Did your ancestor serve during the First World War? The rolls of honour and nominal rolls in this collection cover regional specific rolls, places of work, places of study and various regiments. Not all of the men who appear in these rolls made the supreme sacrifice, but some did, and you may also find a photo of your ancestor. Some individuals may appear in more than one roll.
Did your ancestor serve during the First World War? The rolls of honour and nominal rolls in this collection cover regional specific rolls, places of work, places of study and various regiments. Not all of the men who appear in these rolls made the supreme sacrifice, but some did, and you may also find a photo of your ancestor. Some individuals may appear in more than one roll.
You will find the following rolls of honour in this collection:
Expect to find the following information about your ancestor
There are over 310,000 records in this collection and for some men you may also find a photograph. The Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour, for instance, is a roll of the original members of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment. These battalions were respectively known as the 1st to 8th Manchester Pals, or the 1st City Battalion, 2nd City Battalion, 3rd City Battalion etc.
In late 1914 or early 1915 the men were grouped by platoon and then photographed. Every man in the photograph was named and it has been a constant source of frustration to researcher ever since that the order of the names does not tally with the order in which the men are standing. So you may be able to identify which photograph your ancestor appears in – but you may not necessarily be able to pick him out.
Nevertheless, this is a superb resource which gives great detail down to platoon level, of where a soldier served. There were four companies in a battalion – designated as A, B, C and D Company - and four platoons to a company – designated by roman numerals. Platoon no I was the first platoon in A Company, while platoon number XVI was the last platoon in D Company. Using this logic, if you know your ancestor’s platoon, it is possible to work out which company he must have served with. Platoon V would, for instance, belong to B Company.
Most of the men in these Manchester photos are wearing uniform, but some are in civilian clothes, their uniforms not having arrived. Many of these men would also have worked for local Manchester firms and you may also find them in the Manchester Employers’ Roll of Honour which also forms part of this larger collection.
Also included in this collection are rolls of honour from universities and public schools, trades unions and county, city and town rolls. One roll focuses purely on all those men from Leicestershire and Rutland who made the supreme sacrifice.