Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933

Information about Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933

This record set contains details of around 85,000 men who signed up for service with a variety of regiments in Surrey between 1908 and 1933.

Few recruitment registers from the period of WW1 survive, so the Surrey Recruitment Registers provide an insight into the men of Surrey who signed up. The registers are published here with the kind permission of The Surrey History Trust which retains all copyrights in the database. The Surrey History Centre holds the original registers.

Background

With the mass influx of recruits in 1914, more recruiting officers were needed and in East Surrey recruiting offices were set up in Richmond, Putney, Wandsworth, Streatham, East Dulwich, Peckham, Upper Norwood, Tooting, Mitcham, Wimbledon, Sutton, East Molesey, Walton on Thames, Epsom and Wallington. These registers cover these areas, as well as those who were born in the area but signed up in other districts.

Most records here relate to men who volunteered, or were conscripted, during the First World War. However, some registers also cover pre-war enlistments into the regular army and Special Reserve, whilst others deal with enlistments into the regular army after hostilities had ceased.