Sources of Information

The sources of information used for this research are as follows...

  1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Commission's on-line database or "Debt of Honour Register" details 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars and 67,000 Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action in the Second World War. Details of 23,000 cemeteries, memorials and other locations worldwide are also included.CWGC web-site
  2. Surrey History Centre, Woking. My project would not have been possible without the archives and resources of the Surrey History Centre. Their copy of the Guildford Memorial, Roll-of-Honour, by Edwin Smith gave me an excellent head-start. The microfilms of the Surrey Advertiser enabled me to fill in the detail of the men and the 1901 Census Records and 1916-1918 Street Directories were invaluable. Surrey History Centre web-page
  3. The National Archives.The National Archives at Kew was called the Public Record Office when my project started. The records here include Army and Navy service records, medal rolls and reference books and maps. More and more of these records are being made available on-line. National Arcives web-site.
  4. Ancestry.co.uk. This family history web-site offers an excellent range of on-line Military records, many produced in association with the National Archives. The Medal Roll Index, Army Service Records and Soldiers-Died-in-the-Great-War databases are all here. The Ancestry site also provides access to all the UK Censuses upto and including 1901.www.ancestry.co.uk
  5. Queen's Royal Surrey Regimental Museum, Clandon. The regimental collection of historic documents, war diaries, books and photograph albums has now been transferred to the Surrey History Centre. The museum staff gave me great encouragement and cups of tea! They also kept producing books and documents I did not know existed. The regimental website is very good and covers much historical material.The Queen's Regiment web-site.
  6. The Long, Long Trail-The British Army of 1914-1918 - for family historians. A fantastic web-site covering much useful material and especially useful for tracing battalion movements. www.1914-1918.net
    7. The number of books written about the First World War, especially in recent times, is mind-boggling. Many are magificently researched and very well written. Unfortunately, it is not possible to list all of those I have read or consulted. However some deserve special mention.
  7. A Military Atlas of the First World War by Arthur Banks (Pen and Sword Books Ltd Reprinted 2001). One of the best books about the War and covers many theatres of war that others ignore. Yes, the war was not just about Passchendaele and the Somme.
  8. Your Country Needs You by Martin Middlebrook (Pen and Sword Books Ltd. 2000). Not only provides a brief history of each infantry division but explains the expansion, organisation and mobilisation of the British infantry from 1914 to 1918.
  9. The Western Front by Richard Holmes (BBC Books 1999)clear and concise exlanation of why the Western front came about, how it was maintained and what eventually broke it. Answered many of the questions I had and answered a few I had not even thought of.