From the Top - Explore Archives

This week the annual Explore Your Archives campaign launched here in the UK. Remember only a tiny fraction of historical materials have been digitised and made available online, so archives still hold many treasures genealogists need.  Learning to use an archive is really important.

I am prepared to bet that most of us were taught how to use a library sometime in childhood, but we learn to use archives as adults by trial and error. Libraries organise their books and other materials and have catalogues to help you find what you want. Archives also organise and catalogue their holdings, but do so differently.

Archives are organised using a hierarchy with several levels. Cataloguing archives, in four very easy steps illustrates the four main levels with rather natty photos. The levels are:

• Fonds or Collection
• Series
• File
• Item

Genealogists often focus on the single item, and forget the context in which it was created, used and preserved. Much valuable information about an item is in the higher catalogue levels, so explore them all.

Archivists start at the top level and don't always have the resources to fully describe lower levels.  The best way of discovering what an archive holds is to look at the fonds level. The National Archives (TNA, the UK one) has over 400 fonds, which is somewhat overwhelming. According to the published guide 'Tracing your Ancestors in the National Archives' these are the fonds most commonly used by family historians:

I would like to see a summary like this one posted on every archive's website and displayed prominently in every search room.  I am sure UK researchers are familiar with some of the contents of the fonds HO, RG and WO. Have you looked at other fonds, and other series within fonds?  Take a close look at RG 101.

Sadly, online archive catalogues do not make examining fonds level entries as easy as it should be. To display all fonds in Discovery, TNA's catalogue, use the Advanced Search. A search term must be entered so I used the wildcard *, meaning everything.  Then I scrolled down the page and selected 'The National Archives' under Held by, which brought up further options. I scrolled a long way further and selected 'Department' under Catalogue Levels.  TNA confusingly uses the terms Department for Fonds and Piece for File. Once you have identified a Fond of interest, you can search using the reference.

Now it is your turn. Have fun exploring an archive!

Reference
Bevan, Amanda. 2006. Tracing your Ancestors in the National Archives. The National Archives: Richmond. pp 4-7.

Writing about World War I Soldiers

As I am writing my book about my great great great grandfather, Robert Muir (1800-1869), and his descendants, I discovered many Scottish young men who served in World War I. As I went to explore  the available records, I quickly became confused. I realized I needed to back up and stop researching specific ancestors and focus instead on the War itself and what records were kept by the British military and why.

I stopped writing and researching and started reading. That reading confirmed what I've vaguely remembered about World War I. It was a war that started almost by accident, seemingly by unwilling participants. It was supposed to be over by Christmas; it lasted four years. Generals fought with outmoded tactics against new weapons and technology wreaked destruction on a scale never seen before. No war is good, but World War I was a particularly bad war.

Nine European monarchs at King Edward VII's funeral in 1910; photograph
courtesy of Wikipedia

As the war drug on into early 1915, Britain discovered itself woefully unprepared and scrambled to keep up. The available records reflect that. The Military Service Act of 1916 was tweaked more than once so that more young men would be available to be drafted. When the war began, the British Army numbered about 730,000 men. By standards of the day, it was a small, professional force. By the end of the war more than seven million men and women had experienced service in the British Army.

Unfortunately, records about their service are spotty at best. German bombers struck the War Ministry repository in 1940. More than half of the military service records pertaining to World War I were destroyed.

Damage caused during September 1940 German bombing raid of London;
photograph courtesy of Wikipedia

Unlike researching U.S. military personnel, there was no concept of a serial number, which stayed with the soldier when transferred to different units. Instead, soldiers in the British Army were assigned regimental numbers. If they changed regiments, they were assigned a new number. At first I thought these regimental numbers were next to worthless. But I learned you could search soldiers with numbers close in range to your ancestor's and learn something of their service, such as when they were likely transferred into a theater of war and to what regiment.

On the rare occasions when I could find service records, I didn't understand them. The abbreviations and military jargon were indecipherable. I hired an expert, Chris Baker, of The Long, Long Trail: The British Army in the Great War, 1914-1918. I had been using his website to understand when regiments were formed, where they saw service, and when they were disbanded. I used his forums to ask questions. I learned from Chris how to work around the lack of a military service record by using operational unit war diaries. These are official day-by-day accounts kept by individual British units within the Army. Though they rarely mention a soldier by name, they often describe the action in vivid, though understated detail.

