A GROUP PHOTOGRAPH - BEFORE, NOW, AND IN-BETWEEN
The Group Photograph

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SOURCES & LINKS

This list gives an idea of the research that I have already undertaken - if any kind soul can suggest any further avenues for me to explore, I would be very grateful. Equally, this list is also produced in the hope that others will learn from my experience and if you would like further details of anything listed here, please just let me know. Included are links to the most useful or interesting websites that I have come across.

The various sections of this list are:

  1. The Starting Point
  2. Colin Fox's Royal Berkshire Regiment Research Group
  3. Archives
  4. Visits to the Battlefields and Training Areas
  5. Genealogy
  6. First World War History
  7. Detective Aids
  8. Website Development, Promotion & Searching
  9. Miscellaneous

  1. THE STARTING POINT

    2. My task would have been immeasurably harder without the work of Norman Holding as detailed in his books ‘World War I Army Ancestry’ and ‘More sources of World War I Army Ancestry’ . They have been essential to getting this project off the ground.

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  2. COLIN FOX'S ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT RESEARCH GROUP

    3. At about the same time as I started my project, Colin Fox had the idea to get a group of people together to research into the Kitchener battalions of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He advertised for people to join the resulting evening class based in the Extra-Mural Studies Department of Reading University where he was a lecturer. Such was the group's enthusiasm and considerable success in finding relevant material that they decided to produced a series of books which became: 'Responding to the Call' (covering 1914 and 1915), 'On the Somme' (covering 1916), 'Arras to Cambrai' (covering 1917), and 'Their Duty Done' (covering 1918) - copies of which can be ordered from the Department of Arts and Humanities in Education, University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Earley, Reading, RG6 1HY.

    It was fairly early on in both our projects that we first made contact and this proved to be of much mutual benefit. I would particularly like to express my thanks to this group without whom my project would be still getting going. I'm particularly indebted to Colin Fox's kindness and enthusiasm - sadly he died early in 2000 without seeing the final results of my research that he had taken a keen interest in. The group continues to research the Royal Berkshire Regiment and are currently starting to put together a book about the 1st Battalion in the First World War. Any queries or information about any aspect of the Royal Berkshire Regiment in the First World War should be directed to:

    • John Chapman - he's got a database with information on over 32,000 names of men who served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment in the Great War.


    • Mac McIntyre - he's currently researching all the DCM winners of the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

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  3. ARCHIVES

    4. The following is a list of the archives that I have made use of, along with the resources that I have found of particular assistance:

    • PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AT KEW
      (Their website is a mine of search aids and useful information - just a continuation of their excellent service. The PRO is a model for how archives should be run - helpful, always looking at ways to improve their service, creating the right balance between enabling access to their holdings and ensuring the security/preservation of the documents).
      • War diaries
      • Personal Army Service Records
      • The London Gazette
      • The Army List
      • Medal Rolls
      • 'The Roll of Honour' edited by Marquis of Ruvigny

    • THE WARDROBE - MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL GLOUCESTERSHIRE BERKSHIRE AND WILTSHIRE REGIMENT AT SALISBURY
      • War diaries
      • Miscellaneous photographs, memoirs, and records

    • LOCAL PUBLIC LIBRARY
      • 'Who’s Who'
      • 'Who Was Who'
      • Debrett’s 'People of Today'
      • Telephone Directories (including BT's Phonedisk)
      • Indexes of Births, Deaths, & Marriages on microfiche

    • GUILDHALL LIBRARY, LONDON
      • ‘Crockfords Clerical Directory’ through the years
      • ‘The Medical Directory’ through the years

    • BRITISH LIBRARY
      • 'The OTC roll - a roll of members and ex-members of the Officers' Training Corps gazetted to commissions in the army, August 1914 to March 1915'
      • Various school registers and rolls of honour
      • You can search the database of their holdings on their website, but be warned that they are not exactly carefree about giving out reader's tickets to use the library.
      • Now also includes the Oriental and India Office Collection including:
        • The Indian Army List
        • Indian Army Service Records

    • COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION
      • Including visits to many cemeteries and noting entries in the registers (before they became available on their website!)

