Tracing Your Naval Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians
Pen & Sword
- SKU:
- PNS241
- Availability:
- Usually Ships Within 7 Days
Media: BOOK - paperback, 208 pages
Author: S. Fowler
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9781848846258
Other: b&w photos, glossary, sppendixes, index
Publisher: Pen & Sword
This concise guide to naval history and naval records is essential reading and reference for anyone researching the fascinating story of Britain's Navy and the men and women who served in it. Whether you are interested in the career of an individual seaman, finding out a medal winner or just want to know more about a particular ship, campaign or operations, this book will point you in the right direction.
Simon Fowler assumes the reader has little prior knowledge of the navy and its history. His book shows you how to trace an officer, petty officers or rating from the seventeenth century up to the 1960s using records at The National Archives (TNA) and elsewhere.
The book also covers the specialist and auxiliary serves associated with the Navy - among them the Royal Marines, the Fleet Air Arm, the naval dockyards, the WRNS and the Fleet Auxiliary. In each section he explains which records survive, where they can be found and how they can be used for research. He also recommends resources available online as well as books and memoirs.
This book is a valuable research tool for anyone who is keep to find out about the career of an ancestor who served in the Royal Navy or was connected with it.
Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
1. Getting Started
- Where to start
- Background research
- The internet
- Commercial data providers
- Where the records are
- Undertaking research
- Making use of your research
2. Basic Genealogical Resources
- Birth, Marriage and Death records
- Census returns
- Wills
- Newspapers and journals
- Private papers
- Medals
- Naval education
3. Officers 1660-1914
- Careers
- The Navy List
- Service records
- Pay and pensions
- Memorials
- Admiralty Digests and indexes
4. Ratings and Petty Officers 1660-1914
- Badges and uniforms
- The records
- Men entering between 1667 and 1853
- Men entering between 1853 and 1872
- Men entering between 1873 and 1923
- After 1923
- Pensions
- Memorials
- Courts martial
- Women at sea
5. The Navy After 1914
- First World War
- The Inter-war period and Second World War
- After 1945
- Royal Navy Air Services
- Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS)
6. Auxiliary Forces and the Coastguard
- Royal Naval Reserve (RNR)
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR)
- Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)
- Royal Naval Patrol Service
- Royal Naval Division (RND)
- Service Records Not Yet Transferred to TNA
- HM Coastguard
7. Care of the Sick and Wounded
- Researching Naval Surgeons
- Medical Officers' Journals
- Nurses
- Hospitals
- Lunatics
8. The Royal Marines
- Officers
- Other Ranks
- Two World Wars
9. Researching Ships
- Resources
- Ephemera
10. HM Dockyards
- The Records
Appendix 1. Naval Ratings
Appendix 2. Royal Navy and Royal Marine Services Documents at the Fleet Air Arm Museum
Appendix 3. Merchant Seafarers
Appendix 4. Jackspeak
Appendix 5. Useful Addresses
Bibliography
Index