War diaries at the PRO

[olosangus]

I have never found the PRO's web site that easy to use - is there an easy way to find out which battalions war diaries are now available on-line or is it just a case or trial and error ?

Thanks. Simon

[Coldstreamer]

Hello

Best thing is to email and ask them.. it can be very time consuming. If you go to the NA it tells you if on line when you order

I will warn you and others, I have found that dates are not always accurate

Still, its great having it and some is far better than none!

Ian

[Simon Furnell]

Hello Simon.

I had a go by trial and error,and got lucky,though i did have a little bit of help on where to start looking.

The area to look at is WO95/,on the Procat website,and put in any number that comes to mind after the forward slash,in the search box in the top right hand corner

I was looking at the records for a Division that didn't go over until early 1917,and it's record started at WO95/2987,but there are lower numbers than this in the record.

After that,in order to find my Great-grandads MGC War Diary,i spent a few nights putting in different numbers above that,and hey presto,up it came.

I was able to buy it online,and it is sat on the side as i type this.

Possibly,if you have a name,or Number,or Battalion,you might be as lucky as i was,and find some one on this Forum who can point you in the right direction,as concerns the record number.

All the best.

Simon.

[Sue Light]

Simon

It is made as difficult as the average human could be expected to tolerate, but here is one way. Please listen very carefully... I will say this only once...

Go to the 'Documents on line' page at:

Documents on line

Click on 'Other Records' on the left of the page, and then choose 'Military and Defence' from the drop down menu.

On the next page choose the box in the centre that says 'Restrict by date' and enter the year you need.

The search engine will only return 1,000 hits, so you'll be fine with this method unless you want to browse through 1915.

Method 2 - if you're mad enough to really want to get all those 1915 records up:

Go to 'Documents on line'

Click on 'Advanced Search' on the top left of the page

Leave all the boxes at the top of the page blank except for 'Other Keywords' in which you put 'war diary'

Enter two dates - for 1915 dividing the year into two halves works, but get the format right or you will get your hand slapped by the Catalogue

Untick all the boxes at the bottom except for 'Military and Defence' and 'Text' and 'Maps, plans'

Off you go. Simple.

If you just want to search for a particular battalion, use the advanced search page and in the keyword box enter the absolute minimum, such as 'Coldstream' or 'Sussex' or 'Hampshire' - more words seem to send it into a sulk. No dates required as you'll get everything up for that unit.

You may get some documents up that are not diaries, but what the hell! You'll be so confused by this time you really won't notice.

Enjoy.

Sue

[robbie]

Simon

It is made as difficult as the average human could be expected to tolerate, but here is one way.  Please listen very carefully... I will say this only once...   

Go to the 'Documents on line' page at:

Documents on line

Click on 'Other Records' on the left of the page, and then choose 'Military and Defence' from the drop down menu. 

On the next page choose the box in the centre that says 'Restrict by date' and enter the year you need. 

The search engine will only return 1,000 hits, so you'll be fine with this method unless you want to browse through 1915.

Method 2 - if you're mad enough to really want to get all those 1915 records up:

Go to 'Documents on line'

Click on 'Advanced Search' on the top left of the page

Leave all the boxes at the top of the page blank except for 'Other Keywords' in which you put 'war diary'

Enter two dates - for 1915 dividing the year into two halves works, but get the format right or you will get your hand slapped by the Catalogue

Untick all the boxes at the bottom except for 'Military and Defence' and 'Text' and 'Maps, plans'

Off you go.  Simple. 

If you just want to search for a particular battalion, use the advanced search page and in the keyword box enter the absolute minimum, such as 'Coldstream' or 'Sussex' or 'Hampshire' - more words seem to send it into a sulk.  No dates required as you'll get everything up for that unit.

You may get some documents up that are not diaries, but what the hell!  You'll be so confused by this time you really won't notice.

Enjoy.

Sue

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fabulous thanks Sue. This will save an enormous amount of time.

Robbie