      • Their website now includes the Debt of Honour register, a database giving basic information about all those who died in the war.

    • BRITISH TELECOM ARCHIVES
      • located near Holborn tube station. You need to book a time if you want to be able to look through their extensive collection of old phone directories.

    • READING LOCAL STUDIES LIBRARY
      • Local newspapers including ‘The Reading Mercury’
      • Berkshire & the War
      • Local directories and Electoral Registers
      • ‘Huntley & Palmers of Reading 1822-1972’ book

    • IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
      • Search of the Department of Documents
      • ‘The Confessions of a Private’ by Frank Gray (ex-8th Royal Berks Regt)
      • National Inventory of War Memorials database and files (for further information, email Nick Hewitt who is co-ordinating this mammoth project)
      • 'Officers Died in the Great War'
      • 'The Sword of Sacrifice'
      • Regimental History of the Royal Berkshire Regiment
      • The Official History of the Great War

    • FAMILY RECORDS CENTRE , LONDON
      • Registers of Births, Marriages, and Deaths (and Certificates)
      • Electoral Rolls

    • PROBATE REGISTRY
      [used to be at Somerset House, now at junction of High Holborn and Brownlow Street]
      • Wills Registers (and copies of wills)

    • INNS OF COURT & CITY YEOMANRY MUSEUM
      • Archive relating to Inns of Court OTC

    • NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM
      • Register of Officers’ Effects

    • NEWSPAPER LIBRARY AT COLINDALE
      • National and local newspapers

    • READING SCHOOL ARCHIVES
      • I have been in correspondence with Kerr Kirkwood, Hon. Sec. of the Old Redingensians Association

    • LIDDLE ARCHIVE
      • Peter Liddle has made a search of his Archive at Leeds University for material relating to the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

    • COUNTY RECORD OFFICES FOR BERKSHIRE, SURREY, AND GREATER LONDON


    • VARIOUS LOCAL STUDIES LIBRARIES


    • NUMEROUS LOCAL CEMETERIES IN ENGLAND
      • If you find the right cemetery, the inscriptions on the gravestones are an archive in themselves (and can save much trawling through registers and indexes).

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  4. VISITS TO THE BATTLEFIELDS AND TRAINING AREAS

    5. I have visited:

    • THE BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE AND BELGIUM twice, accompanied by the books:
      • ‘Before Endeavours Fade’ by Rose Coombs
      • ‘Battlefields of the First World War - A Traveller’s Guide’ by Tonie and Valmai Holt

    • THE SITES OF GREAT WAR ARMY CAMPS ON SALISBURY PLAIN , particularly at Codford and Sandhill (near Sutton Veny), assisted by:
      • local historians
      • correspondence with Terry Crawford, who has a lot of information about the camps
      • the book ‘Plain Soldiering’ by NDG James - a history of the military use of Salisbury Plain.
      • you can get an idea of what this area would have looked like from The Fuller Collection of Old Photographs from Salisbury Plain

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  5. GENEALOGY

    6. This bit is split into the following sections:

    • BOOKS & MAGAZINES
      There are numerous books to get you started in genealogy. The one I started with was 'First Steps in Family History' by Eve McLaughlin. ' Family Tree Magazine ' often has articles that are informative and food for thought.


    • SOFTWARE
      Despite the fact that the recent explosion in interest in genealogy has been going for a good few years now, it is only now that there is a genealogy program that I can recommend without reservation. In the past, some were good in one particular area, but none were good in all areas. They seemed to be designed either by software engineers who do not have an understanding of what genealogists might want to do (i.e. they are quick and easy to use but lack functionality and flexibility), or by genealogists who do not have the skills to fully implement their ideas with a good standardised user interface and speedy operation.

      Anyway, I have tried a few packages, and the one that I have been using is The Master Genealogist (TMG) for Windows (see www.whollygenes.com). It is excellent with respect to comprehensive data entry and source documentation, as well as having flexibility in customising how the data is handled and how reports are generated. Steady improvements have been made over the years - charting was much improved in v4.0, and now at last the interface has become a joy to use in v5.0. If you are serious about genealogy, I would say that TMG is the program to use.

