Grandfathers Army Records?

Question

I have a few of his records and would like more. on the website they give you a form to fill out and a charge of £30. They also said they if they cannot find anything I will still be charged.

My question is, because I KNOW he was in the army will there still be a chance of them not having anything on him? I e-mailed the army museum and they said they had nothing in there records so I should try the main army place.

Has anyone else paid for records? and were you happy with what you got?

Answer 1

It is possible that nothing more can be found about your grandfathers records as In the 60s the basement of the army records office was flooded out and thousands of service records were lost.

Answer 2

I got my Grandfathers army records not long ago and I was very pleased as it cleared up a 50 year old family mystery !!

My dad had to authorise me getting the records as he is one of granddads still living relatives. I have just got it out now to answer your question I felt the money was well spent I have 26 sides of A4 paper telling me about his service from 1917 to 1931 when he was discharged.

Includes things like his address and a description, his wife and childrens names as he was still serviing when he married. Oh and the fact that his dad turned him in when he went absent without leave on one occassion !!  

To be honest I can't remember what information I had in order to get a copy as they sent me quite a few forms to fill in, but I don't think I had his service number.

Some aren't so lucky and only get one sheet.  The office that does the searching also deals with our current day serving "lads" and therefore the family history side takes a back seat but I was still surprised at how fast they got the records to me and I really can't praise them enough two weeks from me applying to them getting me the records..This was with a letter inbetween telling me they hoped I wouldn't have too long to wait.  

Answer 3

I have some experience with army records as I did try to get my own grandfathers.  I actually wasn't that hopeful because he wasn't in the regular army, he was a PT instructor in the Home Guard, which isn't quite the same thing.  When I wrote to Glasgow and asked what the survival rates were for WW2 era records, I wasn't that hopeful on getting a positive result based on what I knew of WW1 records - eg most of them were destroyed in an airraid and the resulting fire during the Blitz in 1940.

You do have to pay for the search whether they find a result or not.  The same goes for searches of the Divorce Register at the Family Registry in Holborn or the wills at the Probate place in York.  If we're talking WW2 (1939-1945) then there should be a matching army record.  They're usually arranged by regiment rather than surname, so if you don't have a reasonable idea of your man's name and regiment (and at least a date of birth), you won't get very far.

I already had my granddads ration card to hand when I applied and an old photo of him in uniform which I could read the shoulder patch on telling me his home guard unit, so I had something of a head start.  It's not important though.  It just speeds up the process a bit.  The archivist already warned me that the records I wanted were usually only a single form filled in when the men enlisted in the home guard - they didn't have any extra pages on promotions, medals, physical description, character, service history, etc like regular army personnel would have done.  

I don't feel that hard done by as I knew I wasn't after a normal army record, and they did find it, so if they can find something like that, given time, they can find most things.  Like anything else in genealogy, you pays your money and takes your chances.