Oswald Dykes Riddell Dick Statement of Services record for a period of military
service before World War I; image courtesy of the UK National Archives

Chris Baker's report included the results of his searches through each available record, including newspapers. If service records didn't exist, he reviewed the regimental numbers before and after my ancestor's and described their service. It is likely my ancestor had similar experiences. Two of the ancestors he researched for me were killed during the war. He provided maps of the action and described it in ways I could understand. He also provided contact information for the museum most relevant to specific regiments. His deliverable also included unit war diaries and written regimental histories.

Cover page of Chris Baker's report on Oswald Dykes Riddell
Dick's military service; personal collection

As a result of his help, I believe I was properly able to honor Private William Lively (1899-1918) and  Lance Corporal Oswald Dykes Riddell Dick (1888-1918).

Both men's lives were filled with tragedy before the war. William Lively had lost his father in a fatal wagon accident in 1906 and his mother to tuberculosis in 1910. He was an orphan at age 11. By 1917 he lived in Darwen, England. He served with the 1/4 Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment and was killed in action on 27 May 1918 during the Third Battle of Aisne when his unit was completely overrun by the enemy and decimated. William's body was never recovered but he was memorialized on the Soissons Memorial in the town of Soissons.

Oswald Riddell Dykes Dick lost his first wife in August 1914 to pneumonia and three months later a son died of tuberculosis. He was left a widower with three young children. He married his first cousin in 1917. During the war he served with the 1/5 Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and was killed on 21 July 1918 during a British counterattack near Champagne, France. He was interred at the Terlinchtun British Cemetery in Wimville, France.

Once I learned how navigate the National Archives website, I ordered many documents. The Lives of the First World War website has also come a long way since I began. When I first started using it, I found only two record sets. Many, many more are now available -- some free and some not. For paid subscription websites, I discovered FindMyPast.com to be the best for British military records. I also spend a lot of time communicating with the regimental museums.

_______________
Writing a Family History
He Died on a Flanders Field
Killed in Action During the Spring Offensive

UK National Archives webinars - a new genealogy resource

The UK’s National Archives (TNA) at Kew has started a new initiative for genealogists – interactive webinars. I took part in one last week and thought I’d pass on my experiences to the Worldwide Genealogy community.

The National Archives © Chris Reynolds  Creative Commons

If you’ve got ancestors from the UK or its former colonies you may have already used TNA’s catalogue, Discovery, its online collections or its podcasts. You may even have visited the archives at Kew. Now these webinars may be another way to learn more about genealogy and how to research different aspects of your own family history.

I found out about the webinar I took part in because I’m signed up to TNA’s enewsletter, but you can also see upcoming events on their home page.

You have to book your place on a webinar via Eventbrite, and you’ll get a confirmation email and, nearer the date, a link and instructions. They suggest using a PC or laptop rather than your phone as the sound quality will be better. If you’ve got headphones, better still.

It’s a good idea to go to the webinar a little early to get used to the layout and to iron out any possible glitches as well as to sign in. You’ll see an e-curtain where slides will display once the webinar gets under way, and on the right hand side a small dialogue box where you interact with the TNA mods and other participants. This is also where you post questions for the speaker to answer at the end – you can ask questions at any time and some people’s queries were answered by other participants during the webinar I attended. Above this is a video feed of the speaker.

TNA says:

This webinar will identify relevant record series at The National Archives and help you trace individuals from this period.

We will also show you some key primary sources available to help you with research around this topic.

Webinars are interactive, online seminars designed to support and develop research skills. You access this event from the comfort of your own home, by logging in on your pc, tablet, smartphone or other device. Being online, you will be able to take advantage of the expertise of The National Archives' staff from your own computer or tablet, without having to travel to Kew. During the session (which will last no more than an hour), you can interact with staff members and fellow researchers taking part in the webinar, as well as listening to, and viewing, the presentation on screen.

How was my first TNA webinar? Instructive and enjoyable, with only a few minus points. There were some glitches with the sound. At first there was none, then it was too low, and later on I and another participant heard a very distracting echo which made it almost impossible to follow what the speaker was saying. This wasn’t too bad while there were slides on the screen, but made the Q&A at the end impossible to follow.

In addition, the dialogue box was supposed to stay on screen after the session ended so that attenders could go on talking for a while, but it disappeared.

I’m sure these were just teething troubles. I found the TNA staff very helpful and keen to sort out the problems. They generously offered to send us the slides and a link to the audio so we could catch up with the bits we missed.

