Your Military Ancestors (224)
Just about everyone with British or Irish roots can find a soldier or sailor on their family tree. As a result, military records are some of the most used by genealogists. In addition, there are many sources which can provide background to flesh out your ancestor's forces service.
This course guides students through sources at The National Archives, at local archives and military museums, and an increasing number of online resources. In particular we will consider the service records for both officers and other ranks that can provide vital genealogical facts and a wealth of helpful detail that can take your research back into the 18th century and help reveal the life of your military ancestors.
The lessons cover what records exist, how to combine records to best effect, and what you can expect to discover about your military ancestors.
Reading List:
Students often ask us for recommended reading for their courses, that they can look at before the course starts. Here is a suggested book list for this course.
Please note: Teaching of this course will be taken over by Jane Hough, when Simon Fowler retires at the end of 2026.
Lesson Headings:
- British Army pre-1914
- Royal Navy pre-1914
- The two World Wars
- Online resources
Relevant countries: Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales
What to expect:
Each lesson includes lesson notes, activities and forum exercises for students to complete during the week and a one-hour live tutorial (text chat or Zoom) with the tutor and the rest of the class. Times for the tutorials are set at the beginning of each course by the tutor.
This is an assessed course. The length of the course given is the number of teaching weeks but students should also allow time in the couple of weeks after the course ends to complete assignments.
Students said:
"Course content good and well explained."
- Tutor: Simon Fowler
- Length: 4 weeks
- Start date: Mon 2 Nov 2026
- Start date: Mon 7 Jun 2027
- Start date: Mon 8 Nov 2027