What does this section cover?
Starting from almost nothing is normal, not hopeless. A name, a photograph, a medal or a single place can each open a trail, but only if you treat the starting clue as a question to test, not as a conclusion to build on. 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 Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and local archives. 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.
Starting here, in order
A single record can be wrong on a detail, so a match needs more than one agreement, and a disagreement needs a note, not a deletion. Check the filters in the order the record itself uses them: the catalogue structure, not your own curiosity, decides what a search can find.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the person first: name, number, service and dates. |
| 2 | Fix the unit or ship, where the record allows it. |
| 3 | Open the record for those dates only, and note the reference. |
| 4 | Add dated facts only to the timeline, each with its source note. |
The organisation behind these records
Read the file backwards as well as forwards. A later sheet often explains an earlier entry that looked, at first reading, like an error. A word that looks familiar may have meant something narrower, or something entirely different, when the record was written.
When is a match safe to use?
Change one filter at a time, spelling, initials, number, unit or date range, and keep a note of which combinations you have already tried. Do not confuse a record that is hard to find with a record that does not exist. Difficulty is a property of the search, not of the record.
Where do you go next in this section?
A useful discipline is to state the next step as a record, a reference, and a question, in one sentence, before you leave this guide. Keep the person, the number and the dates together as you move to the next record, and re-check them on arrival. Filters drift when they are carried in memory. The record set will not hurry for you, and you should not hurry for it. Slow, referenced work is the only kind that survives checking.
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.