Ancestors in the Army

Researching British Army ancestors? Then you’ll love our new ‘military kit bag’ series by expert Simon Fowler, which kicks off in the May issue of Family Tree.

Simon, a leading professional history researcher and writer who worked at The National Archives at Kew for many years, will kit you out with everything you need to know for researching your British Army ancestors in his excellent new series. In part 1 he explains how you can use operational records to find out what your ancestors actually did in the Army. While service records will tell you which units your soldier was posted to and the basic details of his Army career, they don’t tell you about his actual experiences of life in the military. Simon reveals what operational records can help – from war diaries to histories – and where you might find them.

We also have a great competition this issue to win copies of Simon’s latest books, Tracing Your First World War Ancestors and Tracing Your Army Ancestors 2nd Edition (both Pen & Sword, 2013) – see pages 26 and 27 of the magazine.

In our June issue, on sale 17 May, Simon will be covering alternatives to service records – another one not to be missed!

Read Simon’s expert article in the May issue of Family Tree, out now in WH Smiths, leading supermarkets and all good newsagents, or you can download our latest issue as a digital edition right now – visit www.pocketmags.com, the App Store, Google Play or Amazon Appstore. Single issues, back issues and subscriptions are available for PC, Mac, eReaders, smartphones and tablets. A free sample is also available for all devices.