Records of senior officers

[bmac]

Is there, at the PRO or elsewhere, a source for personal/career information on officers Lt Col and above (i.e. battalion, brigade, divisional COs, etc)? Searching the PRO on-line catalogue I can find no references to such people.

[Jock Bruce]

It gets thin above Major.

Of the 10 Lt Cols who served in the battalion I'm interested in, I've found PRO (WO 339 or 374) files for 2. At least 3 others served on post war so their records ain't released yet. I've heard various versions of senior officers files having been weeded or being stored all together and having been wiped out by the Luftwaffe - not sure there is one story that fits all.

If it is an uncommon name, searching the on-line London Gazette can add some detail. Otherwise, pounding the Army List is probably the best best.

The one ray of light is that senior officers are more likely to well documented in regimental sources.

And bear in mind that Maj J Smith in PROCAT may well have been Temp/Lt Col Smith in real life.

Jock Bruce

[Terry_Reeves]

You may find "War Services of Officers 1920" and a supplementary volume "Officers in Receipt of Retired Pay" useful. Both are available through Naval and Military Press. "Bloody Red Tabs" by Frank Davies and Graham Maddocks is also an excellent source for officers from Brigadier - General upwards, who were killed and wounded. The Liddle Centre for Military Archives gives the career details of many officers whose papers they hold. Just type it into your search engine.

For officers of the Royal Engineers Special Brigade, incuding infantry and medical officers attached, try WO 142 338 and 339, an A-Z card file, effectively the personel records kept by the Brigade and which contain much interesting information, some of which does not appear in officers service papers.

Terry Reeves

[bmac]

"War Services of Officers 1920" and a supplementary volume "Officers in Receipt of Retired Pay".

Does anyone have these books? What sort of detail to they go into?