Information on specific campaigns:
- Battlefield guide books covering different battles and fronts are available
Search our online catalogue - Western Front Association furthers interest in the Great War 1914-1918
- Gallipoli Association raises public awareness of the Gallipoli Campaign 1915
- Salonika Campaign Society promotes interest in the Salonika campaign, fought in northern Greece, Serbia and Albania during 1915-1918
- Great War in Africa Association raises awareness of all the military campaigns in Africa 1914-1918
Service and ex-service periodicals and newspapers can provide background information:
- IWM has an extensive collection of Regimental journals
Search our online catalogue - Regimental journals may be available at Regimental Museums. Check the Army Museum's Ogilby Trust for museum information
- Recent issues of the British Army magazine Soldier
- Recent issues of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity magazine FrontLine
- Recent issues of the Legion Magazine which contains a ‘Lost Trails’ feature
- Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War – includes items from IWM collections. Available to view at academic institutions with a subscription
Information on the organisation and units of the British Army:
- Army website covering the structure and heritage of the British Army
- The Long, Long Trail the soldiers, units, regiments and battles of the British Army of the First World War, and how to research and understand them.
- Work out where a unit fitted into the higher chain of command by using Orders of Battle:
Order of Battle of Divisions (Part of History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents) [4 volumes] compiled by Major A.F. Becke by direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence (London: HMSO, 1935)
Orders of Battle: United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939-1945 [two volumes] prepared for the Historical Section of the Cabinet Office by H F Joslen (London: HMSO, 1960) - British Military History covers the British Army and British Indian Army 1930-1956, providing an overview of formations and units, key events, personnel and regiments and some divisional histories.
- Army Museum’s Ogilby Trust provides information on regimental museums across the UK, and can help you trace the history of regiments which may have been re-named or amalgamated during re-organisations of the British Army
Other helpful sources
- British Army, Deserters and Absentees in the Police Gazette 1914-1919 - the Police Gazette published regular lists with birth year, occupation, last known address and distinguishing physical characteristics on Find My Past (£)
- Military personnel entitled to vote but serving away from home could register as an Absent Voter - lists 1918-1921 on Find My Past (£)
- IWM’s Lives of the First World War is a digital initiative to create the permanent digital memorial to those who served in uniform and worked on the home front
- Army Records: A Guide for Family Historians by William Spencer (Richmond, Surrey: The National Archives, 2008).
- Tracing Your Army Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians by Simon Fowler (Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword, 2013)
- The National Archive's ‘Help with your research’ guides cover a range of topics, explain how to find and use their records and signpost to other sources
Other things to look for:
Download a copy of our guide to tracing your British Army ancestry.