If you frequent a library or archives often enough, you’ve likely experienced noticing some special resources. They may not be the most popular or most relevant to you, but somehow they stand out. At Library and Archives Canada one such for me was the British Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849.
Now there’s a database on Ancestry, UK, British Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849 with 9,807 records. It’s available to browse or search; the search has numerous fields. Would you like to know who sailed on the Beagle with Robery Fitzroy and Charles Darwin (not mentioned as he was not a naval officer)? You can search the name of the ship.
Records in the collection are in a narrative format and the information may include:
Name
Title
Rank
Birth date
Enlistment date and place
Names of vessels
Lists of military promotions
Employment history
Accounts of military expeditions
Name of their commanding officer
Names and relationships of family members,
You don’t need Ancestry for this as the full text is on the Internet Archive here.