Apart from these small problems, it was a very positive experience. The slides were clear and left on the screen for long enough to take notes from (though I did take a few photos as well), and the speaker, Dr Katy Mair, used several documents from TNA’s collection to illustrate points, which was an added bonus.

She was excellent at explaining the sources available from the National Archives and how to search them. And it’s always a joy to hear an expert speak.

I’d definitely recommend taking part in a TNA webinar if you can. Some older ones are also available on their website.

Finally, a few notes about the session I attended. With this being the 300th anniversary of the Jacobite Rising of 1715, TNA is marking the event with some commemorative events, including a small display in their Keeper’s Gallery. This talk was about tracing Jacobites (supporters of the exiled King James) in the National Archives.

There are no sources online (apart from State Papers Online, a subscription site only available to institutions), so it’s necessary to go to TNA or get someone to do the research. Discovery, their online catalogue, has descriptions of the relevant series. They are:

• State Papers (SP) – the key series
• Various legal series – Treasury Solicitor (TS), Kings Bench (KB)
• Forfeited Estates Commission (FEC), Patent Rolls (C66)

The State papers fall into two categories, State Papers Scotland (SP 54), letters to the Secretary of State from Scotland, and State Papers Domestic George I and II (SP 35 and 36), letters to the Secretary of State from England.

Flora MacDonald, captured in 1746 (Wikimedia)

In addition, SP 41 (State Papers Military) covers the risings of 1715 and 1745, with letters and papers directed to the Secretaries of State in their military capacity; SP 42 (State Papers Naval) holds correspondence from the Board of Admiralty; and SP 44, which covers letters sent dealing with warrants, pardons, petitions, licences and reports.

Katy also talked about women prisoners taken after the Jacobite Risings and about what happened to the people captured and convicted – if not execution, then banishment, pardon on enlistment or transportation.

She showed us lists in CO 1 (State Papers Colonial) of Jacobites transported to British colonies in America and the West Indies, where they were sold as ‘indentured servants’ to plantation owners.

Britain used its American colonies for transportation until the independence of the United States, after which it turned to New South Wales... but that’s another story.

Who Fought at Waterloo?

Placing a person with certainty at a particular event presents challenges to the family historian.  When the event is as famous as the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, there is the bonus of copious available research and records as well as the potential for confusion, tall tales and fabrication.

The Battle of Waterloo was the culmination of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which started in 1792.  The French Empire expanded across Europe until the failed invasion of Russia in 1812, and defeat in 1814.  Conflict between European powers extended far beyond Europe, with the French taking the Louisiana territories from Spain in 1800 and selling the territory to the USA in 1803, and the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.  After the French were defeated in April 1814, their Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to Elba.  European armies had been dispersed when Napoleon returned to France in March 1815 and regained power.  Britain had made peace with the USA in February 1815, but British troops had not yet returned from America.

The period between Napoleon's return and Waterloo is a very short time to muster large land armies and move them to the battlefield at a time when the horse was the fastest means of transport.  Consequently many men who served during the campaign did not participate in the battle. 

The four main European powers in opposition to Napoleon, Russia, Prussia, Great Britain and Austria, each agreed to provide 150,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, at the Treaty of Vienna on 25 March 1815.  By June 1815, the Russian army was still in Poland and the Austrian army was fighting the King of Naples, brother in law of Napoleon, in Italy.  Britain was allowed to pay for foreign soldiers to make up the British contingent, because troops in America could not be recalled in time.  Consequently the Anglo-allied army was made up of troops from The Netherlands and Belgium (17,000 men), and German states of Hanover (11,000 men), Brunswick (6,000 men) and Nassau(3,000 men) joined the King's German Legion (6,000 men), a British Army unit comprised mainly of German expatriates, and rest of the available British Army (25,000 men). 

Three armies fought at Waterloo: the French (ca. 70,000 men) versus the Anglo-allies (ca. 68,000 men) and Prussians (ca. 50,000 men).

Map of the Battle of Waterloo showing movements of the three armies

Waterloo Medals

According to The Numismatic Chronicle published in 1869, Waterloo medals were issued by the English (1816), Hanoverian (1817), Nassau (1815), Brunswick (1818), and Prussian (1813,1814,1815) heads of state.

Waterloo medals

These medals were issued to all ranks.  There are some differences between them in which military actions made men eligible for a medal.  The issue of thousands of medals generated records that potentially place individual soldiers at the battle.

French soldiers did not gain recognition until the issue of the Saint Helena Medal in 1857 to surviving soldiers of all ranks, who served between 1792 and 1815.  I found an incomplete database of soldiers granted the Saint Helena medal.

