Genealogy Chat

See below....

I would be grateful for any advice from people who have downloaded or found medical cards from the National Archives. I have found the names of several probable family members with medical records which are available to download, also several that are possible family members. (An unusual surname that is specific to 2 main areas of the UK) This may sound silly, but, as well as being available on-line, are the medical cards available to be viewed at Kew and do the medical cards have a date of birth on them? I am planning a trip to Kew soon and would be quite happy to search for myself there. I hope this makes sense. Many Thanks Anne x

Ann, you do mean the MEDALS cards do you - there are no medical records that you can download. The Medals cards will have the persons medal entitlement for their war service. If you want specific info about military records and you are the next of kin, you can request the record usually for about £30 from the service they were in.

The original MICs (Medal Index Cards) are now held by the Western Front Association. TNA only digitally copied the fronts of the cards whereas some cards have information on the back. You can write to the Western Front Association and ask for a copy front and back (they are normally of a superior nature than the copies online at TNA). The WFA is a charity so I think a donation of £5 towards funds is expected but not sure about this. You may find this video film (look at the second film) interesting: http://www.vision-news.tv/news/vision-news-somme.html Cheers, Horatia

Yes, Medal Cards (not Medical Cards) do not give date of birth but some service records are available at Kew that DO give age on enlistment and address on enlistment. However, many WW1 servicemens records were destroyed during the Blitz but some survived - they are normally in the Burnt Records and there are the Non Burnt Records. These records aren't online but will be put online in the future by Ancestry. For WW2 service records, Heather is correct, you have to write away for them. Which war are you interested in? Cheers, Horatia

Many Thanks Horatia and Heather, Horatia, pc is playing up so I won't let me view the video - I'll get hubby to investigate later or have a look at work. Heather - yes I did mean medal records - I was obviously having a moment. I have seen other threads about obtaining the military records so will check them before I order anything. Do either of you know if the medal cards have a date of birth on? Although only a small family in numbers, they all seemed to call children of the same generation by the same christian names!! Many thanks for your advice Anne xx

Thanks for that you added the info about birth dates before I had finished my request - I'm too slow typing. These are WW1 records. Anne xx

Anne, I too had difficulty viewing the video because I use Norton Internet Security but I went online and discovered what to do so that I could view the video, so if you have Norton let me know and I'll give you the workaround which won't put your computer at any risk. I've already answered your query about WW1 service records above. I managed to obtain my father's records which were in the Burnt Records. I discovered the date he joined the 5th Battalion The Norfolk Regiment and what his employment was before he enlisted. He received gunshot wounds to both arms and the records told me the date he was wounded. By visiting Kew I was able to consult the War Diaries to discover what his battalion were doing that day and subsequently learnt that my father was wounded at the 2nd Battle of Gaza (Palestine). Before that he fought at Gallipoli. The records also told me the address his medals were sent to - much of this information was unknown to me. My father died when I was 18 and I wasn't very interested in WW1 then :-( but I am now! :-) You can either go to Kew yourself to consult these records or ask a researcher. It helps if your relative had an unusual name. Cheers, Horatia

Horatia, Yes we do have Norton! so advice on that would be appreciated. I live in North London, so a trip to Kew for me isn't a problem. I have a trip planned soon to look at 1st Boer War records. On my last trip, I was lucky to find my GGf's RAF WW1 record - that did include dates, a personal description etc - it was a wonderful feeling. Anne xx

Ann would just add, if you have people in WW1 in the Navy, the downloadable record does give a date and place of birth plus description - which is lovely to have.

Anne, Right about Norton. On my version of Norton, it installed it's own toolbar item which I normally keep hidden because it takes up too much room, but if you have it (Norton Internet Security 2006) you can get the toolbar to show by going into Internet Explorer and then going to View/Toolbars/ then look to see if there is a Toolbar for Norton Internet Security 6? If there is, put a tick next to it. You should then see an icon that looks like a mesh or net. Click on the icon and you will see 'Block ads on this site' 'Block pop ups on this site' Take the ticks away from both options. Then this is most important, completely shut your browser and then re-open it, navigate to the website you want to use and then check that those ticks are not enabled - if they are not, you should now be able to view the website. This only disables ads and pop ups on this particular website - it is not disabling anything on the rest of the world wide web. I have used this option on a couple of websites that wouldn't function properly with Norton Internet Security and this option works well. Cheers, Horatia

The personal description means so much doesnt it - makes them real people, not just misty names/entities. I had to laugh when I downloaded my hubbys Irish great grandads navy record - the bloke must have been a walking art gallery, all the tatoos they listed - LOL! Good luck anne.

When I got a description of my gf, it mentioned a tattoo of an anchor & the word Doris. His Mum was Maud & wife was Margaret so I'd love to know who Doris was! Geraldine