First World War Army Service Records : A Guide for Family Historians

More than nine million men and women are estimated to have served in the British armed forces during the First World War.

Many of the surviving service records from this period can be found in The National Archives.

This bestselling guide offers expert advice and guidance on the records available and how to make effective use of search time for anyone researching the conflict, or tracing a relative who served in it.

In this new edition, William Spencer expands his already wide coverage of records of the Dominion Forces, Indian Amy, WAAC, nursing and auxiliary services, Royal Flying Corps and RAF, to include the Royal Navy.

Throughout, the book will be expanded and fully updated to cover material newly released or now available online.

More case studies will be included to illustrate a variety of stories from a diverse range of approaches and sources, including a WW1 Army officer who starred in Henry V with Laurence Olivier.

This practical and accessible book explains how to use the service records of thousands of First World War soldiers, as well as details of campaign medals, gallantry and meritorious service records, prisoner of war debriefs, court martials and casualty lists. It shows how to navigate over 10,000 individual unit war diaries covering all of the British Army's operational theatres, as well as original trench maps from the Western Front to Salonica, Gallipoli to Mesopotamia.