United Kingdom, World War 1 Service Records, 1914-1920

As this year marks the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of World War 1, a lot of well deserved attention is being given to those who served. This has also led to more and more records becoming available. As part of this, FamilySearch has just added a wonderful new collection, United Kingdom, World War 1 Service Records, 1914-1920.
This collection is a little unique in that even though it has been added to FamilySearch, the custodian of the record, The National Archives in London, has restricted the use of the images to only include the Family History Centers and the main Family History Library in Salt lake City. To locate the closest Family History Center to where you live, visit the link below;

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This collection, which contains the records of W.O.  363 and W.O. 364 contains over 43.5 million images. However, its very important to remember that many of the soldiers had multiple records so the number of people covered is far smaller. The collection is not name search able however it is alphabetical by surname.

The records do provide some very good information on the soldiers. In the case of Jack Gluckstein, there are about 20 pages of documents. Some examples of the type of information in those is shown below.

 

 From his records we now know where he was born, the name of his father, his current address, and his age at enlistment, which when subtracted from the date of enlistment will give us his birth date.

If your ancestry is from the British Isles, this is a very important database for you. If you are attending the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) conference later this month in Salt lake City, who will be able to visit the library and review these documents.

United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933

Another collection of records helpful to those looking for their Jewish ancestors has arrived at www.familysearch.org. The collection, the United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933, has been added to the Historical Collections. While it is not large at this point, only about 42,000 records, it does include the images, which have been provided by www.findmypast.co.uk.
The collection is name searchable and very easy to use. The search page (shown below), as with all the Historical Collections allows the researcher to search by various pieces of information.

The images for the collection are very clear and easy to decipher. The records below are examples of a birth record and a death record. Included on both are the names, dates of the events and the ship name.

While small now, this collection could add valuable assistance for those whose families travelled from country to country by ship. This collection could provide the information needed to fill in those missing records.