Who When Where

I'm having trouble finding my grandfather in the 1921 census but have found one possibility recorded as a private in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and located in Ireland. No military records show up on Ancestry or FMP so is this going to be impossible to prove or would there be other options I could try to help rule him out or rule him in?

Thank you.

Any personnel records post-1920 are still with the MoD - as you may know.

However, there are 2 possibilities outside that.

FindMyPast has a collection British Army, Royal Welch Fusiliers 1807-1948 which includes (amongst others)

• Enlistment registers, 1920-1936
• Enlistment registers, 1938-1946
  ...
• Transfer-in register, 1920-1938
• Transfer-in registers, 1938-1945

These are sometimes known as Attestation Books. They only have skimpy details of soldiers - one-ish line per person, but it might help to confirm that the 1921 guy is or isn't your GF.

The second possibility is Absent Voters Lists. At that time the AVLs (for postal voters in effect) were still separate books but the problem is that they don't always survive. FindMyPast has them - if you find the ordinary electoral register and GF is in it, then there should be some sort of marker by his name if he's in the AVL - an "a" for Absent Voter or NM if he qualified by being in the Navy or Military... Then the military details will be found in the AVL if it exists....

Be wary that AVLs seem to be out of date in my experience.

Thank you, Adrian. I’m not sure where my GF should be, his family has changed in the decade since 1911 and he is now a young man of about 19. He’s not anywhere I’ve expected him to be and no clever searching has challenged the database. So, he’s either in the army, in prison or abroad…I think. I’ll take a look at your suggestions - thank you.