July 5, 2006

Royal Naval Division records online

DocumentsOnline now has searchable scanned records of the 50,000 officers and men who served in World War I in the Royal Naval Division (RND). These were land forces formed in September 1914 from the Royal Navy reserves, which turned out to have more men than were needed at sea. A record typically includes

  • home address;
  • occupation;
  • religion;
  • name and address of next-of-kin;
  • career in the RND, such as where served, significant events, awards, and details of action;
  • in the event of wounding, the nature of the wound and the hospital where treated; and
  • for ratings, a physical description.
Sometimes there is other information too, such as place of birth or ability to swim. Searching is free. Actual records (in PDF format) cost £3.50 each.

No comments: