All commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, men and women who served overseas with the British Army during the Great War were entitled to medals for their service. The records relating to the issued of the medals are a good starting point in any search, and can provide important and useful information into their service. These records show Name, rank, number (if not an officer) regiment, usually the battalion/s or unit in which served. Also if oversears service commenced prior to 1st January 1916 the date of arrival in a particular theatre of war is shown. Other information can be noted on these records, such as Prisoner of War, Discharge date, Killed in Action, Deserted. If discharged due to sickness, wounds or termination of engagement the 'Silver War Badge' was awarded. This was to be worn on civilian clothing to signify that they had served in the forces and had been honorably discharged. There is a roll for these which generally shows name, rank, regiment, enlistment and discharge dates. . It is also possible to trace a man from the number on the reverse of the badge.

There are over 217,000 files of officers who served in the Great War available. These can amount to anything from 5 pages to 200, the average being around 40. There is some duplication amongst these records as well as some trivia. I generally selectivly copy pages from these files, extracting information relevant to a mans service and family unless specifically asked to copy everything. They can contain much useful information including:-
Birth/Baptism certificate.
Details of Education.
Home address.
Ranks Record of service if commissioned from the ranks.
Details of wounds received in action or sickness.
Posting to units together with dates of service with them.
If made a Prisoner of War there is usually a statement written by the officer giving the circumstances of his capture.
If killed or died details of how his estate was settled.
Letters from the officer on various subjects.
Claims for pension due to wounds or sickness.
These are some of the more usual documents Come across. There is a great variety from file to file.

These are divided into three seperate series of documents. There are two fully A - Z series and include men who applied for pension, were discharged during the period of the war, or volunteered for service but were rejected for various reasons. The third series is still in the process of being filmed. Currently available in the series are those men whose surnames begin with A, B, C, D, E, F, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z. The remainder will be released periodically up till mid 2002. These records include men who were Killed in Action, Died from Wounds or were discharged. In all some 2.8 million (circa 40%) records for soldiers of the Great War have survived, the remainder being destroyed during the Blitz on London in the Second World War.
These records include such details as Place of Birth, age on enlistment, Next of Kin details, promotions, wounds and sickness, units served with together with dates, medals awarded and a variety of other documents and letters.

Some 9'000 (circa. 10%) service records of the WAAC and QMAAC as it became from April 1918 are available. They include such documents as enrolement form which states age, address, parents nationality, marital status. A statement of service showing grade, location, promotions, name and address of next of kin. Casualty form, clothing history sheet and various correspondence.

Over 140'000 Gallantry awards were granted to members of the British army during the war. All of these were announced in the London Gazette. For awards of the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross and Distinguished Conduct Medal a citation was also published in most cases. However for most of the wartime period information relating to the place and date of the action for which the award was made was extracted. In most cases this additional information is available. Once the date and place is known the unit War diary can be consulted, which is a day by day account written in the field at the time by one of their officer. Much important information can be gained from these documents to build up a better understanding of the circumstances of an award. For awards of the Military Medal no citation was published although awards were announced in the London Gazette. Again the War Diary can be of great importance to discovering more information. Names of men awarded this medal are often mentioned, sometimes with the dates of the action for which awarded. On occasions full recommendations are included in the diary. One can usually get a good idea of the action for which an award was made by the date it was gazetted and details of actions in which a unit was involved. Many more were 'Mentioned in Despatches' which were also announced in the London Gazette.

As mentioned before these documents were written in the field by an officer of each unit down to Battalion level for Infantry, Brigade or Battery for Artillery and Company for Royal Engineers and Army Service Corps. Apart from being useful in cases where a gallantry award was made it can be used to gain much interesting and relevant information in cases where a man has been killed or wounded. Officers are often mentioned, for example taking part in attacks or trench raids, often in some detail. In some cases reports written by participating officers are also included.