War Office Form WO.1143

This form would later become the ubiquitous Army Form B.178 and would go through many design iterations. A prime example of its usefulness to the military historian can be seen in the image below which lists all the stations where this particular soldier was examined or received treatment.

The front of this form also gives a lot of useful and interesting personal detail about the man, detail that would not make its way onto Army Form B.178. This particular form was begun in 1866 and as can be seen from the reverse, the man re-engaged in 1878.

Images are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

War Office Form WO.83 - Discharge

This, somewhat tatty example of WO.83 is commonly seen in soldiers' files in WO 97 at The National Archives. The information at the top of this form shows that this particular version was part of a print-run of 25,000 forms generated in July 1878, and the man in question was being discharged on the 11th August 1880.

These documents are very useful as they give a summary of the man's service; presumably the only reason why generations of Whitehall clerks charged with 'weeding' ('destroying' would be a more apt term) soldiers' papers decided to spare this particular form.

Army Form B.5112 - Medal receipt card

There must have been millions of these cards in circulation in the early 1920s. This particular run was printed in September 1921 and the document is commonly seen in soldiers' service records of the First World War. It accompanied the campaign medals sent to soldiers and was supposed to be completed, signed and returned by the recipient. This card was, which is how it surives in this soldier's file, but many of these examples, along with the medal boxes, are also commonly seen with medal groups and a nice addition when they do survive.

These images are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form W.3291 - Classification Certificate

Army Form W.3291 first saw the light of day in August 1916 and this version dates from October 1916. It was certainly used for men who had attested under the Derby Scheme and may also have been used for men who were conscripted. 

In this particular case this Derby Scheme recruited has been classified as A. Fit for general service, having attested over a year earlier on the 9th December 1915. This man was examined and classified on the 22nd January 1917 and he was mobilised on the 23rd February 1917, ultimately serving overseas with the Cheshire Regiment until demobilised in October 1919.

The reverse of this document refers to Army Form W.3195 which I have covered on a previous post and which refers specifically to Derby Scheme attestations. It is interesting that this Army Form addresses the candidate as "Mr", a title rarely seen pre-printed on army forms and probably one of the last times, until late 1919, that this particular man would have been addressed as such.

Army Form W.3491 - Medical Board examination

This particular version of Army From W.3491 was printed in November 1916. The man in question here was a Derby Scheme recruit who had originally attested in December 1915 but it would appear that this was used for conscripts as well. 

The reference to Group and Class No refers to Derby Scheme (Group) and conscripted men (Class) and, as I mentioned, this man was a Derby Scheme recruit, a single man born in 1896 and hence in Group 2.

Army Form B.50 - Soldiers' Small Book

Army Form B.50 was the Soldiers' Small Book which contained his personal details as well as notes and observations designed to be helpful to the soldier such as points to be observed on outposts, how to prevent sore feet, and instructions for cleaning the rifle and carbine. Every soldier was issued with one - and so too were airmen, as in the image above,at that point in its evolution when the Royal Flying Corps was just another army corps.

I have a couple of these in my collection, including the one my great grandfather kept when he joined the Army Service Corps in November 1915. In my experience it is rare to find these books completely filled in; often as not they appear to be largely blank, but they are nice objects to own and can be useful as there is a section which deals with the soldier's description on attestation as well as details of his next of kin.

As these books were issued to the soldier it it is rare to find them in service records - indeed, I have never seen one - but they do turn up at trade fairs and on well-known internet auction houses and they can be useful starting points for research projects.

Army Form 11238 - Syphilis case sheet

Venereal disease was a huge problem in the British Army. As Alan Ramsay Skelley writes in The Victorian Army at Home, "The incidence of the disease in 1860 was 369 cases per 1000 men. The loss of service was equivalent to the withdrawal of every soldier from the army for eight days or of two full battalions every year in Britain." He continues, "... although the threat it posed in 1899 was considerably less than in 1860, never less than one man in ten, and for most of the period one in five or an even higher proportion, underwent treatment each year."

