 | Book Summary |
| Who will this book benefit |
| Summary of chapters |
| This book was an
impulse purchase at a family history meeting that I attended. My initial reasons were that
this may be a good companion book to "My Ancestor Was in the British Army"
edited by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts, and that being a Public Record Office
publication it would contain material not found in the aforementioned "My
Ancestor" book. Both books were originally published in the same year and therefore a comparison between two is quite useful. I think the major difference between the two is that whilst Michael Watt's book has a more 'chatty' and genealogical air about it, the Army Records for Family Historians has a more formal approach. Presenting the 'cold' facts, and being a PRO guide book the focus is entirely on documents within the Public Record Office. The matter of fact approach adopted by this book does indeed make it a very good companion book, and navigation within the book is extremely easy due to a well laid out contents format. The other major difference between two books is that Army Records for Family Historians includes a brief section on the Second World War service records and other 20th-century campaigns. There is also a short piece on the peacetime army. Locating Regiments within this book is much easier due to a well laid out index, for instance trying to find information on the Leinster Regiment was particularly easy in this book, the Regiment being identified within the very good index. Although the Leinster Regiment was documented in the book by Watts' it was far more difficult to find. However once found in the Watts' book, the detail was more specific. My initial perception that for that this book would be a good companion book was in fact true in my case. Another example of the usefulness of this book is in answering a question that often seems to occur, and frequently is asked in mailing lists. This relates to former soldiers who emigrated from Britain. Often their ancestors are trying to seek information, and this book deals with that question in the section Soldiers Settling Abroad The type face and presentation of Army Records for Family Historians is well laid out and there are many illustrations to give examples of the type of document that you will ultimately find in your research. The interesting appendix 5 in this book also provides the useful list of PRO leaflets dealing with army matters, identifying the title of the leaflets and the leaflet's reference number. Researchers of course will find this quite useful, as today it is possible to obtain these leaflets via the Internet.
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| Preface |
| Using the Records |
| Organisation of the Army |
| General Genealogical Records |
| Records of the Army before 1660 |
| Commissioned Officers |
| Other Ranks 1660 - 1913 |
| Royal Artillery |
| Royal Engineers |
| Militia & Volunteers |
| Medals & Awards |
| Courts Martial |
| British Army in India & the Indian Army |
| Colonial & Dominion Forces |
| Foreign Troops in British Pay |
| Records of Ancillary Services |
| First World War |
| Second World War |
| Other 20th century campaigns and the peacetime army |