34th Brigade RGA War Diary

[petwes]

I have been trying to search WO95 on the National Archives for the reference number for the war diary for 34 Brigade RGA with no results. Can anyone help with some tips on making progress with their search engine!

Being still not very experienced with what the NA holds is it possible:

They don't have it

It's called something else

It never existed

Many Thanks

Peter

[GraemeClarke]

Hi

Its here

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?CATREF=WO+95/222&SearchInit=4&SearchType=6&j=1

Use Acre

http://www.arcre.com/wdsearch

Its by far easier

Graeme

[petwes]

Graeme

Thanks so much. I've only had a quick look at the arcre site; however that not only solves the problem of finding documents but also offers a means of obtaining copies of odd pages from War Diaries which the NA have made clear in response to enquiries (in very direct terms) that, although an advertised service, do something they will not!

That leaves me with one problem though; I have been to Kew to look at WO95/222 for the 48th SB diaries and don't recall much else in the box, maybe I was so excited by my first visit that I completely missed the 3 other bundles. Oh well, I’m planning to go back next week and will add that to the list.

Slightly off the subject but what I learned last time, as advice to anyone going to Kew, is to take a spare battery for your camera and a charger (they let you use them) because even without a flash you’ll drain the juice; and make sure you have plenty of room on your SD card.

Peter

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Peter

The NA search engine is not very user-friendly and you really need to knowv the syntax conventions they use in order to improve your chances of a hit, e.g. "1 Battalion" not "1st Battalion" or Batt or Bn. There is no easy way round this, I'm afraid, exfept to go to the NA catalogue website and use the Browse facility to look at the listing for WO95 from a specified start point. If you do this for files 100, 200 etc, and use the "next page" facility, you will get a sample of the file listing which will you an idea as to how to frame your particular search query.

The position with Heavy and Siege Batteries is that they tend to stop around the end of 1916. Thereafter their movements are recorded in the diary of the HAG/Brigade, but the class-list for WO95 is ordered according to where the brigades were in Nov 1918. Even so, not every battery which was in a particular brigade at that date will have a surviving diary.

Ron