Hardly any wonder then that a special Army Form dealing with the treatment of syphilis cases was felt necessary to print. I've removed the man's details from the form on this post, but it states that he probably picked up the disease -and almost certainly from a brothel - at the Suddher Bazaar in Bareilly, India on the 3rd March 1912. He would undergo treatment for the next six months.

Also in this man's papers is Army Form 11237, a Medical Case Sheet which in this particular case shows that the man concerned was having his pulse, breathing and temperature checked every half an hour. The results appear to be normal.

The images on this post are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form W.3484B - Approval of Discharge under King's Regs, Para 392 (xvi)

Those of us who have studied First World War service will be very familiar with men being discharged under paragraph 392 (xvi) of King's Regulations for 1912 (re-printed with amendments to 1st August 1914). Men who were no longer physically fit for war service were discharged under this regulation and this particular form is essentially confirmation of this by the Medical Board.

These forms were printed in booklets and then detached. A note at the bottom of this particular form shows that it was part of a run of 8000 booklets which were printed in August 1916 (a month or more after the opening of the Somme offensive), clinical pessimism about the number of men who would soon be passing through this particular process.

This particular form was issued for 33179 Pte Ernest Riches of the 10th Yorkshire Regiment who was discharged from Norfolk War Hospital, Thorpe on the 30th August 1917.

The image on this page is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form B.133 - drivers

This attestation form for Army Service Corps drivers was first introduced in January 1903 in a print-run of 5000. Terms of service are clearly stated here as two years with the colours and ten years on the reserve.

The document was re-issued in various iterations over the coming years. The one above is the second version of this form which was printed in September 1903 in a print run of 5000 too.

This version of the form dates to May 1904 and was issued in a run of 15,000.

This version of Army Form B.133 dates to November 1905 and was printed in a run of 15,000. The obvious difference here is that this is now to be used for drivers enlisting with the Army Service Corps and the Royal Engineers. Month of printing, print-run quantity and version number appear on all of these documents in the top left hand-corner. HWV stands for Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, the Aylesbury printers responsible for this rather nice contract with the British Army.

All images on this page are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Documents on Discharge

"When a soldier is to be discharged..." so begins the opening sentence on the back of this form, "the documents specified in the margin, arranged in the same sequence, will be placed inside this form." There are 18 separate forms noted in the margin but it is rare indeed to find all of these still surviving in archival files today. 

The image is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form B.131 - Clinical Chart

I've had this image on my desktop for ages. I shudder to think of the thousands of images from soldiers' service paperts that I've looked at over the years, and every so often I come across a page that I don't recall seeing before. This was certainly the case with this Army Form B.131 which is a clinical chart, in this case reporting the temperature, pulse per minute, respiration per minute and motions per 24 hours for 20-year-old 202138 Corporal Vernon Swatman of the 2/5th South Staffordshire Regiment who was at Southmead Hospital, Bristol having had his leg amputated. Note how high his temperature rose after his operation on the 26th January.

Vernon had originally attested under the Derby Scheme in December 1915 and was admitted to hospital on the 26th October 1917 before being discharged nearly five months later in March 1918. He was discharged from the army in October 1918.

Findmypast has a huge amount of information on this man from his birth in December 1897, to school admission records, census returns for 1901 and 1911, military service record in WO 363, marriages in 1925 and 1929, an entry in the 1939 Register, and entry in Kelly's directory for Wolverhampton and finally his death in 1978. 

The image on this post is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form B.179 - Medical History of an Invalid

This four-page form was in common usage in Her Majesty's Army and this particular example dates to 1896. It would ultimately be replaced by Army Form B.179a which would be more gently titled, Medical report on a soldier... This document was one of the standard forms which was to be included in a file of discharge documents and is one of the few files which does not seem to have been routinely weeded by the War Office / Ministry of Pensions or MoD. They obiously recognised its imporatnce as a historical summary of service and for today's military or family historian it is no less important.

