those familiar recruiting posters that are so symbolic of the war. Kitchener and his pointing finger are here, as are the women of Britain saying “Go!” and the ashamed father having been questioned what he did in the Great War. For that matter, no book on Great War art would be complete without these posters, but there are plenty of other lesser known artworks displayed here from across the world. This was, after all, a world war, and the talented artists and their equally talented copywriters whose work is on show here, came from across the globe.

Posters of the Great War is, I would argue, an essential addition for libraries and school libraries alike and could be just the thing to excite interest in a new generation of curious enthusiasts or re-kindle a passion in those of us who have been studying the conflict for decades . As far as this somewhat wizened reviewer is concerned, I still found much to intrigue and delight and I know I shall be re-visiting this work again and again. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.