Genealogy Chat

Can anyone help me? My aunt wrote in her diary in May 1916 that her father had been made a prison of war. Is there anywhere online (I live in New Zealand) where I can find out more. I know he served in the East Surrey Regiment and I know his regimental number from his war medals.
Any help gratefully received

Hi,
Ancestry's WWI records are free....

Kellie

I can find him in the Medal Rolls there but no other records

Kellie



since when have ancestry's WW1 records been free??????




I'm only aware that they were free for a few days around Remembrance Day, November 11.



sylvia

Since for YEARS as far as I know..

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 - Free Index
British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920 - Free Index
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 - Free Index
British Commonwealth War Graves Registers, 1914-1918 - Free Index
England, The National Roll of the Great War, 1914-1918 - Free Index
Gateshead, Durham, England, Roll of Honour, 1914-1920 - Free Index
Sample Records from British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 - Free Index

Kellie

Oh Sylvia,,
I was referring to the UK WWI Records as those are the ones the OP was asking about.

Kellie

Ah, now I understand what you meant.



I realised that the OP was looking for English records.



You may have gathered I don't do Canadian!!



But it is only the INDEX that is free ....................... you have to have a sub to see anything of any interest.


The index tells you very little, really, other than the name.




sylvia

Hi Sylvia,,
No....you can view the actual (full/scanned etc) records....


Kellie

can you?


That's news to me ................. I thought you could only see the records if you subscribed to them.



Ah well, there's always changes!

ohohoh Sylvia,,,
I think it has to do with which site .com, .au, .ca etc that you make your free account with..

UK Records are part of the Aussie setup but US records aren't,,,,,and I cannot access the free records on anything from US....just the index..(with my free account)

Kellie

Prisoners of war
During the Great War of 1914-1918 some 7,335 officers and 174,491 other ranks of the British Army were captured by the enemy. Of these, about half fell into captivity between 21 March and 11 November 1918. Unfortunately, for those wishing to research men who became prisoners, there are relatively few sources of information about what happened to them. Most records of British POWs of the Great War are no longer in existence or easily accessible.

(came across the above on a google search. Have you had any luck with Service Records?, or, if you'd like to give us his name)...

Chris :)

My father-in-law was a prisoner of war and we had information about this from the Red Cross. I emailed them initially and had a reply saying they were very busy so it may take some time to get any information to us. In fact, it took about nine months. You have the information they need - his regiment name and his number - so you may be lucky. They were a great help to us. Here's the address:

International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland

e mail: www.icrc.org

Tel: +41 22 733 2057

You may also find a report of his capture in a local newspaper of that time. We found a detailed report of a civic reception held for my father-in-law after he had escaped from the camp. Good luck!

http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/archives-first-world-war-2011-07-27.htm

If I have read this correctly it looks like they are digitsing the files, and will not be taking on more requests until they have finished, estimates to be about early 2014

I made enquiries about 2 years ago and they wanted 250 swiss francs and cannot guarantee on finding anything and not even a partial refund

Thanks to Chris, Annie and Patricia for their input. Looks like I shall have to wait a while to send an enquiry to the Red Cross.

My grandfather's name was Albert Charles HUMPHREY and he was born in 1880 in Seal, Kent if that is of any help to anyone.

Jennie

Sorry to say Jennifer, can't see anything...

Hope you find something in the future.

Chris :)

There are a small number of WW1 POW questionnaires on the documentsonline website, but there's nothing for him - sorry!

The best single site for ww1 is the Long Long Trail.
Try here:
http://www.1914-1918.net/eastsurreys.htm

"They don't like it up'em"

'ere we are sarge, the West & East Surrey War Diaries

http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/war_diaries/war_diaries_intro.html

BTW the Surrey's are famous in the Army for a successful attack in 1916 with footballs! They still have one in the army museum.

So perhaps my grandfather was sent off rather than captured???