Findmypast’s recent release of the 1921 Census of England & Wales provides
an ideal opportunity for a quick sanity check on where the British Army was
located in June 1921. With the singular exception of Scotland, the census returns
for which are expected to be released later this year, if your British Army
Ancestor was in uniform in June 1921, you should find him in the 1921 Census of England & Wales.
As with the 1911 Census, the 1921 Census of England & Wales also
enumerated men who were stationed overseas, and Findmypast provides some great
detail about where you’ll find these men.
There are 35 separate volumes (‘pieces’ is the archival term)
for the British Army overseas, 11 pieces for the Royal Navy and a single piece
for the RAF. It is possible to search by piece number on the main 1921 Census
search page and doing so will quickly enable you to filter out irrelevant
results. Here are the piece numbers and locationd for the British Army overseas in June 1921:
28107: Mesopotamia
28108: Mesopotamia
28109: Hong
Kong, China, Aden, South Africa, Singapore, Bermuda, troop ships at sea
28110: Constantinople
28111: Egypt,
Sudan & Cyprus
28112: Egypt & Sudan
28113: Egypt
& Sudan
28114: France
& Flanders, Jamaica, Southampton Water
28115: Trinidad,
Gibraltar, Mauritius, troop ship at sea, Poland, Sierra Leone
28116: India
28117: India
28118: India
28119: India
28120: India
28121: India
28122: India
28123: India
28124: India
28125: Ireland
28126: Ireland
28127: Ireland
28128: Ireland
28129: Ireland
28130: Ireland
28131: Ireland
28132: Ireland
28133: Ireland
28134: Malta
28135: Mesopotamia
& Persian Gulf
28136: Mesopotamia
28137: Palestine
28138: Germany
28139: The
British Upper Silesian Force
28140: Guernsey
& Alderney
28141: Jersey
Be aware that regiment names may not always be spelled out on
the actual pages which list soldier names. Instead, expect to find the words ‘Army’
or ‘Infantry’, ‘Cavalry’ etc. However, if you find the first page of the
return, you will usually find that the officer making that return also includes
the regiment name.
Remember too, that many men who had served during the First World War may still have been in uniform in 1921. Some would have been career soldiers who had joined the army before 1914 or during the war; others may have re-enlisted for limited periods of engagement after the war. It's worth checking the 1921 Census to see if your ancestor was still in uniform and, if he was, his service record will almost certainly still survive with the Ministry of Defence and can be ordered by clicking the link. Be aware though, that at the time of writing it is taking the MoD up to 12 months to fulfil requests.
