Hi All, I thought you might like to know that at the Who Do You Think You Are Live 2014, the Imperial War Museum announced that they have created a new project to fulfil thier founding aim of telling the story of all 8 million UK & Commonwealth Lives of the First World War. Using modern technology they have been able to create an innovative platform where they plan to enable users to help piece together the stories of the people who fought and served as well as those on the home front. They are looking for people with an interest in family history to help build these stories by contributing digital copies of material from their own families and areas of interest. You will be able to use the platform to communicate with others who have an interest and who share a community interest with your family.Did your relative play football with others in the area? Did he work at the same place as others in the area? Is he commemorated on your local war memorial? By building up a picture of each individual and by linking in other resources like war diaries, local newspaper articles, family mementos etc the site aims to create a permanent digital memorial to all 8 million individuals. You can view the video of the project to see how it works and how you will be able to build a picture of your ancestors here : http://vimeo.com/iwm/lives The site launches in May however they are asking those with an interest in family history to register an interest now to get a preview of the site before launch and an opportunity to help improve the site before launch. You can register your interest at http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/ You may wish to spread the news to other family history researchers you know who might like to get involved in the project particularly anyone who is interested in the history of their local war memorials. Regards,Alexander

I hope people will build on its purpose. There are stories there some may not yet realise. Where people are concerned there is nothing predictable. It is useful to check records systematically for gaps in a family where there may have been a birth, say about 1895. Where naming patterns have been applied and may be not yet found, there may have been a grandson in that gap, named the same as his father and grandfather. . This is my story because I actually found one I didnt know I had: My grandmother's 1st cousin, a Corporal in the London Scottish Regiment, which became 1/14th London Regiment like "Billy Boy" (in the introduction video on the site), blown to bits at Thiepval. Nothing else to find other than what I overturned Looking into it I found Father and son, same name signed up together in 1915. It would have been easy for me not to look any further having found one medal card. By that time he had an average family of children I thought, and looked for no more. His War Record revealed several more children to make 8, naming each one and his wife as his next of kin claiming the family allowance they were awarded. , Looking more closely at the records I located in Ancestry I was seeing another medal card of the same name. They weren't in the same regiment, nor the same rank, nor in the same theatre of war, and of course, they weren't the same age. It was at this point I had found another "cousin". Checking father's declaration confirmed who he was. His father lied about his age by about 10 yrs, claimed family allowance for the son who went to war, and came back bringing his medal with him. There must have been a time when the wife and mother wondered "Which one?" she had lost. I had no photographs other than those my mother and grandmother took, perhaps no camera in the family whether or not they could have bought one. I later found a photograph of my grandmother's 1st cousin on the London Regiment website. In a unique twist of fate I learned that the records I was looking at had apparently been rescued and preserved from water damage during the second war. They were in the Ministry of Pensions building where my grandmother worked during the war and after, analysing the case histories of the Polish Airmen who flew for us and so were entitled to a War Pension. I asked about the London Scottish Regiment records but have found none thus far. http://www.londonscottishregt.org/history.cfm The Regiment was formed from The Highland Armed Association of London and The Loyal North Britons raised in 1793 and 1803 as part of the country's Volunteer Forces ready to repel Napoleon's threatened invasion of England. These formations were later disbanded and it was not until after the Crimean War that the country's security seemed again to be in danger.in about 1859 and there was a strong volunteer rifle "army" in readiness. Coincidentally the formation of the London Scottish coincided with the year my second great grandfather left Scotland and married a lass in London who lived in Auchenblae, Scotland, only a few miles away from where he was born. I had a lot of information about them because my grandmother remembered going to Scotland as a child. She could now be forgiven for believing it was her grandfather who died in France when it was her 1st cousin who was born in exactly the same year as she. Janet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alexander Bisset" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2014 12:09 PM Subject: [ABERDEEN] Lives of the First World War Hi All, I thought you might like to know that at the Who Do You Think You Are Live 2014, the Imperial War Museum announced that they have created a new project to fulfil thier founding aim of telling the story of all 8 million UK & Commonwealth Lives of the First World War. Using modern technology they have been able to create an innovative platform where they plan to enable users to help piece together the stories of the people who fought and served as well as those on the home front. They are looking for people with an interest in family history to help build these stories by contributing digital copies of material from their own families and areas of interest. You will be able to use the platform to communicate with others who have an interest and who share a community interest with your family.Did your relative play football with others in the area? Did he work at the same place as others in the area? Is he commemorated on your local war memorial? By building up a picture of eac! h individual and by linking in other resources like war diaries, local newspaper articles, family mementos etc the site aims to create a permanent digital memorial to all 8 million individuals. You can view the video of the project to see how it works and how you will be able to build a picture of your ancestors here : http://vimeo.com/iwm/lives The site launches in May however they are asking those with an interest in family history to register an interest now to get a preview of the site before launch and an opportunity to help improve the site before launch. You can register your interest at http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/ You may wish to spread the news to other family history researchers you know who might like to get involved in the project particularly anyone who is interested in the history of their local war memorials. Regards,Alexander ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com