Updated index

I've updated the index on this blog to include a Section 2 which references those posts which are non-regiment specific. There is some useful archive material here, mostly courtesy of my pal Graham Stewart and which I list again here.

Section 2 is broken up as follows:

Case Studies
Recruitment and numbering patterns
Research Aids
Rules and Regulations
Miscellaneous

Here then, are those links again to (some) Rules and Regulations:

National Reserve Regulations 1911
National Reserve Regulations 1913
Queen's & King's Regulations - regimental numbering
Special Reserve Army Order - 23rd Dec 1907
Special Reserve appendices - Army Order 1907
Special Reserve - creation in 1908
Supernumerary Companies - Army Order 187, May 1915

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Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 - Index

This index to British Army regimental numbers comprises two sections: SECTION 1 which deals with individual regiments and battalions, and SECTION 2 which deals with other, largely non-regiment specific articles.

All service record information on these Army Service Numbers posts is taken from WO 363 (The so-called 'Burnt Documents') WO 364 (Pension Records), WO 97 (Chelsea Pensioner records), WO 96 (Militia Records) and, to a lesser degree, the WW1 Medal Index Cards (MICs). The campaign medal rolls and the silver war badge rolls can, with care, also provide valuable information. Note that Findmypast has also indexed First World War service and pension records and these are available as a single search. Furthermore, you'll find records in the Findmypast version that you won't find anywhere else.

All of the records above can be viewed free of charge  by taking out a FREE trial with Findmypast. The National Archives at Kew also provides free access, as do many archives and libraries. For more information on what I consider to be vital military links, see the right-hand menu or my Finding your army ancestor post.

To find photos of soldiers you should visit my British Army Ancestors website which was launched in 2017. There you'll be able to search over 11.6m records. Your chances of finding a photo are still remote - but it's got to be worth a shot. Also read my blog post which is called Finding a photo of your British military ancestor.

Reference to service battalions below may also include local reserve battalions which fed into the service battalions and which shared the same number sequence as the service battalions. See for example, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th Battalions were service battalions. The 13th and 15th Battalions were reserve battalions for the four service battalions. All six battalions shared the same numbering series.


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SECTION 1 - REGIMENTS and BATTALIONS

HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY

1st Life Guards
2nd Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)
Household Battalion

CAVALRY OF THE LINE

CORPS OF DRAGOONS

1st (King's) Dragoon Guards
2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen's Bays)
3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards
4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards (1882 enlistments)
5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards
6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)
7th (Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards

1st (Royal) Dragoons 1880-1906
2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys)
6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons


CORPS OF HUSSARS

3rd (King's Own) Hussars
4th (Queen's Own) Hussars
7th (Queen's Own) Hussars
8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars
10th (Prince of Wales's Own Royal) Hussars
11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars
13th Hussars
14th (King's) Hussars
15th (King's) Hussars
18th (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars
19th (Queen Alexandra's Own Royal) Hussars
20th Hussars
21st Hussars

CORPS OF LANCERS

5th (Royal Irish) Lancers
12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers
21st (Empress of India's) Lancers

YEOMANRY

Ayrshire Yeomanry
Bedfordshire Yeomanry
Berkshire Yeomanry
Buckinghamshire Yeomanry (Royal Bucks Hussars)
Cheshire Yeomanry
Denbighshire Yeomanry
Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry
Royal North Devon Yeomanry
Dorset Yeomanry (Queen's Own)
Essex Yeomanry
Fife & Forfar Yeomanry
Glamorgan Yeomanry
Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry
Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
Hampshire Yeomanry (Carabiniers)
Hertfordshire Yeomanry
Royal East Kent Yeomanry
Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry
Lanarkshire Yeomanry
Lancashire Hussars
Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry
Leicestershire Yeomanry
Lincolnshire Yeomanry
City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders)
1st County of London Yeomanry
2nd County of London Yeomanry
3rd County of London Yeomanry
Lothians and Border Horse
1st & 2nd Lovat's Scouts
Montgomeryshire Yeomanry
Norfolk Yeomanry
Northamptonshire Yeomanry
Northumberland Hussars
Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers)
Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (South Nottinghamshire Hussars)
Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars
Pembrokeshire (Castlemartin) Yeomanry
1st Scottish Horse
2nd Scottish Horse
3rd Scottish Horse
North Somerset Yeomanry
West Somerset Yeomanry
Staffordshire Yeomanry
Suffolk Yeomanry (Duke of York's Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars)
Surrey Yeomanry
Sussex Yeomanry
Warwickshire Yeomanry
Welsh Horse
Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry
Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (Prince of Wales's Own)
Worcestershire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars)
Yorkshire Dragoons (Queen's Own)
Yorkshire Hussars (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own)
East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry


