22 February 2007

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920

Ancestry.co.uk have placed online the first release, surnames A amd B, for soldiers service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the British Army and claimed disability pensions for service in WWI. These were also men who did not re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II.

In addition to Attestation
forms completed on enlistment other items often found are: medical history forms, casualty forms, disability statements, regimental conduct sheets, awards. One file I looked at had a form recording a marriage.

These are some of the most used records at TNA (Kew), found in series WO364 known as the ‘Unburnt collection.’ More than half of the files were burned during WW2 air raids on London, so you have to be a bit lucky to find your ancestor's file surviving.

It's good to see these records becoming available through an Ancestry subscription I already have, and available without cost through many public libraries and Family History Centres, without the high pay per view cost favoured by TNA.


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