Using British records, I present an explanation of the use of medal rolls and some other military records to determine if an individual was a Waterloo hero.

British Waterloo Medal Records

For the British, this was the first time rank and file soldiers were entitled to a campaign medal.  The British medal was intended for 'Waterloo men' of the British army and the King’s German Legion, who were present at the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras on the 16th June 1815 and Waterloo on the 18th of June 1815.  In all 39,000 medals were issued, which included all officers and men who were in the Low Countries at the time.  Lists of eligible men, used by the Royal Mint to engrave the medals with the recipient's name and distribute them, were based on regimental muster lists, but there was confusion over which units were at the battle.

British Waterloo medal

The Waterloo Medal Book (reference MINT 16/112), used by Royal Mint, is available to download in sections from The National Archives for a fee.  A version published by The Naval & Military Press is apparently the source of Ancestry's " UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815" collection and FindMyPast's "Waterloo Medal Roll 1815" collection.

The Waterloo Medal Book was a simplified list, containing name, rank and regiment.  It was derived from the army's own lists, compiled for the purpose of claiming medals by the regimental officers, typically with little more detail than name, rank and comments about wounds or death.  The "War Office: Campaign Medal and Award Rolls (General Series)" (reference WO 100) collection at The National Archives includes Waterloo medal lists in the subseries WO 100/14 (Cavalry, Wagon Train, Artillery and Foot Guards), WO 100/15A (1st to 52nd Foot) and WO 100/15B (53rd to 95th Foot, Rifle Brigade, King's German Legion).  These can be downloaded for free, but are not indexed. 

The TNA Campaign Medal and Award rolls are indexed and presented as the "UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949" on Ancestry.  Waterloo medal rolls can be accessed by browsing the collection or using the search form having chosen Service Region as  'Europe' and Service or Campaign as 'Battle of Waterloo 1815'.  Note that a large chunk of records relating to medals issued for service in India with the similar TNA reference WO 100/I4 have erroneously been included and indexed as part of the Waterloo medal rolls.

The medal rolls give a good indication of whether a person of interest served in the Low Countries at the time of the battle, but may not definitively prove the case.

Muster Books and Pay Lists for Ordinary Soldiers

The day to day records of the army are fabulously detailed.  The regimental pay lists record how each soldier's pay was calculated, based on rank, length of service, the number of days he served during a particular muster period and allowances.  In addition to medal entitlement, 'Waterloo men' were also allowed two years’ extra service in the reckoning of pay or pension. 

The records are housed at The National Archives and organised by regiment.  Most regiments active in 1815 are in series WO 12, but artillery and militia regiments are spread across several other series (see TNA's research guide).   A selection of muster books from TNA reference WO 12, dating from around 1815, are available as digital images in the "UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817" Ancestry collection.  It is not clear if the collection covers all regiments at Waterloo and it is only partly indexed.  The limited time spans leaves me frustrated as I want to track individual soldier's whole careers, not just a few years around 1815.

Royal Scots Greys depicted in "Scotland Forever"

The quarterly pay list (image nos. 103-142) for the 25th April - 24th June 1815 for the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) reveals many men were killed on the 18th June, or absent from the muster of the 24th due to wounds.  Several men were "sent to Depot in England" on the 24th May, so missed the battle and are not listed on the medal rolls.  Later muster rolls note "Waterloo man" to help administer extra pay entitlements.

Army Lists for Officers

The official published Annual Army Lists document officer's rank and seniority.  Officers held a rank in their regiment, in ascending order, ensign (coronet in the cavalry), lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel and colonel.  Promotion within the regiment required a vacancy, but officers could hold a more senior rank in the army.  Regimental colonels were usually generals in the army.  Seniority, determined by the earliest date of promotion, placed officers of the same rank in the command hierarchy and eligibility for promotion.

Many officers who served at Waterloo were rewarded with promotion, enhanced pensions for the wounded and allowed to count two extra years service for pay purposes.

The Army Lists are available for free download from The National Archives (reference WO 65).  The highly annotated 1815 list (reference WO 65/65) shows which officers were promoted and who they replaced.  Promotions dated 18 June 1815 are a tell-tale sign of service at Waterloo.  The 1816 list contains a long list of officers honorary distinctions (medals), which were also published in the London Gazette.  "Waterloo" is noted for regiments that participated in the battle.

These records are just a starting point.  If your ancestor is included in the medal rolls, you can rapidly determine their regiment and tap into some very juicy records.