09 November 2012

Ancestry updates two British military databases

Ancestry's UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 database is taken from The Royal Navy's publication of the same name is a great way to follow the career of an officer in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Queen Alexandra’s Royal Nursing Service, Coast Guard, and other naval entities. It has nearly 4 million records.

"The list includes both commissioned and warrant officers, and along with names, lists can indicate rank, seniority, decorations, and other details.

The Navy List includes numerous groupings. For example, officers are grouped by rank. These include admirals, commanders, captains, lieutenants, chaplains, carpenters, boatswains, artificer engineers, gunners, surgeons, and others. There are also lists of ships with their officers and current stations, as well as lists of pensioners and retired officers.
Organizations and items included among list lists varied over time. In the volumes in this database, you will find officers in the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR—including the New Zealand Branch) and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR—including the South African Division), the Royal Naval School of Music, the Royal Humane Society medal roll (where you may find enlisted men included), as well as lists of clerks, schoolmasters, civilian dental surgeons, warrant writers, warrant armorers, head schoolmasters, head stewards, and others. You will also find regulations, members of boards, vessels for sale, and hundreds of other details related to life and service in the Royal Navy."
UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 includes 163,857 records of

World War II British Army, Navy and Air Force POWs.
The information I found in doing trial searches is name, usually initials and last name, and location. I did not find Rank; Branch of the armed forces; Regiment; POW number as indicated inAncestry's documentation.
Ancestry's source for this data is the Prisoner of War Collections. Sussex, England: The Naval and Military Press.


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