Sheffield Genealogy Family & Social History

Ministry of Defence Army Personnel Records
(and related Contact Addresses)

The MOD keeps records of former members of the armed forces for administrative use after discharge. Unfortunately, the detailed information held for particular servicemen / women is not as much as people think it would be. The details held are more likely to be paper-based records that follow the career of an individual rather than details of "theatres of operation" or "action seen". Medals and awards are recorded, but citations are never included. A photograph of the individual will be held in very rare circumstances.

In the case of deceased personnel (in which 99% of people obviously are in family history research), copies of records of former army personnel can be obtained by the individuals next of kin or legal reresentative or to anyone who has written permission from the deceased next of kin There is a fee payable for a record search (currently a non-returnable £30 [30 English pounds]). Proof of next of kin is always required.

The Historical Disclosures section has access to all army personnel who have been discharged from regular or reserve service between 1921 and 1997. (except officers and soldiers of the Foot Guards Regiment. These records are held at the Regimental Headquarters in Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London, SW1E 6HQ.

Because of how the records and files of personnel are stored, requesting a search for any named individual would be like looking for the preverbial needle in the haystack. It is therefore required to have as much information as possible before the search will be carried out. (remember all the records are paper-based and theres reputed to be around 15.5 million records all stacked on shelves in some sort of order). The minimum of details required in the majority of cases are: name, army number, regiment and year of discharge. However, if the Regiment or Corps in which the subject of your inquiry is not known at the time of discharge then no matter how much other related information you offer, a successful search of the records is currently unlikely.

Work has commenced on the indexing of the army archive and this index is expected to be completed by the end of 2005. It should then be possible to find records more quickly using more limited information. The current length of time to hear if a search has been successful is normally around 4 months or more. However, at this time (November 2005) the waiting period is more likely to be around 6-8 months due to other more pressing MOD administrative work taking priority.

Steps to be taken to obtain a deceased ex service personnel records

Proof of being next of kin or written consent from the next of kin.
Proof of the search name individuals death.
Payment of £30.00 (postal order or cheque)
Cash payments through the post are not advisable nor acceptable.

All the above will be needed to accompany the "Search Questionaire" which you will recieve after initial contact to the Historical Disclosures section of the army personnel centre.

Contact Addresses

Microfilm copies of WW1 service records are also held by the LDS. Films can be requested to view at local LDS family history centres.

For more information access Service Records

Conditions of Use