British Army WW1 Service Records - findmypast

[kiterunner]

These are the Service Records and Pension Records which are already available on ancestry (and on FamilySearch but browse only on there). And of course many WW1 service records were destroyed during WW2. But if you haven't found your relative's papers on ancestry, it will certainly be worth looking on FMP as their index may be more accurately transcribed. Also they say they have found lists of names included within individual soldiers' records and have indexed those too, but I hope it is clear when you find an entry whether it is going to be an actual service record or just a name on a list, otherwise people may find themselves using up credits to view the lists.

Anyway, here is the link:
British Army Service Records 1914-1920

[kiterunner]

As far as I can see, there is no way of telling what kind of record you will get for your 5 credits until you click to view, but I am pretty excited about finding my great-uncle's name on a list, as I don't have his actual service record so every tiny bit of information helps.
Ah, if you view the transcription from a list of names, you will get the details of the person whose record the list came from, so then you can look at that record and browse through it to see if you can figure out what the list is, I suppose.

[kiterunner]

Hmmm, I'm not sure whether it's me doing something wrong, or their index that is the problem, but the transcription for the list of names that includes my great-uncle, says

Originating Record WO 363. 44228 William Edwin Shelton, Lincolnshire Regiment

So I thought it would just be a case of feeding the name William Edwin Shelton back into the search and up he would pop, but searching for that name, the nearest I get is Shelton, 44228, Lincolnshire Regiment, no first name indexed. When I click to view it, his full name is clearly shown on the first page. He also has another number on his medal index card - 202120 S Staff Reg, but I can't find his records on ancestry at all! (I was thinking it might be quicker to page through his record on ancestry as it takes a while for the pages to load on FMP) Anyway, I have found the name list within his records on FMP but still not clear exactly what the list is.

[kiterunner]

Phew, figured out a way to find the right William Edwin Shelton record on ancestry. Will just post this up for future reference!

First, the list of results on FMP shows whether it is from WO363 (Service Records) or WO364 (Pension Records). Then each image has a number within the microfilm shown at the bottom, so I am looking for image number 1038 for the beginning of his record, and for some reason ancestry starts it at number 1042 so I didn't realise it was the same record. Ancestry have indexed him as William Edwin Shelton, number 2157, Linconshire (sic) Regt. and yes, that number does also appear in his record.

So, the indexes on the two sites do differ from each other and if you can't find someone on one site, definitely worth looking on the other.

[kiterunner]

There certainly seems to be a problem with first names on this database at the moment, but luckily you can search by regimental number. If your relative has more than one number, try each one in turn.
Edit - the first names seem to be displaying o.k. now.

Looking at the comments on Facebook, other people were finding the same problem with first names not displaying and it is working for them now too, so FMP must have fixed something.

[Tilly Mint]

Thanks!....going over to see if I can see any of mine.

[Mary from Italy]

I've searched for two of mine who appear on Ancestry, but I can't find them. One only has a pension/silver war badge record, so perhaps the pension records aren't there yet? The other one ought to be there, though.

[kiterunner]

What are their names and numbers, Mary? I could have a try.