Newly digitised service records of non-commissioned ranks who served in the British Army during the Second World War are to be added to genealogy website Ancestry on 6 November and will be freely available to view in the lead-up to Remembrance Day along with almost 7 billion wartime records.
Genealogy website Ancestry, working with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and The National Archives (TNA), has digitised and indexed the collection as part of a vast project to digitise WW2 British Army service records as they are transferred from the MOD to TNA.
In late 2024 Ancestry released its first tranche of WW2 service records with a much smaller collection of records from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) amongst others. This new release will include 106k service records with a total of over one million pages digitised and 247k records created (including family and next of kin).
This tranche of records comes from the WO 422 collection. The complete collection is made up of more than two million service records for other ranks (not officers) from the British Army. It covers those who were discharged as over age between 1939 and 1959. More records are expected to be added to the collection over time as Ancestry continues to digitise the MOD records.
The records include military attestation forms that contain personal information about each soldier, including parents and spouse, although details of children has been redacted due to privacy concerns. Medical records will also not be included. Details of which regiment a relative served in and movements will enable family members to explore historical accounts of actions that the regiment were involved in, giving unprecedented insight into their ancestor’s WW2 experience.
The launch coincides with Ancestry offering free access to nearly seven billion selected wartime records in the lead up to Remembrance Day. As well as the newly released WW2 records, registered users will have free access to almost 7 billion wartime records including the 1939 Register, POW records and medal registers.
Free access to the wartime records will run from 6 November to 12 November and will require free registration with the website. After this time, the new WW2 records will be included in Ancestry's All UK and Ireland records subscription package.
You do not need to sign up for a free trial to Ancestry's subscription service to benefit from the free access period, all you need is a ‘registered guest’ account. To register in advance, go to ancestry.co.uk/account/create (if visiting from the UK) or ancestry.com/account/create (for US and other visitors).
