Series
Guards regiments other ranks service records
Catalogue reference: WO 439
What's it about?
WO 439
This series consists of the service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks (but not officers) who served in the below Guards regiments as part of the British Army during and after the First World War, and up until 1963: Grenadier...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- WO 439
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Title (The name of the record)
- Guards regiments other ranks service records
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Date (When the record was created)
- [1939-1963]
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series consists of the service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks (but not officers) who served in the below Guards regiments as part of the British Army during and after the First World War, and up until 1963:
- Grenadier Guards
- Coldstream Guards
- Irish Guards
- Welsh Guards
- Guards Machine Gun Regiment
The types of documents that are most commonly found within the service records comprising this series are:
- Attestation forms, which are the documents signed by the new recruit, or created upon transfer between units;
- Statement of service, which outline an individual's postings whilst in service;
- Discharge forms, which were issued when a soldier left the regiment;
- A variety of supporting correspondence.
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Note (Additional information about the record)
- There may be gaps in the sequence of pieces while we continue to catalogue this accession. Some entries could not be verified against the documents due to logistical issues. The term [Unspecified] in this series refers to both information that is not present in the record and to information that could not be verified.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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The records are arranged by subseries in the order of precedence of these regiments and piece numbers consist of the following:
- Grenadier Guards (WO 439/(1-92318))
- Coldstream Guards (WO 439/(92319-172082))
- Irish Guards (WO 439/(172083-203696))
- Welsh Guards (WO 439/(203697-225084))
- Guards Machine Gun Regiment (WO 439/(225085-232016))
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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Various registers for the Grenadier Guards, including discharge, attestation, enlistment and deserters' registers, from the middle of the 1700s WO 437
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
- file(s)
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
- Open unless otherwise stated
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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Ministry of Defence From 2024
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Accruals (Indicates whether the archive expects to receive further records in future)
- This series is accuring
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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This collection of records includes those who served in Guards regiments during and after the First World War. Records relating to the infantry, Royal Artillery, the Guards or Cavalry, as well as the majority of women's service records, were held by the War Office/Ministry of Defence separately for administrative purposes. In many cases, records were added to after 1945, as individuals remained in the Army Reserve and liable for recall to the armed forces up until 1959 or until they reached the age of 45. The Scots Guards regiment has its own regimental archive.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C20937944/
Catalogue hierarchy
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
Within the department: WO
Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General,...
You are currently looking at the series: WO 439
Guards regiments other ranks service records