Soldiers from WW1

[Stressedoverkids]

I have discovered I had a great Uncle who died in WW1. I have been able to find his no. and where his grave is but I would like to find out more.

I had no idea he existed until recently so am at a loss as to what to do next. Any advice?

My OH used to work for the commonwealth war graves commission. I'd suggest contacting them in the first instance with as much detail as you have. They've got lots in their online archive that might be useful? They may well be able to find or point you at further records. Someone else more knowledgeable will hopefully be along to make other suggestions.

I found a lot of my great grandfathers records online, I think I accessed them through ancestry.co.uk, they usually have a two week free trial.

The Long Long Trail - a guide to a soldiers' life in the first world war.

I have a relative that I've been researching on and off for a few years. He fought on the Western Front in France in the first world war. He got his, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred medals. Look them up on Google, just to find out what they were.

See if you can find your relatives medal roll online. It is literally an index card with his name and number on it. There may be supporting information on it.

Sorry to be macabre, but see if you can find this birth and death certificate i.e. where was he born. This may give you more clues for further research. Death certificate i.e. when and where he died. I'd love to find the death cert for my relative. All I know is in 1920 he was still serving in the army.

See if you can find your uncle's attestation - if one was written. I've got the attestation from the relative I'm researching. It just records when he joined the army, rank, any children named etc etc

Also, see if you can find his medical records. It's just another piece of the information jigsaw. OK, it's not that fascinating that my research subject had chronic tonsillitis but, like I say, it's all info.

These internet sites might be useful:

Forces War Records (Search WW1 service records)
Find Miltary Records - My Heritage
Search Military Records/ancestry.co.uk

I would suggest giving Forces War Records , a very wide birth. They make it very difficult to stop subscriptions, there are a number of unhappy customers, my dh is currently in dispute. Avoid.