The opening page, above, gives a good general summary of service, which in this example amounts to 16 years service at home, in Gibraltar and in Egypt. Date of enlistment, date of form-filling and age of the soldier are all present making this a very useful document indeed.

The pages which follow detail the nature of the disabilty, the degree to which it affects the individual and, finally, the opinion of the Medical Board. Questions throughout the document examine the character of the man. What are his havits like? Has he been a defaulter? Has the disability been "aggravated by intemperance, vice or misconduct?" Given the fondmness of alcohol by the British soldiery in general, it was hardly an unreasonable question to ask. 

In this particualr case, theman in question was a staff sergeant whose habits and conduct were rated as "Regular, Very Good, Temperate" and his tubercle of the lung was not adjudged to have been as a result of his own imprudence.

It's a shame that this form does not a give a permanert address for the soldier, simply a hospital or station transferred to for further disposal. In this case, the man was sent to the Herbert Hospital in Woolwich which, 120 years later has been converted into flats called the Royal Herbert Pavilions. Sales prices today are in excexx of £400,000.

Images reprodiced here are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form D.489 - Certificate of Sobriety & Trustworthiness

This documents is very much of its era. Even contemplating issuing such a form these days would no doubt be seen as an infringement of human rights. However, back in 1915 when this form was issued, it would have been perfectly reasonable for an employer to request this evidence particularly, it has to be said, in the light of the British soldier's fondness for alcohol.

In this case however, Henry Tomkins, already a veteran of Gallipoli and the Somme, was still only 16-years-old when this form was completed. He was pulled out of the army at the request of his mother who had already seen Henry's twin brother William killed in April 1916. Henry would later join the Royal Navy and end his naval career as a stoker petty officer.

You can read more about Henry Tomkin's military service on my World War One veterans' blog. Henry's army record and navy record both survive in WO 364 and ADM 188 respectively and both can be viewed on Findmypast. Henry's army record is particularly interesting as it contains much correspondence from his mother - as well as this quaint document.

The image on this page is Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form E.522 - Militia Reserve Attestation

"The Militia Reserve", states the Army Book for the British Empire, published in 1893, "is a force, institited in 1867, enlisted from the militia of the United Kingdom, either for six years or for the residue of the man's militia engagement... A man in the militia reserve is liable to be called out for an annual training not exceeding 56 days with either regular or auxiliary forces in substitution for the ordinary militia annual training. He may be called out by Royal proclamation, and then becomes for all purposes a soldier in the regular forces, and can be appointed to any corps. He is not liable to serve beyond the unexpired term of his service in the militia reserve, except under certain eventualities when he can be detailed for one year longer. Until called out for permanent service he remains for all purposes a militiaman."

In 1899 in "The British Army", Lieutenant Colonel James Moncrieff Grierson - who had also authored chapters in the Army Book for the British Empire, wrote, "The militia reserve is not, what its name seems to imply, a reserve for the militia, but for the regular army. It consists of militia-men whose number must not exceed a quarter of the establishment of a battalion of infantry or a third of a battalion of garrison artillery, and who bind themselves in return for a bounty of £1 a year, to remain with the militia either 6 years or the whole time of their service."

Moncrieff Grierson continues, "On entering the militia reserve the men must be between 19 and 34 years of age, and must have passed through two drill periods of the militia; they are liable to be called out to a yearly practice of 56 days. Service in the militia-reserve cannot be extended beyond the age of 34."

The images I have used on this post are all Crown Copyright the National Archives (series WO 96) and relate to the service of Arthur Nixon (no relation) who had originally joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment as an 18-year-old in 1894. He joined the militia reserve in 1898, attesting to serve for General Service for the unexpired portion of his militia engagement. 