REGIMENTS - FOOT GUARDS

Grenadier Guards
Coldstream Guards
Scots Guards
Irish Guards
Welsh Guards

Royal Sussex Regt circa 1902-1905

REGIMENTS – INFANTRY

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 
1st and 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion

5th Battalion (TF)
6th Battalion (TF)
7th Battalion (TF)
8th Battalion (TF)
9th Battalion (TF)

10th – 15th (Service) Battalions

Bedfordshire Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion

The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
1st & 2nd Battalions

Border Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
1st and 2nd Battalions

Cambridgeshire Regiment
1st Battalion

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
1st and 2nd Battalions

The Cheshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

The Connaught Rangers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Devonshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd (Militia) Battalion

Dorsetshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions

Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Durham Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions
5th Battalion
Other Rank PoWs 1914

East Lancashire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

East Surrey Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd and 4th Battalions
East Surrey Regiment curiosities: 364*

East Yorkshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
4th Battalion (TF)

Essex Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

4th Battalion (TF)
5th Battalion (TF)
6th Battalion (TF)
7th Battalion (TF)
8th (Cyclist) Battalion (TF)
9th – 14th (Service) Battalions

Gloucestershire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

4th Battalion (TF)
5th Battalion (TF)
6th Battalion (TF)

7th – 16th (Service) Battalions

Gordon Highlanders
1st and 2nd Battalions

4th Battalion
5th (Buchan and Formartin) Battalion
7th (Deeside Highland) Battalion

Hampshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Highland Light Infantry
1st & 2nd Battalions 1881-1914
Regular enlistments 1914

8th (Lanark) Battalion, TF

15th, 16th & 17th Battalions: Glasgow Pals

Honourable Artillery Company
Honourable Artillery Company - HAC

Inns of Court Regiment
Inns of Court Regiment

King's (Liverpool Regiment)
1st and 2nd Battalions
17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Battalions - Liverpool Pals

King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
Other Rank PoWs 1914

King's Own Scottish Borderers
1st and 2nd Battalions

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions

5th Battalion




                                                        
King's Royal Rifle Corps
1st - 4th Battalions

King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions

Lancashire Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd and 4th Battalions (1899-1906)

6th Battalion

Leicestershire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Leinster Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Lincolnshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

4th Battalion (TF)
5th Battalion (TF)

6th – 9th (Service) Battalions
10th Battalion (Grimsby Chums)

London Regiment - City of London battalions (TF)
1st (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
2nd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
3rd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
4th (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
5th (City of London) Battalion (Rifle Brigade)
6th (City of London) Battalion (Rifles)
7th (City of London) Battalion
8th (City of London) Battalion (Post Office Rifles)

London Regiment - County of London battalions (TF)
9th (County of London) Battalion (Queen Victoria's Rifles)
10th County of London) Battalion (Hackney) [Originally Paddington Rifles]
11th (County of London) Battalion (Finsbury Rifles)12th (County of London) Battalion (The Rangers)
13th (County of London) Battalion (Kensington)
14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish)
15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles)
16th (County of London) Battalion (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
17th (County of London) Battalion (Poplar & Stepney Rifles)
18th (County of London) Battalion (London Irish Rifles)
19th (County of London) Battalion (St Pancras)
20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath & Woolwich)
21st (County of London) Battalion (First Surrey Rifles)
22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queen's)
23rd (County of London) Battalion
24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen's)
25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion
[26th - TITLE NEVER USED - See Honourable Artillery Company - HAC]
[27th - TITLE NEVER USED - See Inns of Court]
28th (County of London) Battalion (Artists Rifles)

Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions

Manchester Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions

Volunteer Service Companies (Boer War)

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion

5th Battalion (TF)
6th Battalion (TF)
7th Battalion (TF)
8th Battalion (TF)
9th Battalion (TF)
10th Battalion (TF)

11th – 14th Battalions

16th, 17th & 18th Manchesters (1st, 2nd and 3rd City Battalions)
19th, 20th & 21st Manchesters (4th, 5th and 6th City Battalions)
22nd, 23rd & 24th Manchesters (7th & 8th City Battalions and the Oldham Pioneers)
25th, 26th & 27th (Reserve) Battalions

