Family Tree & Military Records

kaggi

I am working on a family tree as a gift and have come across someone who I think may have died in the first world war (I have only been told they died young) as they were about that age and there is no death record at all for them in Scotland. I can only see subscription services that seem quite expensive for me to check a record that may or may not be there for someone who may or may not be my husbands great Uncle. But, my curiosity is piqued so does anyone know of a way I can easily find information on deaths during WW1 that is free or reasonably cheap?

Mojisola

Have you tried a Commonwealth War Graves search?
https://www.cwgc.org

kaggi

I hadn’t even thought of that, thanks so much as it’s an amazing site so I’m working my way through it all now.

sammy_kaye18

I think you can use a site called war record search or forces records and I know when I went on there I put in my great grandfathers details and I have managed to find his military number. 
Then I went on to gov.org? (you know the government page) and there are forms on there you can download and send off to claim back their military records. You may get limited information but if you have the next of kin available and they fill out the required section then you will get more in depth information. 
I know because I am trying to trace my great grandfathers military records at the minute and have sent the forms off . Forgot to say there is a £30 fee for administration etc and it does take a few months to come back - mine were sent in June and Im still waiting. But eventually I hope to be able to get replicas of the medals my great grandfather had so I can give them as a gift to my father as he is the only one in the family who followed the military line and another of his cousins got hold of my great grandfathers original medals and pawned them!  

Mojisola

sammy_kaye18 said:

I think you can use a site called war record search or forces records

I would be wary of that site - they have a reputation for taking money without authorisation after people have tried to leave them.
Check the online reviews.

gwynlas

Does your local library offer access to Ancestry.co.uk? Ours extended this to home access  because of covid. 

TonyMMM

sammy_kaye18 said:

I think you can use a site called war record search or forces records and I know when I went on there I put in my great grandfathers details and I have managed to find his military number. 
Then I went on to gov.org? (you know the government page) and there are forms on there you can download and send off to claim back their military records. You may get limited information but if you have the next of kin available and they fill out the required section then you will get more in depth information. 
I know because I am trying to trace my great grandfathers military records at the minute and have sent the forms off . Forgot to say there is a £30 fee for administration etc and it does take a few months to come back - mine were sent in June and Im still waiting. But eventually I hope to be able to get replicas of the medals my great grandfather had so I can give them as a gift to my father as he is the only one in the family who followed the military line and another of his cousins got hold of my great grandfathers original medals and pawned them!  

The Ministry of Defence ( https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records#service-records-of-deceased-service-personnel ) only hold records for those who were still serving from 1922 onwards, so have no WW1 information, unless the person continued in service.
Currently, due to lockdown, they have a huge backlog of unopened applications, and are predicting  it will be many months, and maybe up to a year to clear the applications they already have.

WW1 records (and earlier) where they survive are with the National Archives and available on-line through Ancestry/FindMyPast and other sites.

VintageHistorian

Ancestry tend to do a free weekend for WW1 records around the time of Armistice Day. If you sign up for a free account they'll email you when they have a promotional/free weekend for specific record collections and then you can take a look while the offer is on.