Army Form E.504 - Militia Attestation

 

There are plenty of these forms in WO 363 (First World War service records), WO 364 (pension records)  and, of course, WO 96 (militia attestations). The militia, replaced by the Special Reserve in 1908, was an ideal testing ground for many men who wanted to see if they were suited for army life, but without the full-time commitment.

 

 

The forms are very similar to the forms used by the regular army, and give that essential detail so beloved by family and military historians: place of birth, place of residence, age, occupation... in short, all the essential detail that can act as a springboard for further research.

 

 

The papers in WO 96 are certainly the best preserved and I think in general that this series can often be overlooked. To my mind, it's always worthy of further investigation and on more than one occasion I have discovered papers here for a man whose First World War papers went up in smoke in 1940.

 

In common with other army forms - and attestation forms in particular, Army Form E.504 went through various iterations and amendments. The version I have reproduced here dates to April 1891 and was the 13th variant of this particular document.

 

Images reproduced on this post are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

 

 

Army Form B.217 - Foot Guards attestation

 

By my own calculations, Army Form B.217 must originally date to between June 1883 and February 1884. The image above is the second iteration of this form and dates to February 1884 when a print-run of 5,000 was ordered. 

 

The original intention was that this attestation form should be for Foot Guards, but over the years this was changed to serve the purpose of short service attestation for all those men enlisting for 3 years with the colours and 9 years with the reserve.

 

 

The image above shows the 34th version of Army Form B.217 which was printed in a run of 100,000 in May 1905. Note that in this case, the terms of service have been reversed so that Henry Bruty was signing up for nine years with the colours and three years on the reserve; far more practical than 3&9 for all concerned.

 

Army Form B.248 - Short Service 9&3 -1906

 

Army Form B.248 was a short service attestation form originally introduced in January 1906 in a print-run of 100,000. The terms of service were nine years with the colours and three on the reserve. This form is not commonly seen and when it does surface, often has the terms of service altered. Confusingly, an alternative Army Form B.248 for one year's service in the Special Reserve would subsequently be printed in August 1914.

Army Form B.120 - Regimental Conduct Sheet

 

Almost identical to Army Form B.121 which I covered in an earlier post, these forms are commonly seen in WO 363 and WO 364 and can be useful in the absence of other documentation in providing evidence of the man's date of attestation.

 

The image is Crown Copyright The National Archives.

Effects Form 118A

 

 

How much misery, despair and distress is recorded on these sad forms I wonder. It is what is says on the tin: details of personal effects to be returned to the next of kin. From a family historian's perspective, and in the absence of other surviving material, this document is useful because it lists the name and address of the next of kin. In some cases, details of personal effects may also be given, either noted on this form or recorded separately.  Note that this Effects Form 118A does not record sums of money owing, just personal effects.

 

The image below shows the items returned to my great-grandmother after her second eldest son, John Frederick Nixon, had been killed in action in October 1918:

 

The two discs are his identity discs which I have and which, when removed from his body on the battlefield, effectively denied him a marked grave. Instead, he's remembered on the Vis-en-Artois memorial. RIP, Jack.

Images used on this post are Crown Copyright The National Archives.

Army Form B.179a - Medical Report on a soldier...

This is a useful four-page document which not only gives crucial information about a soldier's age, regiment and enlistment date, but also gives us an insight into how Medical Boards arrived at their decisions on whether or not to make an award.

 

 

Page 1 (above) gives details of the soldier and a statement of the case dictated by the man but recorded by the Medical Officer in charge of the case.

 

 

The answers to these questions continued onto page 2.

 

 

Page 3 is where the Medical Board records its opinion.

 

 

This assessment carries over to page four. Arguably the most important part of this form is question 24 which assesses the level of disability.

 

All document images reproduced on this post are Crown Copyright, The National Archives. Service and Pension records can be searched and downloaded from Ancestry and Findmypast. Both companies offer FREE 14-day trials.