Records of the Royal Artillery – WO 69
Peter Helmore and David Langrish
22nd November 2013
Background information
• Originally over 900 pieces
• 544 pieces destroyed during World War Two
• WO 69 has 359 orderable pieces surviving
The series contains the following material:
Soldiers Records of Service
Recruit Enlistments
Records of Deceased Soldiers
Records of Marriages & Baptisms
Records of Next of Kin
Employment Details
The project
• Volunteers from the Friends of The National Archives
(FTNA) working to index and make the series name
searchable
• The Friends Volunteer Team attend weekly in a group of
up to 20, drawing out the relevant information for
enhanced Discovery descriptions
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Registry of Marriages
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Registry of Baptisms
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WO 69/79 – Description of Recruits Enlisted
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The value of this project work…
WO 69/79 – Royal Artillery recruits enlisted, 1865-74
• Contains over 300 pages
• By page 88, 4,300 names have been indexed
• Volunteer team estimate this one document will contain up
to and beyond 10,000 names
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WO 69/644 – Registry of Deceased Soldiers
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WO 69/637 – Service Record Summary
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WO 69/80C – Details on Enlistment
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Editing and enhancing the online descriptions
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Then and now…
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Then and now…
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Other interesting finds
WO 69/599 – Attestation of Gun Lascars (Ceylon)
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Summary of WO 69 project
• Over 160,000 servicemen and their families to be name
searchable via Discovery
• Research into Royal Artillery servicemen is more
efficient and in line with other areas of the armed forces
• The value of volunteering and volunteer projects is
enhanced
• Continues to strengthen the relationship between TNA
and the Friends of TNA
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Any questions?
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