Middlesex Regiment
1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Battalions
17th & 23rd (Footballers) Battalions

Monmouthshire Regiment
3rd Battalion

Norfolk Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

Northamptonshire Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions
4th Battalion

KRRC Obstacle Team, 1907

North Staffordshire Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions
3rd (Militia) Battalion - South African War casualties 1900-1902
5th Battalion

Northumberland Fusiliers
Regular Battalions

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions
4th Battalion

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
1st and 2nd Battalions

Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment
1st & 2nd Battalions
Other Rank PoWs 1914

Rifle Brigade
1st - 4th Battalions

Royal Berkshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Dublin Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Fusiliers
Regular Battalions
22nd (Kensington) Battalion
23rd (1st Sportsman’s) Battalion
24th (2nd Sportsman’s) Battalion
30th (Reserve) Battalion
Other Rank PoWs 1914

Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Irish Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Irish Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Irish Rifles
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion

Royal Munster Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Scots
3rd (Militia) Battalion

1st and 2nd Battalions
8th Battalion

Royal Scots Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion


Royal Sussex Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

4th Battalion (TF)
5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion (TF)
6th (Cyclist) Battalion (TF)

7th – 10th (Service) Battalions

11th (1st South Down) Battalion
12th (2nd South Down) Battalion
13th (3rd South Down) Battalion
14th (Reserve) Battalion

Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Regular battalions
Militia and Special Reserve

Royal Welsh Fusiliers
1st and 2nd Battalions
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion
5th (Flintshire) Battalion
7th (Merioneth & Montgomery) Battalion

Royal West Kent Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Seaforth Highlanders
1st and 2nd Battalions
1st and 2nd Battalions - numbering 1900-1906

Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment)
1st and 2nd Battalions

Military Books for sale

Shropshire Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions

Somerset Light Infantry
1st and 2nd Battalions

South Lancashire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

South Staffordshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

South Wales Borderers
1st and 2nd Battalions

Suffolk Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions
4th Battalion (TF)
5th Battalion (TF)
Other Rank PoWs 1914

Welsh Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

West Yorkshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Wiltshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Worcestershire Regiment
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions

York and Lancaster Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

Yorkshire Regiment
1st and 2nd Battalions

ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY
West Riding RHA

ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
3rd Highland Howitzer Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY
4th Highland (Mountain) Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery

REGIMENTS - ROYAL ENGINEERS
Royal Engineers 1881-1914

Dorsetshire Fortress Company

REGIMENTS - OTHER
Military Foot Police / Military Mounted Police

SECTION 2 - OTHER ARTICLES

Case studies
Alf Webb - a Bedfordshire regular
Donald Banks, a Lincolnshire Terrier
Every number tells a story - The 1/5th Essex
Harry Bardsley - a Manchester Pal's war
William Buchanan - an exception to the rule

Recruitment and numbering patterns
1908 - What a difference a year makes - changes in army numbering
Border Regiment recruitment in 1906 - analysis of enlistment locations
British Army recruitment in the 19th century
Cavalry numbering in 1906 - the change from numbering by regiment to numbering by corps
Cavalry numbering conundrums - service numbers re-used
City of London Regiments - recruiting patterns 1908 - 1914
Corps of Dragoons recruitment 1881 - 1906 - recruitment patterns
Five-digit Territorial Force numbers
Maverick battalions - the continuation of militia numbering series in 1908

Research aids
Army Service Number sources
Army Service Number prefixes
Ascertaining a man's battalion from his number - can it be done?
Dating photographs by regimental numbers
Enlistment dates on medal index cards
Regimental numbering series
Understanding army service numbers - case study
Volunteer Service Companies - formation and composition (1900-1901)
Volunteer Service Companies - numbering

Rules and regulations
Militiaman's Small Book (1892)
National Reserve Regulations 1911
National Reserve Regulations 1913
Queen's & King's Regulations - regimental numbering
Special Reserve Army Order - 23rd Dec 1907
Special Reserve appendices - Army Order 1907
Special Reserve - creation in 1908
Supernumerary Companies - Army Order 187, May 1915

Miscellaneous
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 - Introduction
Boar's Head, The - in Remembrance 2009
Delhi Durbar 1903 - infantry regiments and old soldiers attending
London Regiment - six digit number anomalies
Ten Tommies, The - WW1 Variety troupe - also HERE
With the 1/5th Essex in the East - Appendices