British army, navy, air force lists online

Military lists can help if you are researching ancestors who were in Britain's armed forces.

These publications can provide information about the units that individuals served in, but you should be aware that most of these directories only list officers.
At the National Library of Scotland we hold:

The official Army List from 1714

The Navy List from 1804

The Air Force List from 1919

Some militia listings

The muster roll of the Jacobite Army.

You can use these lists in conjunction with published regimental histories and the 'London Gazette', 'Edinburgh Gazette' or 'Belfast Gazette', which list officer commissions and awards for gallantry.

If you get fed up with flicking through these, the good news is that some of the British military lists are now online.
They provide details of officers who served in the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force during the First and Second World Wars.

Armistice day

We're planning a major exhibition for 2014 to commemorate World War I. I've been reading a lot on the subject, and one book which caught my eye was "The Quick and the Dead" by Richard van Emden.
At the end of the First World War more than 192,000 wives had lost their husbands, and nearly 400,000 children had lost their fathers. A further half a million children had lost one or more siblings. One in eight wives died within a year of receiving news of their husband's death.
Richard van Emden has produced his book from many interviews with families of those lost in the Great War, as well as diaries and letters.
Through the stories in this groundbreaking history, we realise not just what became of our grandfathers but how their experiences influenced the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of a generation that they left at home.