sheila Posted 16 April , 2007 Share Posted 16 April , 2007 can someone please tell me what is the difference between BURNED and UNBURNED service records. i have just had some research done and was told my relative had two service records,one in each of the above. regards sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hywyn Posted 16 April , 2007 Share Posted 16 April , 2007 Sheila Have aread of the following from the mothersite of this Forum, It explains it all to you http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad_records.html Hywyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 16 April , 2007 Share Posted 16 April , 2007 Sheila The regimental files were brought together after the Great War into one warehouse in London. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a fire resulting from Luftwaffe bombing in 1940. Those files that were not burned were mostly smoke or water damaged. For many years they were not accessible to the public. However, a project to microfilm the surviving records is now completed and all such records are freely available for you to see at the National Archives. They are called the Burnt Series papers and are held in the WO363 classification. Microfilming and the damage has meant that in many cases the papers are not too legible. Some files contain only fragments of papers. This is the largest collection of army service records. Luckily, two other sets of files had been extracted from the main archive, for pensions and other purposes. Together they add up to only a relatively small fraction of the existing records and a very small fraction of the original total. They have survived as the Unburnt Series WO364, with an additional sample in the Ministry of Pensions collection PIN26. They relate to men who had been discharged to pension (but it does not follow that if Grandad got a pension he is in here) and therefore do not in theory contain any files relating to soldiers who died. Generally the legibility of these papers is better than the Burnt ones. They are also held at the National Archives. WO364 is in process of being digitised. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as "pension records". It is not unknown for papers of an individual to be found in WO363 and WO364, but it is not the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheila Posted 16 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 16 April , 2007 thankyou for answers to my question,i will look at the websiteyou mentioned. looking forward to getting my research results,hope they are worth the wait and the expense!! sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Hales Posted 16 April , 2007 Share Posted 16 April , 2007 thankyou for answers to my question,i will look at the websiteyou mentioned. looking forward to getting my research results,hope they are worth the wait and the expense!! sheila Sheila - an example of a Burnt Record, albeit a rather extreme one. Owen Hales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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