. This superb photograph of 8451 Rfm Thomas Chetwynd probably dates to 1908 or 1909. Surviving papers in series WO 96 at The National Archives show that Thomas joined the militia on the 12th October 1907. He gave his age as 17 years and 11 months and his trade as coal miner. Thomas completed 46 […]
Read more...Staring into the camera in his PoW uniform is 9525 Pte Thomas Hughes of the 2nd Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. I bought this card one eBay some while ago; one of several PoW cards I have in my collection and which I’ll be adding to British Army Ancestors. PoW records at the ICRC Prisoners […]
Read more...And so, another Remembrance Sunday is upon us. Some of my earliest memories of this day are from my time as a cub-scout standing by the war memorial at St Mary’s, Widford. That would have been in the late sixties or early seventies and it was invariably freezing cold. Walking in the park this morning […]
Read more...One can only imagine the grief of Mary Anne Lounsbach on receiving the telegrams which informed her that two of her sons had been killed in action. Harry and Joe Lounsbach were both killed on the 1st July 1916 whilst serving with the 22nd (7th City) Battalion, Manchester Regiment. The notice above appeared in the […]
Read more...Imagine bringing still photographs to life and animating them so that the subject’s facial expressions are re-imagined. Earlier this week I shared an article published on the BBC News website which revealed that new technology developed in Israel has achieved just that. Clicking on the link above will take you to the article and short […]
Read more...Photos like this one of 2nd Bn Rifle Brigade officers at Shajahanpur in India in 1907 are great because they can be uploaded for multiple individuals. It took me, on average, between one and two minutes to find an officer, add the minimum required content, and upload. And I found every single man; that’s 16 […]
Read more...The only identifiable person in this Bing Boys group photo who can be matched to a record on British Army Ancestors is Captain Cardinal-Harford. Despite their encouragingly obscure sounding names I could find no men called Bunling and no men called Peltman. There are 89 men called Frere and 548 called Musson. If only […]
Read more...This superb photo of Henry Clifford Howell dates to the 30th September 1879. Henry had joined the regiment at Birmingham on the 19th November 1878, aged 27 years and five months. This would have been considered old for a first enlistment but his surviving papers note that he had already served seven years and […]
Read more...David Mackinlay Potter is the latest officer to appear on British Army Ancestors. He was a lieutenant when this photograph was taken, but rose to the rank of major in the 67th Foot. Born in 1845 he was commissioned on the 24th November 1863, promoted to lieutenant on the 8th July 1868, and promoted again […]
Read more...You will find duplicate records on this site and the man above is a good example. When I was pulling together the different data collections I was aware of course that there would be individuals who appear in more than one collection. The First World War medal index cards and the service and pension records […]
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