What you will find here
A gallantry award is a published fact with a citation behind it, and the two are not the same record. The published award notice gives the fact and the date, while the citation, where it survives, gives the action in words, and both need checking against the service record. This section is organised as one pillar guide plus supporting guides that each answer one question about the same record type. Read the pillar first for the shape of the records, then follow the supporting guides for the detail that matches your case.
The records in this section are held principally by The National Archives, The Gazette, and service museums. Holdings change as transfer and digitisation programmes proceed, so the holder and coverage statements in each guide describe the general position and point you to the holder's current guidance for the exact position.
How do you start here?
If you cannot fix the unit or the dates, fix what you can and search on that, rather than guessing the missing filter to make the search feel complete. Write the match standard for this person before you search, and hold every candidate to it. A standard written after the search will always fit the result.
- Start with the person: name, number, service, dates.
- Settle the unit or ship from the record, where it allows that.
- Read the record for those dates, and note its reference as you go.
- Let only dated, sourced facts into the timeline.
How these records are arranged
Do not modernise a place name, a rank or a trade in your notes without keeping the original wording alongside it. The original wording is what the next search needs. A name in a unit document proves presence only when name, rank, role and dates all match the person you are researching, not when the surname alone matches.
Checks before a match counts
The dead end that matters most is the one you do not notice: a near match quietly adopted, a date quietly rounded, a spelling quietly modernised. The most expensive dead end is a wrong person adopted early. Everything after that looks consistent, because it was built on the wrong foundation.
The way through this section
If the next record is a unit record, carry the posting dates with you. If it is a personal record, carry the number. The filter you carry decides what you find. If you have reached the end of what this record type can show, say so in your notes, and name the record type that takes over from here. Research done slowly, with references, outlasts research done quickly, with enthusiasm. Choose the slower kind.
Primary sources for this guide
This guide keeps its claims general and points to the official holders, so the holder itself is the place to check the current position. It is general educational information only, not personal professional advice, and it offers no record lookup service and no determination of any individual's service.