Who When Where

Hi - apologies for another query but BEFORE I try to discover what there is to know about my particular wartime family, I’d like to know how much has been released online for the 1930-50s? I’ve relied on family legend and actual conversations about those times and headed back in time to do actual family research. Now we are over 75 years after those times is there much for us to discover? Any successes or useful pointers very gratefully received.


If this is more suitable for the chat section I’ll happily move it

Here's a good overview of online military records available: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Br ... rds_Online

What branch did your family members serve in?

See also: https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine ... y-records/

You'll probably want to obtain your family members' records:

Army service records are held in Glasgow.
They’re indexed by Service Number, Rank, Full Name and Date of Birth – you’ll need to provide as much of this information as possible, together with your relative’s Regiment or Corps if it is known, to help locate service records.
Records of deceased ex-servicemen/women will generally only be released to, or with the consent of, the official next of kin. You’ll need to provide a Certificate of Kinship form and a Subject Access Request (SAR) form and pay a £30 fee.
Obtaining records may take some time. https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records

Hi Mo

Army and ground staff RAF for the service men. Both survived but I’ve no details. It sounds like individual records are available if you have the basic info so there’s no way of working through an index?

I’d like to fill in gaps about evacuees and the civilians - is that possible?

Hi Chris - these links may help:

Evacuees: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hel ... /evacuees/

RAF: https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine ... ancestors/
RAF: https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine ... f-records/

Civilian Deaths: Ancestry have UK, World War II Civilian Deaths, 1939-1945

Home Guard: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-hom ... ce-records

Thank you, Mo. Brilliant as always

One more for you:

Women’s Land Army: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hel ... land-army/

General reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ki ... rld_War_II

Norfolk Nan wrote: ↑06 Jan 2021, 16:45 It sounds like individual records are available if you have the basic info so there’s no way of working through an index?

Not sure. If an online "general" index exists (for those who survived the war) I haven't run across it yet.
I have two 1st cousins once removed who served. One was a Royal Engineers sapper killed in Italy in 1945. The other cousin died in 1990, but I've yet to find his Army details. I have a photo of him, in presumably an army uniform, but I'm not experienced with uniforms (unless it's RAMC). So his army service details and regiment will probably remain a mystery to me.

I think my grandfather was in the Royal Engineers too - fragments of conversations with my dad suggest that but I’ve no details. There’s an uncle who was a Japanese prisoner of war but I’ve no more than that. I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t interested when they were around to tell me their stories. Another grandfather was in the RAF stationed here keeping an eye on the barrage balloons and someone else was in the Home Guard. Lots to look into - thanks, Mo.

Norfolk Nan wrote: ↑06 Jan 2021, 17:57 There’s an uncle who was a Japanese prisoner of war but I’ve no more than that.

Online records
Search and download Prisoners of War 1715-1945 records on FMP. These are selected digitised records from a variety of record collections held at The National Archives, including Foreign Office, Colonial Office, Admiralty and Air Force collections.

Search the UK, British Army Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 and UK, World War II Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 databases on Ancestry.co.uk The latter database includes the TNA WO 345 Japanese POW index cards (mentioned below).

TNA holds a vast amount of material for Second World War prisoners of war. Japanese prisoner of war index cards can be found in WO 345.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hel ... orean-war/