If you soldier had a very uncommon name it is of course possible to locate him and be fairly or completely sure you have the right man. But what is he was a John Smith? He will be one of more than 5000 of them who served in the army during the Great War. Millions of men served in the army and it is likely that there will be more than one of the name you seek even if it is fairly uncommon. You need to do everything you can to make sure that you can spot your man from among others. Perhaps the most important piece of information of all is the soldier’s regiment and number. This article will help you find it.
Officers
Commissioned officers did not have personal numbers until after the Great War.
What is the soldier’s number and why is it important?
Each man was assigned a number which identified him from the other men. It was used on all of his paperwork, so all of his records carry it. Many of the records can only be found with any certainty if you know the number, unless the man had a very unusual name.
In 1920, the way the army issued numbers changed. From that point on to the present day, the number was given to the man when he joined the army and it stayed his personal number regardless of what happened to him after that. This was not the case in WW1. At that time each regiment issued its own numbers, and if a man was moved from one to another, he was renumbered. It was even more complex in some regiments as each unit issued its own numbers, and if he was a Territorial he would have been renumbered in spring 1917. This is why a man might have more than one number and you may need to know them all.
The easiest sources
If you have or can see the man’s campaign medals, his number will be stamped around the rim (or on the back if it is a Star).
If you have his discharge certificate or any other paperwork, it will give his number.
Army service records
Digitisation of the army service records means that it is now possible to search for a man’s record without knowing regiment or number. They have been indexed with age/year of birth and place of residence.
1918 Absent Voters List
If all other sources are a dead-end for you, and if your soldier was aged 21 or over and was alive in 1918, it would be worth trying the Absent Voters List for the area in which he had his home address. The AVL often gives his regiment and number.
If he won a gallantry medal or some other special award
Gallantry awards, foreign decorations and certain other awards were published in the London Gazette. The entry almost always carried the name of the man’s place of residence in brackets after his own details. It would be worth searching for a combination of his surname and placename. The Gazette is online, free and searchable. The London Gazette
If he died or was wounded
The casualty lists published in the “Times” newspaper almost always carried the name of the man’s place of residence in brackets after his own details. It would be worth searching for a combination of his surname and placename. The Times Digital Archive is online and searchable but requires particular access. Many UK libraries have arranged this access, either on their own premises or online for those with a reader’s ticket.
If he became a prisoner of war
The records held by the Red Cross give an excellent cross-reference between a man’s name, regiment, number and home address. The records are online and free to use, although not easy to search (especially if your man was a John Smith).
If he had a less-common name
You may be able to find records of a man with a less common name without knowing his number.