World War 1 Soldiers’ Death Records Now Online

An interesting press release popped up this morning, World War 1 Soldiers’ Death Records Now Online. This is primarily of interest to genealogists researching relatives who fought and died in the British Army during World War I, and the information was published online by www.1837online.com/.

Excerpt from the press release:

Over 700,000 British soldiers died in WWI, with one in eight soldiers never returning home. For frontline units, the casualties were as high as one in five. Now a new searchable index on www.1837online.com, the UK’s leading family history website, has made it possible to search for those who died in the Great War(i) and discover online a soldier’s place of birth, residence and where they enlisted.

What do the records cover? According to 1837online.com, they cover the following:

The records cover deaths of anyone serving for the British Army within the period from 4 August 1914 to the 11 November 1918 and in a few cases up to 25 March 1921. The data comes from two lists of those who died during WWI published by His Majesty’s Stationary Office on behalf and by authority of the War Office in 1921. The records cover all parts of the British Isles including Scotland, all of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

The amount of information held on each soldier varies, but a full entry will give

– Surname
– Forenames
– Initials
– Place and country of birth
– Place of enlistment
– Place of residence
– Rank
– Army number
– Regiment/Corps etc
– Battalion etc
– Date of death
– How he died
– Theatre of war
– Supplementary notes, which include information such as former
army numbers and regiments

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