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WW1 Army Records

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  • WW1 Army Records

    My grandfather, Albert Edward Daggett, served with the Royal Sussex Regiment in WW1. I believe he served only in England, was not wounded, and survived the War. I have failed to find any record of his Army service and would welcome any guidance Forum Members may be able to give.
    Many thanks.

  • #2
    My great great uncle served with rfa but spent most of the war at home. He only served abroad when one of his brothers returned home wounded. Did yours have any brothers that were abroad ?
    Jayne




    My avatar is great great granny Annie Pugh, possibly christened 24 Feb 1858.

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    • #3
      Walt

      From memory, 90% of WW1 records were destroyed and only officer's records exist. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong!

      OC

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      • #4
        I think it's 60% that were destroyed. But the percentage doesn't really matter does it, if the one you're looking for isn't there!

        STG
        Always looking for Goodwins in Berkshire.

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        • #5
          Between 60 and 70% of the WW1 records for soldiers were destroyed during WW2.

          The story goes that the records were moved from where they had been kept to another building in London.

          that building was bombed.

          The surviving records were then moved to a building out at Kew ............... and I was once told that there was a fire at that building which destroyed more records. I've since been told that that last did not happen, so I don't know whether it is true or not

          Whatever the events, the facts remain that only about 30% of the soldiers' records remain. All have been digitised and are available on Ancestry ....................... but the majority of even those 30% are often incomplete, and or damaged, often by apparent burning.

          Records for officers were kept elsewhere and are basically complete.


          I was lucky enough to find records for my maternal grandfather and for my dad's eldest brother ............ but they are incomplete.

          The records for my grandfather leave me with the eternal puzzle of the gap in the records..........

          He transferred to the Machine Gun Corps on 17/10/16. There is then no record of what happened until he shipped from Bombay to Basrah, Mesopotamia (now Iraq), leaving Bombay on 27/7/17 on the ship Elephanta, arriving in Basrah on 01/08/17

          He was somewhere for 10 months .............. but who knows where???
          My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)

          Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.

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          • #6
            Sylvia

            If his records give the unit of the MGC that he transferred to, and there's no indication that he transferred to another unit, there may be a War Diary which will give a day by day account of where they were and what they were involved in. If there is a Diary, it might be available for download at a cost of £3.36.

            Also, just to say that whilst Officers records have a better survivial rate than those for other ranks, they are by no means complete.
            The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
            Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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            • #7
              ann


              Thank you for that information


              I've looked and looked at the Machine Gun Corps site ......... and the unit that is given as the one Grandad was posted to, never appears

              Plus ........... it seems to concentrate on what they did in France.

              It's quite a puzzle!
              Last edited by Sylvia C; 14-01-14, 05:24.
              My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)

              Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.

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              • #8
                There may be information in one of the war diaries currently being transcribed here

                Archived Zooniverse Project: Operation War Diary

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                • #9
                  Sylvia

                  The Diary will be at the National Archives if it has survived. Which unit was it?
                  The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
                  Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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