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Volunteers help identify famous First World War officers' records
Following three years of work by volunteers, data from nearly 140,000 surviving paper records of officers who served in the First World War (WO 339), has now been catalogued. Finishing just ahead of the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, the records of some of the first officers to see action in the war's first major battle are now fully searchable by name, rank and regiment.
This series includes the file for Lieutenant Maurice Dease, one of the first British officer casualties of the war and the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross. Also included are records for famous writers, poets, actors and future political leaders or their family relations such as Joseph Conrad, Oscar Wilde, Clement Attlee and Tsar Nicholas II.
The records contain correspondence relating to officers' careers including many insightful documents revealing promotions, medical history, pensions and details surrounding their death. On rare occasions some photographs are included, in one instance of an x-ray and bandage (WO 339/66442).
The 35 volunteers working with staff at The National Archives have spent around 6,000 hours painstakingly entering data, checking names, regiments and numbers for each of the 139,912 documents.
Find out more about volunteering at The National Archives
