Chelsea Pensioners Records @ FMP

[Pandabean]

Apologies if this has been posted, I got this e-mail yesterday about the Chelsea Pensioners records going online.

Findmypast.co.uk is thrilled to announce the launch of the most exciting record set since the 1911 census, Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913.
We are sure this collection will enhance your ability to find out about your family history and may enable you to break down some research brick walls.

Why the Chelsea Pensioners records are so useful

The records offer a wealth of detail such as next of kin, profession, physical appearance, some medical information and service history. Each record has at least four images and many have more than six.
The whole collection is vast. It comprises over 9 million full colour images of the service records of soldiers in the British Army in receipt of a pension administered by The Royal Hospital Chelsea, and who were discharged between the dates 1760 and 1913. We have launched the first tranche and we’ll be adding more data on a regular basis over the coming eighteen months.

Many of the soldiers listed may have served in some of Britain's most significant wars, including the Battle of Waterloo (1815), the Crimean (1853-1856) and both Boer Wars (1899-1902). Many citizens were in the army during this period and it is highly possible that your ancestors are included in these records. Find out more about army life during the period.

Many Irish and colonial soldiers served in the British Army in the period so you could find information on relatives you can't find elsewhere.

The collection comprises records of ordinary soldiers, rather than the officer class, so provides a detailed record of the thousands of ordinary soldiers serving at this time.
You can find out about what your ancestors actually looked like. There are detailed descriptions of their physique including any distinguishing features like tattoos or scars.

Current Schedule:

Date range Approx no. of records Approx no. of images When available
WO97 1883-1900 252,000 1.8 million Now
WO97 1901-1913 303,000 2.1 million By May 2010
WO97 1873-1882 64,000 400,000 By June 2010
WO97 1855-1872 65,000 400,000 By July 2010
WO97 1760-1854 184,000 1.2 million By April 2011
WO96 1806-1915 500,000 3.5 million By Nov 2011

[Currie]

That’s great news Andy, especially for those who can’t make the trip to Kew. I have only the one Chelsea Pensioner. My Great Grandfather wrote about him:

“Another sister of my dear Mother was Margaret, the youngest. She married a soldier of the name of Robt. Hughes. He had a pension and they went to America in 1832 from Llangybi. When I was there in August 83, I saw a house where I used to call to see my Aunt when I was a very little boy.”

There doesn’t appear to be anything for him yet. Hopefully, if his record has survived, I’ll be able to find it later.

Great Grandfather hasn’t been wrong yet. I found a report of Margaret’s death in an 1849 American Welsh language publication. She died at York Mills, in N.Y. State, aged 60, and her husband appears to have been still alive then. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ddk ... 22&f=false

All the best,
Alan

[Pandabean]

Hi Alan,

Already got my first hit, one of my ancestor's brothers served and luckily a cousin passed the records onto me after an e-mail. They make good reading and interesting seeing or rather trying to imagine what they looked like.

I read on the NA that the Attestion Papers are currently being digitised (WO 96), which I hope may help as well - Nov 2011 according to FMP. From reading the FMP site it looks like anyone who served the full 12 years will be in the archives currently being uploaded. Looks like you may have about a years wait Alan.

It is definately a great thing that these archives are now being uploaded to the web, and definately great for those that can't get to Kew.

Best Regards,
Andy

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,
I'm impressed you were able to read and understand that report of Margaret's death =D>

Looks like the one Chelsea Pensioner that I have found so far is also due to come out in April 2011. Must be patient...

Regards,
Sarah

[Currie]

Hello Sarah,

A couple of years ago I ran it through an online translator, which didn’t help all that much, and then attacked it with a Welsh – English dictionary. The result wasn’t too bad . I tried the Google translator recently and that was much better and I think I’ve got it close to what it is supposed to be.

I have rather a lot of old Welsh language material and many bits and pieces are just too difficult for the online translator and I'll have to sort them out the hard way.

All the best,
Alan

[ninatoo]

I use Firefox. I just tried to view a document there and it wasn't compatible. No 'plug-in available'. I downloaded it to my computer - no luck there, Windows has no idea what sort of file it is. I switched to Internet Explorer and with all the mucking about it chewed up my credits and I still haven't seen anything. I wrote to complain.

I knew there was a reason I hardly ever go to that site.

[Currie]

Hello Nina,

I’ve had a few situations like that but haven’t tried FMP. What you may have there is an image file with no file extension or the wrong one. It may be a jpg. If you have Irfanview try right clicking the item and send to Irfanview. Alternatively you could start Irfanview and try opening the file from there. If it is a jpg Irfanview should normally change the file extension for you. If you don’t have Irfanview, and it’s very useful for many things, you can download it here http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/IrfanView/irfan.html

You could even just change the file extension to .jpg manually without using Irfanview. First right click the downloaded file and click copy. Then right click an empty space in the folder and click paste. That’ll give you a copy of the file to play around with. Instructions for changing file extensions are here http://www.mediacollege.com/microsoft/w ... hange.html

See if that works,
Alan

[LesleyB]

Just me having a grump..

I knew there was a reason I hardly ever go to that site.

I often see records in the indexes there that I might like to view, and I used to buy credits from time to time to view particular records, but the info you need to give has changed and last time I was asked for my telephone number which is ex-directory. I very much objected to having to give my telephone number to them just so that I can buy credits, given that they already have my name, my home address, postcode, credit card number, securty code, expiry date & etc...more than enough info to process the payment and get their money! I did write to them to ask if there was any way credits might be purchased without giving that info, but they replied...

Unfortunately the telephone field is a mandatory field that needs to be completed.

If you do not wish to give out your telephone number then you can fill this field in with any alternate number as we do not use this number for any security checks.

So, if you can fill it with any daft number what exactly is the point?? I do not understand why they need it. Steering well clear until they stop asking irrelevant personal questions!


Best wishes
Lesley

[ninatoo]

Thanks Alan, for that advice. I had already found a little thing that converts djvu files to pdf's and had used that....

I have used bogus phone numbers before Lesley....I have my number on the "Do Not Call" register here, so I am blowed if I am going to give it out willy nilly!

Nina

[Pandabean]

All it appears there has been an update as well as a change in the schedule.

Date range Approx no. of records Approx no. of images When available
WO97 1873-1882 97,515 540,423 Now
WO97 1883-1900 312,909 2,218,606 Now
WO97 1855-1872 65,000 400,000 By June 2010
WO97 1760-1854 184,000 1.2 million By July 2010
WO97 1901-1913 303,000 2.1 million By August 2010
WO96 1806-1915 500,000 3.5 million By Sept 2011

Enjoy