England Other Rank Army Records (National Institute)

Records of Other Ranks
Surprisingly, for Other Ranks the researcher is better placed in that there is more detail available and for earlier periods. See The National Archives (TNA) leaflets M1, M3, M5, M6, M7, M9, M14, M15, M23, M24, M54 for information on soldiers. The first place to look is:

Soldiers’ Documents (Attestation and Discharge Papers) WO 97 Soldier’s Documents publicly available date from 1760 to 1920 and cover those discharged on pension to 1882 and all discharged men from 1883 to 1913. About one third of serving men received a pension, whilst another third were killed, and the remainder served too short a time to be eligible.

There were three categories of pension for:


 * Long service, a minimum of 21 years.
 * Wounds received in action.
 * Disabilities occasioned by service; the term worn out is frequently seen.

Pensions were administered by the Royal Hospital Chelsea so the men were called Chelsea Pensioners, but the vast majority were not in-pensioners at Chelsea, (the splendid old boys in scarlet tunics), but received their allowances as out-pensioners from the payment district in which they lived. Out-pensioners were formed into Invalid, Veteran and Garrison companies for garrison duties in wartime, and during the 19th century were often sent out to colonies as settlers. For background reading there is a general article by Swinnerton’s Was There a Chelsea Pensioner in Your Family? Practical Family History. #6, page 7-8, and C. G. T. Dean’s book on the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Soldiers documents do not survive for those who:


 * Died whilst serving.


 * Deserted.


 * Completed a limited unpensionable period of service. Such 7-year enlistments, renewable for 5-10 years, were introduced in 1806 and lasted until 1829. From 1841 there was another system of 10-12 year enlistment, renewable for a further 11-12 years. After 1870 soldiers signed on for an initial 6 year period and could renew for up to 21 years. In 1904 this was changed to an initial 3 years, in 1905 to 9 years, and in 1908 to 6-8 years, with options to extend to 21 years (Wood 1995-1.


 * Were invalided out.


 * Purchased their discharge (bought themselves out).

Until 1883 you will have to know the regiment or unit in order to begin your search, see section on How to Determine the Regiment, and the alphabetical index of soldiers discharged from 1760-1854 (the years which are filmed). The latter is extremely easy to use, click search the catalogue, then fill in:


 * 1) Surname, plus first name if you wish.
 * 2) Year range—this is optional and it is best to leave this blank at first.
 * 3) WO 97.

The list produced gives a brief summary sufficient to identify your man, see the example below. From 1883 the documents are alphabetical by surname for the whole army.

Soldiers in WO 97 Index
CHART: Soldiers in WO 97 Index

The chart below summarizes the worldwide accessibility of the Soldiers’ Documents for those unable to research at the TNA themselves. When doing a search on the Family History Library Catalogue do a keyword search for British Soldiers Documents, or alternatively bring up the complete list of 1256 films by doing a film/fiche search using film number. View the Film Notes and note the list of regiments, their volume numbers and alphabetical order of soldiers’ names. If working from the online index the reference is quoted in the form: WO 97/183/110. The middle number is the volume that enables you to order the right film. When viewing the film use the last number, which is the item number, to find your document.

Bear in mind that there are also two further compilations of pre-1914 documents found whilst the WWI group were being sorted. These are piece numbers WO 97/6355-6383 for 1843-1899 and WO 97/6323-6354 for 1900-1913, and they are arranged alphabetically but are not included in the index on the net, neither are they filmed yet.

Soldiers Documents WO 97
CHART: Soldiers Documents WO 97

* Artillery, cavalry, engineers, foot guards, infantry, and misc. Corps

Large numbers of the WO 97 records for the Boer War (1899-1902) were destroyed during WWII bombing.

Soldiers Documents W097
WO 97 soldier’s documents may contain various parts:

Attestation Form This is the form completed when he joined up and gives his age, (or what he wanted the recruiting sergeant to believe), and place of birth, trade or occupation before enlistment, and his physical description. Below is an attestation for unlimited service and was found amongst records of the 79th Foot even though it says the man is of the 69th Foot Regiment!

CHART: Attestation Form for Richard McCormick WO 97/894

Record of Service  

This is an account of his army career including places served, promotions and demotions, medals, conduct and disciplinary measures, together with the reason, date and place of discharge and intended place of residence after leaving the army. Later records will have more details, such as medical history and details of next of kin and family. Below is typical of a later record of service and has several pages of information:

CHART: Record of Service for William East WO 97/1206                                                             Page 1 

Page 2

                                                                   Page 3 

Page 4 

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