Month: February 2006

World War 1 Soldiers’ Death Records Now Online

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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.

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Surname Profiler

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I’m still not sure exactly how it works, but the University College London (UCL) has setup a “Surname Profiler” database. Here’s their description:

A recent research project based at University College London (UCL) has investigated the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic, in order to understand patterns of regional economic development, population movement and cultural identity. This website allows users to search the databases that we have created, and to trace the geography and history of their family names.

Right now it’s fairly limited (only the years 1881 or 1998), but it has me very intrigued – it shows a distribution of surnames color-coded by area, i.e. you type in “Keith”, and it will show you those areas where the surname “Keith” is most prevalent – in this case, Scotland, and it breaks it down into smaller areas, and you can toggle back and forth between 1881 and 1998, which is, in and of itself, quite interesting. You can see a pseudo-migration pattern.

It could possibly help with research, but it’s more of a stepping off point – i.e. you could play the law of averages and research in those areas where your surname is most likely to be found.