Tuesday 13 May 2014

Research Sources

There are two sources of information about ex-servicemen:

Auckland War Memorial Museum Centotaph Database
This has basic Service information about most soldiers who have served overseas in many conflicts.
A typical record looks like this (my great grandfather's record):

FULL NAME
Charles Crawford Nelson
FORENAME(S)
Charles Crawford
SURNAME
Nelson
WAR
World War I, 1914-1918
SERIAL NO.
13081
PLACE OF BIRTH
Australia
FIRST KNOWN RANK
Rifleman
OCCUPATION BEFORE ENLISTMENT
Yardman
NEXT OF KIN
Mrs K.E. Nelson (wife), Wallingford, Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
BODY ON EMBARKATION
New Zealand Rifle Brigade
EMBARKATION UNIT
3rd Reinforcements to 3rd Battalion, G Company
EMBARKATION DATE
6 May 1916
PLACE OF EMBARKATION
Wellington, New Zealand
TRANSPORT
VESSEL
Mokoia or Navua
DESTINATION
Suez, Egypt
NOMINAL ROLL FOOTNOTES
Born in Australia
NOMINAL ROLL NUMBER
31
PAGE ON NOMINAL ROLL
24
ARCHIVES NZ SOURCE
Military personnel file
SOURCES USED
Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington: Govt. Printer, 1917
Archives New Zealand Archway
This is an ongoing project to digitise historic government records, including military records. I have found and downloaded scans of the paper records for my great grandfather, but not all records for WW1 servicemen have been done yet.
You can also visit their reading room in Wellington, and the staff are very helpful. There is no cost apart from copying charges.

I would like acknowledge the great work done by both institutions, and the assistance they have given me in this project.

Monday 5 May 2014

A Cast of Characters

Here is a list of all the soldiers who signed the album. Basic Service Records have been found for most of them on the Auckland War Memorial Museum website.
If anyone out there would like an e-book of the Album, annotated with a brief summary of each man's service record, please let me know through a comment on the page..

S/Number Surname Initial/s First Name/s
13081 Nelson CC Charles Crawford
Christian MM
10/744 Morgan E Eric
24/738 Dewar JL James Lindsay
24290 Sweet RO Redmond Ormsby
24/2121 Wilson Thomas
24/783 Henley NG Norman George
Hasson WG
10/2756 Russell WA William Adam
25/220 Nilsson EI Ernest Ibor
10/2424 Wells CM Cecil Miller
10/2015 Varnham FS? Frederick Stuart
30435 Hogg WH Wilfred Harry 
10524 Jones WH William Henry
30256 Petrie M deR Mark De Renzy
36976 Hooper ESH Edgar Sydney Henry 
81382 Goode JR John Ross
25826 Donovan GO Gerald Oswald
22174 Phillips BJ Bernard James
Thomas  JL
34172 Taylor OC Orton Cecil
41851 Morris CO Clarence Osborne
27669 Cody J John
24342 Clouston WF William Francis
21151 Goodall GFW George Frederick William
10/2348 Walpole RFR Roger Frederick Repton
35436 Goodall HC Henry Carter
Thomson JA
4/237 Hebditch W William
?
8/3663 Langley WE William Edward
24571 Cooke HN Harry Norman
52275 Preston CH Charles Herbet
36451 Jary WH William Henry
10/2142 Freeman R Ray
4/782 Louisson LW Leslie William
24/2116 Webb CE Cecil Ernest
23/145 George I Ivan
10/1293 Mitchell C Charles
30114 Lee CE Clarence Eli
26085 Foster JH Jonathan Horsfall
M J
30529 Brassington LA Leslie Amos
74235 Swanson AE Albert Ernest
10/333 Mills HJ Hugh