      That said, if you want more information on selecting software and you're wanting to buy software in the UK, my advice would be to go to S & N Genealogy . Their specialist knowledge means that they can offer good advice as to which software will suit your needs and, importantly, they also provide support for their customers. I have always found them helpful and efficient - their website has a guide to the genealogy software currently available.


    • NEWSGROUPS
      In many newsgroups, there appear to be resident experts who search for queries within their topic area and seem to spend an enormous amount of time and effort coming up with answers and suggestions. Particularly relevant ones are:
      • soc.genealogy.britain
      • soc.genealogy.ireland
      • soc.genealogy.surnames.global
      • soc.genealogy.computing

    • WEBSITES
      There are many genealogy sites on the web. Here is a selection of ones that will give you a good lead in (although I must say that I have not as yet explored their full potential):


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  6. FIRST WORLD WAR HISTORY

    7. This bit is split into the following sections:

    • BOOKS

      • Some of the best and most informative of my background reading about the Great War has been:
      • ‘The War the Infantry Knew’ by Captain J.C. Dunn
      • ‘The Donkeys’ by Alan Clark
      • ‘Facing Armageddon’ , a collection of papers edited by Hugh Cecil and Peter Liddle
      • ‘1914’ , ‘1915 - The Death of Innocence’ , ‘Somme’ , ‘They Called It Passchendaele’ , and ‘The Roses of No Man’s Land’ by Lyn Macdonald
      • ‘The First Day on the Somme’ by Martin Middlebrook
      • ‘The Missing of the Somme’ by Geoff Dyer
      • ‘The Great War and Modern Memory’ by Paul Fussell
      • ‘Death’s Men - Soldiers of the Great War’ by Denis Winter
      • 'Britain & the Great War 1914-1918' by John Bourne
      • ‘The Old Lie: The Great War and the Public School Ethos’ by Peter Parker
      • 'Testament of Youth' by Vera Brittain
      • 'Poems of the First World War - Never Such Innocence' , an anthology edited by Martin Stephen.


    • WESTERN FRONT ASSOCIATION

      • As a member of the Western Front Association , I received their magazines ‘Stand-To’ and ‘The Bulletin’ .

    • MAILING LIST

      • wwi-l mailing list (see their FAQ for details)


    • WEBSITES WITH ORIGINAL CONTENT

      • I rate these two sites as by far the best that I have seen in terms of showing the consequences of the War for individual people - they are full of original material and are really worth studying:



    • RESEARCH HUBS & LISTS OF FIRST WORLD WAR LINKS

      • These should get you to most First World War information resources on the Web:


      For details about the Regiments of the British Army (covering all times, not just the First World War) see www.regiments.org


    • FIRST WORLD WAR PHOTOGRAPHS




    • ORDERS AND MEDALS RESEARCH




    • OTHER INDIVIDUAL FIRST WORLD WAR PROJECTS


      • Julian French 's very personal journey to discover about his great-grandfather, who was killed on 25th September 1915 whilst serving with the 2nd Royal Berkshires (interestingly the same day and the same regiment as are significant to my project, but a different battalion and a different battle).


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  7. DETECTIVE AIDS:



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  8. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT, PROMOTION, & SEARCHING

    9. The following sites were helpful for putting together this website and ensuring that I tweaked it in the right places:

    The colourful little item below is just the business for submitting your website's URL to the Top Ten Search Engines - much quicker than visiting all the individual search engines (and the search engines seem to index them in a shorter time when you use this):

    Free Top Ten Search Engine Submission!

    Excite What-u-Seek WebCrawler NetFind Lycos
    InfoSeek Alta Vista Hot Bot Goto Northern Light
    Site Title URL
    Name Email
    Click here for Free Advertising

    		Find out how to insert this at your website!


    I use Google for searching.

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  9. MISCELLANEOUS

    • The Centre for Life Stories Preservation is a great idea, and their site is full of links to many personal memoirs, accounts, and anecdotes.


    • I have just read 'The Art of Pilgrimage' by Phil Cousineau and it struck many chords with me - this project seems to me to be an act of pilgrimage.


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