British Army service & pension records online

I'm going to flag this again because I think the links I posted could be useful.

Last week, over on my Army Ancestry Research blog, I published a list of infantry and foot guards regiments with links to those regiments' surviving service and pension records on Findmypast. I was quite surprised at how many records survive for some regiments and how few survive for others.  

The records cover a wide year range, from 1760 to 1920, although the majority will be for the period 1881 to 1918. Clicking on the British Army infantry and foot guards links I published will take you to the search results but you will need a subscription or pay-per-view credits to actually view the records. You'll also find some of these on Ancestry but Findmypast has a far more comprehensive and better indexed collection.

Duplicate numbers

A visitor to one of my posts yesterday expressed surprise that someone listed on that post had the same number as his ancestor. How could that be?

I have covered this very common topic elsewhere but here's a quick overview of how this happens; and for the purpose of this post I'm going to refer to infantry only.

1. In July 1881 all line infantry regiments, with the exception of the Rifle Brigade, commenced a new numbering series which began at 1 on 1st July 1881. So straight away you have the first 68 duplicate numbers.
2. The militia battalions for each regiment each had their own number series too. Most regiments had two militia battalion and each of these battalions would have had its own number series. These militia battalions often recruited at a similar rate and it is quite often the case that I see numbers in the two battalions keeping pace with each other, neck and neck, over the years.
3. When the Territorial Force was formed in April 1908 the majority of its battalions started a new number series beginning at 1 although there were many notable exceptions, some of which I have drawn attention to on this blog.
4. When Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914 and new service battalions started forming, many of these battalions also started numbering from 1.

So by 1914 it would be possible, in a typical line regiment to see the same regimental number appearing in the regular battalions, the Special Reserve, the Extra Reserve and each Territorial Force battalion. Some numbers were prefixed with letters or numbers which can make identification of a particular battalion easier for today's researchers, but the application of these prefixes in documents of the time was inconsistent to say the least.

This blog only covers a fraction of the number series that would have been issued between 1881 and 1918 but I have much unpublished information on ALL infantry battalions and most corps besides. Use the index tab to navigate around corps, regiments and battalions but if you get stuck, or need additional help, have a look at the RESEARCH tab.

The Queen's & King's Regulations - Regimental Numbers

This post will look at Queen's and King's Regulations for the Army between 1889 and 1914, and how they dealt with regimental numbering during those years. Click on the images below to see a readable version!

The Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army. Part II. 1889

The Queen's Regulations and orders for the Army. 1895

The King's Regulations and Orders for the Army. 1904.

The 1904 Regulations ushered in fundamental changes regarding number sequences. Infantry regiments which had previously had to apply to start a new series once they were approaching 9,999 were now permitted to extend their numbering up to 19,999. (Nevertheless, the change in regulations came too late for some regiments which, having reached 9,999, had already started a new series from 1. I've mentioned these regiments in an earlier post on Regimental Numbering Series).

The Royal Artillery was now differentiated as [1] Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery and [2] Royal Garrison Artillery, both numbering up to 49,999 as opposed to the 99,999 which had been used prior to 1904 for the Royal Artillery as a whole.

The 1904 Regulations also specifically mentioned the cavalry regiments (numbering up to 9,999).

Army Order 289 - December 1906

Army Order 289 changed the numbering as far as the cavalry of the line was concerned. (The regiments of Household Cavalry retained their regimental numbering sequences but were to only number up to 9,999). Prior to this Army Order there had been no numbering differentiation between Household and Line cavalry, and each individual regiment had maintained a separate numbering series. Now, the line cavalry was to re-number by the three corps: Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers.

I am unsure of the precise date when this Order came into effect. The lowest numbers currently on my line cavalry databases are 30 (Dragoon Guards on 9th January 1907), 15 (Hussars - 1st January 1907), and 104 (Lancers on 12th February 1907). Men already serving with the cavalry line regiments were not re-numbered and so one assumes that there must have been duplicate numbers in the three corps.

For example, before the Order came into effect, most of the line cavalry were numbering in the high 5000s, 6000s and even 7000s in some regiments (7th Dragoon Guards, 7th Hussars and 5th Lancers to give three examples of the latter).

With the change in numbering, the Dragoons had again reached 5000 by August 1910, the Hussars by December 1909 and the Lancers (which had always had fewer regiments) by December 1913. This also presents today's researchers with another conundrum. Does my line cavalry ancestor's number belong to the pre 1906 series or the post 1906 series? I'll deal with the individual cavalry regiments and the corps of cavalry in future posts.

The King's Regulations and Orders for the Army. 1908.

The 1908 Army Order extended the numbering series in the RHA and RFA to 99,999 whilst the RGA maintained the 49,999 limit which had first been indicated in the 1904 King's Regulations.
The King's Regulations and Orders for the Army. 1912. Amended up to 1st August 1914.

The amended 1912 King's Regulations extended the numbering series in the Army Service Corps and Royal Engineers from 29,999 to 39,999; all other series remained unchanged. And when Britain went to war with Germany three days later, it was these regulations which were in force. There would be many more changes over the next four years.

My grateful thanks to joseph of the Great War Forum for the copy of the 1889 Queen's Regulations, and to Graham Stewart for all the others. View British Army WW1 Records here.

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