Another way! After you've found your 'person' you can click on 'Medal Index Card' then 'Add facts from this Evidence'.  This will bring up a form on which all known details can be added. (You may have to register as 'friend' first ) Regards Joan ________________________________ From: Adrian Bruce <abruce@madasafish.com> To: cheshire@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, 13 May 2014, 21:46 Subject: Re: [CHS] IWM Lives of the First World War Project Taken from their Facebook site: <<snipped>> "you can add those official records for your uncle, which you have already, without having to pay again by adding them as an external reference (clicking "add an external reference" and selecting "copy of an official document"), rather than clicking "search official records" on our site." <<snipped>> I have just added a birth date to my grandfather without going near any of their records. It may be that the step that people are missing is that when you've added a source, you need to explicitly add the evidence extracted from that source. Anyway - if you want to look at what there is, search for "Jack Bruce" and choose Corporal Jack Bruce, 36844 of the RFA. You will see that there is a date of birth on there. It was not a one-step job BUT I feel the rigour that is imposed on us should help to avoid the equivalent of genealogies stretching back to Adam, or whatever the military history equivalent is. And it definitely should link all the data back to the evidence. To get his birth date on, I first went onto his page and "Added an External Reference". This was to refer to a microfilm so I chose the "Book/Publication/Archive" option. Title was: "entry for Jack Bruce, 8 January 1896; Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Earle St. (Crewe, Cheshire)" Reference was: Microfilm Copy of Baptismal Register Location Accessed: Crewe Library Description: Baptisms entry for Jack Bruce What evidence connects this to him? I checked surname, birth and family. Explanation - why I recognised it. Now you've added the source, you need to select the name of the source you just added, which brings up a pop-up window where you click "Add Facts from this evidence" to tell the system what facts the source provides: Date of Birth - as approp Mother's name - as approp Father's name - as approp And now you can see the dates have been added in under Birth, Age and Death. You do NOT update the dates etc. on the person's form, you MUST do it from the source in question. In summary: 1. Select the person; 2. Add the source as an book-type external reference; 3. Explain why you've recognised that source as belonging to your chap; 4. Select the source - Add the facts from this evidence Major thanks to Fiona Hall from Tay Valley Bridges who pointed me in the right direction. Adrian B ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Should have said that you might need to register as a MEMBER Joan ________________________________ From: JOAN ZORN <j.zorn@btinternet.com> To: "abruce@madasafish.com" <abruce@madasafish.com>; "cheshire@rootsweb.com" <cheshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, 14 May 2014, 23:00 Subject: Re: [CHS] IWM Lives of the First World War Project Another way! After you've found your 'person' you can click on 'Medal Index Card' then 'Add facts from this Evidence'.  This will bring up a form on which all known details can be added. (You may have to register as 'friend' first ) Regards Joan ________________________________ From: Adrian Bruce <abruce@madasafish.com> To: cheshire@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, 13 May 2014, 21:46 Subject: Re: [CHS] IWM Lives of the First World War Project   Taken from their Facebook site: <<snipped>> "you can add those official records for your uncle, which you have already, without having to pay again by adding them as an external reference (clicking "add an external reference" and selecting "copy of an official document"), rather than clicking "search official records" on our site." <<snipped>> I have just added a birth date to my grandfather without going near any of their records. It may be that the step that people are missing is that when you've added a source, you need to explicitly add the evidence extracted from that source. Anyway - if you want to look at what there is, search for "Jack Bruce" and choose Corporal Jack Bruce, 36844 of the RFA. You will see that there is a date of birth on there. It was not a one-step job BUT I feel the rigour that is imposed on us should help to avoid the equivalent of genealogies stretching back to Adam, or whatever the military history equivalent is. And it definitely should link all the data back to the evidence. To get his birth date on, I first went onto his page and "Added an External Reference". This was to refer to a microfilm so I chose the "Book/Publication/Archive" option. Title was: "entry for Jack Bruce, 8 January 1896; Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Earle St. (Crewe, Cheshire)" Reference was: Microfilm Copy of Baptismal Register Location Accessed: Crewe Library Description: Baptisms entry for Jack Bruce What evidence connects this to him? I checked surname, birth and family. Explanation - why I recognised it. Now you've added the source, you need to select the name of the source you just added, which brings up a pop-up window where you click "Add Facts from this evidence" to tell the system what facts the source provides: Date of Birth - as approp Mother's name - as approp Father's name - as approp And now you can see the dates have been added in under Birth, Age and Death. You do NOT update the dates etc. on the person's form, you MUST do it from the source in question. In summary: 1. Select the person; 2. Add the source as an book-type external reference; 3. Explain why you've recognised that source as belonging to your chap; 4. Select the source - Add the facts from this evidence Major thanks to Fiona Hall from Tay Valley Bridges who pointed me in the right direction. Adrian B ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

<<snipped>> Another way! After you've found your 'person' you can click on 'Medal Index Card' then 'Add facts from this Evidence'. This will bring up a form on which all known details can be added. <<snipped>> You're worrying me... When you "Add facts from this Evidence", you should only add facts that are on the Medal Index Card.... Have I misunderstood what you are proposing? Adrian

I have been following this thread with interest, particularly as it gives emphasis to my own lack of knowledge. I wonder if I might indulge the list with my own military impasse; I am seeking information on the British Army in pre-war Egypt. In particular I am seeking a soldier who was invalided home in 1934. I can find no useful information for this period on either FMP or Ancestry could SKS point me at a source for this period of time please. Barry Barry Hughes jbarry.hughes@ntlworld.com

<<snipped>> I am seeking a soldier who was invalided home in 1934. I can find no useful information for this period on either FMP or Ancestry could SKS point me at a source for this period of time please. <<snipped>> All personnel information for soldiers in service from 1920(ish) onwards is still held by the Ministry of Defence and is not on general release. Have a look at the 1920-present section of the TNA Guide on http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/britisharmysol dierafter1913.htm Note that applying to the MoD takes time, costs money and is subject to confidentiality restrictions. Especially if you have no death certificate for the person. Now - having said all that.... FindMyPast recently loaded "Royal Artillery attestations", described as "taken from enlistment books which were maintained by British Army regiments between 1883 and 1942". I am sure these specific books date from the 1920s onward, starting with all RA soldiers in service in 1920ish. The books only give about 4 lines of data per soldier, with major dates only, but given that conventional wisdom was that there was nothing outside the MoD, this is interesting. If you Google "enlistment books" or "Army Book 358" or similar, you find that several regimental museums have similar books. You might find something interesting if you know the regiment, but it'd need to be a personal visit to the museum. Adrian B