Two new military collections are now on Ancestry
UK, WWI Hospital Registers, 1915-1919
The collection is an index of 818,003 British military hospital records from the First World War, including admissions and discharges from facilities such as field ambulances, casualty clearing stations, hospital trains, and ships. While the records are index-only on Ancestry, they may link to original documents on Fold3 and Forces War, which may offer additional details like medical diagnoses, hospital names, and lengths of stay. The collection includes entries for both servicemen and servicewomen, including members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and other wartime organizations. It also contains records for non-British individuals treated in these hospitals, including members of the Chinese Labour Corps. It includes nearly 5,000 Canadian service personnel.
UK, Recommendations for Honours and Awards, 1935-1990
An index of 348,129 military personnel recognized for gallantry or distinguished service in the British and allied armed forces. It includes recommendations, award lists, and London Gazette announcements for members of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. While the collection primarily covers post-1950 records due to archival practices, it offers valuable genealogical insights such as rank, service details, award names, and in some cases, narratives describing the actions that led to the award. The index is hosted by Ancestry, with access to original documents via Fold3 or Forces War.
These records, held at The National Archives in Kew, span a period marked by major global and regional conflicts. British forces were involved in events like the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Cold War-era conflicts in Asia and Africa, and later engagements including the Falklands War and Gulf War.
Interesting – those record sets aren’t appearing in the New and Updated Collections list, nor does a Google search locate them at Ancestry, only Fold3.
Now found on Ancestry, but as I suspected, the images are at Fold3… As it turns out, the record I was hoping to find doesn’t appear to be there anyway…still disappointing it’s index only.