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The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 8, February 24, 2008, Article 42 VICTORIA CROSS RECORDS NOW AVALIABLE FOR RESEARCHERS ONLINE [For researchers of military medals, a gold mine of new information in now available on the Internet. -Editor] The heroism of millions of Britain's First World War servicemen, from ordinary foot-soldiers to actors and future prime ministers, is disclosed on the internet for the first time from today. The records of 5.5 million troops awarded medals between 1914 and 1922 - the most comprehensive Great War collection in existence - are being released by the website, Ancestry.co.uk. It will give people an unprecedented opportunity to trace the wartime achievements of their ancestors as most of the official service records from the First World War were destroyed during a German air raid in 1941. Fifteen different medals were awarded, from the Victoria Cross to campaign honours such as the Victory Medal, to British and Commonwealth troops. The online files are based mainly on index cards recording each serviceman's medals, reason for decoration and corps, unit and regiment. "This collection will be relevant to just about anyone with ancestors living in the UK during World War One and is both a rich source of military information and a means of ensuring that the exploits of these brave soldiers are remembered for generations to come." To read the complete article, see: Full Story "Quite simply, this is the most complete first world war collection of what we are calling heroes' exploits," said Simon Harper, managing director of the genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk, which has digitised the archive. "There are other records already online which capture parts of the service record, but unfortunately a lot of records no longer survive, so to have a collection this complete is extremely important." Though other organisations, notably the National Archives at Kew, allow users to order specific microfiched records for a fee, this is the first time they can be browsed online. The records take the form of colour scans of handwritten cards, on which details of the medals awarded are recorded, along with soldiers' addresses, rank, regiment and details of their service history. The cards carry references to mentions in dispatches, where appropriate. More than 50,000 records include details of covert operations. Alongside the ordinary Tommies are a large number of medal-winners who were or would go on to be well known - among them Oswald Mosley, AA Milne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lord Louis Mountbatten. Ernest Shackleton, newly returned from the South Pole in 1917, was considered too old for the western front but sent to South America on a propaganda mission, for which he was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The young Noel Coward was awarded the Silver War Badge, having served briefly before being discharged for ill health. Britain's last surviving western front veteran, Harry Patch, is also represented. The website, which operates commercially and requires users to pay a subscription, also allows users to search first world war pension records, held at the National Archives, and the remaining military service records. To read the complete article, see: Full Story Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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