Hello,
The Public Record Office in England maintains a database of all the
information which they currently keep. In fact, using their website
and searching their databases, they maintain many records dating back
to World War I. But while they maintain certain records of WWI (see
the links below), most were lost during the second World War in
bombings on the information buildings. The remaining documents became
known as the "Burnt Documents". So the documents detailing enlistment,
medical history, service records, death/discharge info were badly
damaged and most were lost. Hopefully your uncles' information was not
part of these databases, but there's no way to tell without searching
the PRO yourself. They're open for public browsing by appointment, if
you can make the trip and visit their facility, but their copy and
ship-to policy excludes these large multivolume microfiche sets.
I did stumble upon some information through a tips sheet for Family
History Search at the Imperial War Museum (linked below) and they say:
"
Where to find Army Service Records
The important piece of information is the unit that an individual
served with (it is a sad fact that those who died during the World
Wards will be easier to trace than those who survived, and this
information is readily obtainable from the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission). The personal service record should be the starting point,
but not all of these records for the First World War survived Second
World War bombing.
"
Unfortunately for your uncles, they gave their lives in service, but
because of that, their records may be more easily found. So going to
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (linked below), I put in as
much information as you gave me, namely the surname Page, as well as
the country of origin; England. Some 27 pages of information turned up
with about 80 A. Page's, about 25 C. Page's, and about 25 E. Page's.
Without their date of death, this is as far as I can help though,
because although some records match the full name of your uncles, many
listings are first initial / last name only. I did see many Arthur's
listed though. Taking into account that they died in France, that did
narrow it down somewhat, but I still found at least 10 matches for
Ernest or E. Page who died in service. For some servicemen's records,
they list the Father and Mother's name, so your Grandfather and
Grandmother's name would help narrow down the list. Also, you could
try finding out the name of the French town that they died in, some
servicemen's records list the place of death.
If none of those strategies work, using their age at death or middle
initial as the best guide, you can then find their rank and regiment
and from there, and then write a formal request to the Army Records
Office (linked below) who are more than happy to process and deliver
all pertinent records. I assume they would service the request and
fees to the PRO in order to get the pertinent records, but all of that
is blind to you as you only have to cover a nominal charge of L25.
From their contact page:
"
When enquiring about an individual, as much of the following
information should be included:
Full Name
Service Number
Date of Birth
Most recent unit or unit from which the individual was discharged Rank
at discharge
The Records Office will then send the enquirer a Declaration of
Kinship form which must be completed and returned before the search
continues. A charge of £25 is made for each search and a turnaround
time of about 2 months should be expected
"
So I would assume after initially contacting them with the information
gleaned from the CWGC database and a declaration of kinship you would
receive all information that still exists on your uncles within 2
months. Best of luck with your search, and if you have any other
information that I can use to help narrow down the list on CWGC's
website, I'll be more than happy to go over the database again.
Search Strategy:
"world war i" british military records on google:
://www.google.com/search?q=%22world+war+i%22+british+military+records
"british army" "world war i" veteran info on google:
://www.google.com/search?q=%22british+army%22+%22world+war+i%22+veteran+info
Additional Links:
Public Record Office:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/
British Army Officers' Records: First World War 1914-1918 Info:
http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ExternalRequest.asp?RequestReference=ri2010
British Army Soldiers' Paper: First World War, 1914-1918:
http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ExternalRequest.asp?RequestReference=ri2009
British Army War Diaries: First World War, 1914-1918:
http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ExternalRequest.asp?RequestReference=ri2011
'Burnt Documents' Info:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/army_otherranks_WWIletters.htm
'Burnt Documents' Info 2:
http://www.r-senior.demon.co.uk/ftree/articles/burnt_documents.html
Family History Notes from the Imperial War Museum:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/books/pdf/famhist-army.pdf
Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
http://www.cwgc.org.uk/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission search for "Page":
http://www.cwgc.org.uk/results.asp?currentpage=1&surname=page&initials=&war=1&yearfrom=&yearto=&ment=&force=Army&nationality=6
The Army Records Office (contact info):
http://www.army.mod.uk/contacts/divisions/records.htm
Thank you for the opportunity to answer your question, if you require
more information, please clarify the question, or if you find this
answer satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
skermit-ga |
,
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