Crew lists for Merchant Navy ships are held by several different archives and there is no index to the names listed.

But thanks to an exciting new record release things got a little bit easier this week…

The National Maritime Museum and The National Archives have been working in partnership to make the crew lists for the year 1915 available online for the first time.

Around 39,000 crew lists have been scanned and transcribed by volunteers from all over the world to mark the First World War centenary.

The searchable database went live this week and contains the names of 750,000 people…

Crew Lists of the British Merchant Navy – 1915

Once you have found a record of your ancestor on a ship you can view a scanned image of the original crew list which reveals…

• Name and Official Number of Ship
• Name
• Year of Birth or Age
• Address
• Last Ship Served On and Year of Discharge
• Date and Place Agreement Signed
• Rank or Rating
• Date To Be On Board
• Details of Wages Paid
• Date, Place and Cause of Discharge

If you are tracing the career of a Merchant Navy man during the First World War this could provide a massive breakthrough in your research.

I was actually planning a trip to the National Maritime Museum in a couple of weeks to look up a crew list for my Great Grandfather. I’d finally found the name of a ship on a WW1 medal roll and had tracked down the crew list to the National Maritime Museum.

But thanks to this new release I found not only the record I was looking for but also the names of three other ships I knew nothing about. I have now traced all of his voyages for the year 1915…

…and thanks to the Last Ship Served On information I now also have the name of a ship he served on previously in 1914. The crew list for that ship is at The National Archives which is my next port of call…

The records detail the service of over 4.2 million non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served between 1914 and 1920. The level of detail recorded for each person varies but typically you can expect to find:

• Name
• Date and place of Birth
• Service Number
• Rank
• Regiment and Unit/Battalion
• Date and details of attestation

An individual’s service record can also contain several documents covering details of attestation, medical history, occupation records and casualty records. Using these documents you can piece together the dates and details to reveal your ancestor’s Great War story.

Unfortunately only around one third of service records for the period survive. The rest were destroyed during a fire after a bombing raid in the Second World War. Evidence of this incident can still be seen on the surviving records with many showing burn marks round the edges, hence the name “The Burnt Documents”.

Also included in the release are the service records of soldiers who were discharged from the army due to injury or illness and claimed a pension. These records were stored in a different location to the main collection of service records and were therefore not affected by the fire.

This is not the first release of these records online…

Both record sets have been available to search on Ancestry for some time.

However findmypast have worked in partnership with The National Archives, who hold the original documents, to produce a brand new index and transcriptions of the records. During the process they found several lists of men buried in the records that had not previously been indexed. With the addition of these soldiers Findmypast now boast the most thorough database of the service records (WO 363) and pension records (WO 364) for the First World War.

Start your search here:

British Army Service Records 1914-1920

The Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War is an ambitious project with one simple aim…

…to tell the story of every single man and woman who fought and served to push Britain to victory in the First World War.

To realise this vision the Imperial War Museum have created an innovative new digital platform which will eventually hold a life story page for everyone who served.

Members of the public are encouraged to help build up as full a picture as possible of the people whose contribution they want to commemorate by adding their personal stories, photographs and images.

Users can also group individuals together in communities such as regiments, local football teams, family groups or everyone commemorated on a particular memorial for example.

Finding 8 million people and creating pages for each of them is a daunting task to say the least, so how does it work?

The Medal Index Cards (one of the biggest surviving record sets covering people who served in the First World War) have been used as a seed record to get things started.

So at the moment a life story page exists for everyone who has a Medal Card Index record. There are many people of course who do not appear in these records and so more seed record sets will be added as the project progresses.

The IWM are also working in partnership with DC Thompson Family History, owners of Findmypast, to provide access to official records such as census returns, BMD records and additional military records on the site.

You can attach these official records and fill in the details of the facts they reveal, such as date and place of birth, names of family members, occupation etc, to build the life story page of an individual.

IWM are committed to keeping and maintaining Lives of the First World War as a lasting, permanent memorial. Help preserve your family tales and mementoes for future generations by uploading stories, photos and images of memorabilia such as medals and diaries to the life story pages of the WW1 heroes in your family.

I just love the idea that you can pay tribute to your ancestors by telling their story in as much detail as possible in this way. I have been lucky enough to be a beta tester for the site prior to launch and have already started adding to the life story page of my great grandfather Thomas Hewitt, who served in the Royal Engineers.

The more I uncover and research any family member who fought for their country during this dreadful war the more in awe of them I become.

The terrible conditions and awful sights they must have endured…

The sense of duty and the strength of character they must have had to carry on until the end…

It really is inspiring.

I have family members who survived and lived with the memories and lasting wounds of that dreadful time…

And family members who paid the ultimate price.

It will be an honour to commemorate them all on Lives of the First World War.

To take part in this extraordinary project and start telling your ancestor’s stories, visit the website here www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org

Spanning the years 1883 to 1942, the records include the details of those who served in the First and Second World War plus smaller campaigns such as the Boer War.

Attestation papers were filled out upon new recruits joining the Royal Artillery and were revisited and added to throughout their career.

The details you can expect to find vary depending on the period your ancestor served. The earlier records pre-1930 contain the greatest amount of information including:

• Full name
• Regimental number
• Age on attestation
• Date and place of attestation
• Any existing trade or occupation
• Place of birth
• Next of kin
• Details of marriage and children
• Details of service including campaigns served in, wounds sustained and medals awarded
• Details of discharge and pension

findmypast have scanned and transcribed the original enlistment books to produce a fully searchable record set released as part of their 100in100 campaign.

Start your search here:

Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942

Also released are The Royal Artillery Other Ranks Casualty Cards covering the Second World War period.

Around 30,000 who lost their lives serving in the Royal Artillery between 1939 and 1946 are listed.

The information recorded includes full name, rank, number, age, birthplace, cause of death and when and where killed.

The original records for both these new record sets are held by The Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich. The museum is open to the public and houses exhibits designed to give you a taste of life as a gunner during war time. So if you find an ancestor in the collection and want to find out more it may well be worth a visit!