First World War records go online (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

First World War records go online

3:37am Thursday 5th November 2009

The army service records of more than two million British soldiers who served during the First World War have been published online for the first time.

Ancestry.co.uk said full military careers from 1914 to 1920 were included in the collection, stretching to an average of 16 pages per soldier, including medical data and service history.

The records include details of famous names such as Basil Rathbone, the actor who portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 14 films, and playwright Noel Coward.

Details are also revealed of a soldier who enrolled under a false name to avoid being traced by his mother, solving a family mystery that had spanned 90 years.

Ancestry.co.uk international content director Dan Jones said: "The service records will provide millions of people with information to help them better understand what their heroic ancestors were like as soldiers, including their performance in battle, their health and details of their general appearance.

"These are a welcome addition to the millions of military records available online at Ancestry.co.uk, including our ever growing collection of World War Two records."

William Spencer, military records specialist at The National Archives, added: "It is fitting that the digitisation of surviving First World War soldiers' records of service should be completed at this time. With Harry Patch's death last July, any direct living connection to these records has finally been severed and marks the passing of this significant period in British military activity into history.

"Digitising these records makes them accessible to people around the world, many of whom had ancestors who served in the "war to end all wars", and who will now be able to discover so much more about them."