mcfc1923 Posted 11 December , 2004 Share Posted 11 December , 2004 pals What info would the service records hold of someone who died in France ? jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 11 December , 2004 Share Posted 11 December , 2004 Contents of service files - if they exist at all - are varied. The files were thinned out in the postwar years, and many of the survivors of the 1940 fire were damaged and are only fragments. A good file will usually contain the man's attestion form, military history sheet, and medical history. May contain conduct sheets, casualty forms (which record all kinds of movements, not just when he became a casualty), other correspondence. In case of dead soldiers this sometimes includes enquiry correspondence from the family, dependents pension notes, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcfc1923 Posted 11 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 11 December , 2004 Chris Baker cheers Chris, a lot more contents than i expected, but as you say-- if they survived. Anything in the service files that relates to who his family(parents and address at the time) were, would be enough to find out oneway or the other if the 2 soldiers found by john Hartley on the nat roll are my grandfathers 2 older brothers. at the moment i'm 99.9% certain they are. But, for it to stand up in a court of law i'm going to need to be 100% and have it down in black and white, so i may need to call on your research expertise. cheers chris jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris basey Posted 11 December , 2004 Share Posted 11 December , 2004 Jim Sometimes the records includes, in addition to next-of-kin, an Army form which gives details of blood relatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcfc1923 Posted 11 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 11 December , 2004 Chris basey think it's the only way that i'm ever going to get to the bottom of it, thr service records look like the best bet at the moment. cheers chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hangleton Posted 13 December , 2004 Share Posted 13 December , 2004 An attestation form that I have a copy of gives the names of his whole family (brothers, sisters, father) and their address (as next of kin), but I guess that is because my man was not married at the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcfc1923 Posted 13 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 13 December , 2004 Hangleton excuse my ignorence, what is an attestation form? as far as i know my man was also not married, so that's something i should bear in mind. cheers jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hangleton Posted 13 December , 2004 Share Posted 13 December , 2004 It is the form filled in when the man enlisted - it gives a lot of info, like name, age, trade, it also has his height, any visible scars, colour of eyes/hair, a medical exam. It is a really good source of info if it exists. Also gives the Battalion he enlisted in, date of enlistment,etc. You might have already done this, but have you looked at the 1901 census if they were alive at the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhill Posted 13 December , 2004 Share Posted 13 December , 2004 The Canadian National Archives website has a good introduction to service files which newcomers may find instructive. It includes scanned copies of a presumably typical soldier (Felix Cullen). The link is here: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/firstworld...18010201_e.html As has been stated in earlier posts, there can be much variety in what is included for different soldiers in different circumstances. The Canadian files should be very similar to the British ones (except that the Canadian ones all exist!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcfc1923 Posted 13 December , 2004 Author Share Posted 13 December , 2004 Hangleton already checked the census 1901, they were aged 4 and 3, and both parents were still alive. so the service files i would get from the nat archives? that's assuming they still exist. jhill checked out the canadian website, all that info on the soldier that's amazing. it would be great if the british files have similar info, but it all boils down to if they still exist. cheers pals you have been a great help. regards jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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