Prisoner of war records now available online

29 Jun 2016 02:42 PM

More than 764,000 records of servicemen, women and civilians who were taken captive during the Napoleonic Wars, Crimean War, Boer War, First World War and Second World War have been published online for the first time at Findmypast.

The publication, released in partnership with The National Archives, marks the final instalment of Findmypast’s Prisoners Of War 1715-1945 collection, a fascinating collection of UK Government documents spanning 230 years of conflict.

Findmypast has also created a new Prisoners of War 1715-1945 browse function that gives historians and relatives the ability to select individual archival pieces and read the entire folder from beginning to end. This is an exciting addition for military history enthusiasts, academics and researchers who wish to explore the history of specific locations, regiments, or events in depth.

The records are incredibly diverse and not only include military personnel, but also civilians, diplomats, missionaries and merchant seamen. The nature of these documents varies owing to the enormous scope and scale of the collection. Some will consist of lists of deaths, files on escapees and detailed records of daily life, while others will reveal additional biographical details about individual inmates including physical descriptions, witness statements, medical reports and more.

The entire Prisoners Of War 1715-1945 collection now contains over 2 million records.