On Wed, 14 Feb 2001 20:33:26 +1000, you wrote: >Hello Everyone, > Could one of our military experts advise if knowing a person was in the Royal Artillery during the 1870's >to about 1891 would be enough to obtain a copy of the personnel/service records from the PRO at all? > >The person we are looking for is John Walter SHIRLEY who was a corporal and he managed to dodge the 1881 census and then was not at >home in the 1891 census at Saltash, Cornwall where his family lived. > >We need to find the army records as we have been unable to find the marriage in the GRO indexes under any variation of the name for >himself or his wife. We need to find either the marriage certificate or obtain the amry records to find out who the parents were for >these two. > >Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, as I am fast running out of ideas. > >Regards >Roger Shirley >Cairns, Australia Hi Roger Firstly lets make it clear that I'm not a military expert and I hope someone will correct me, but this doesn't sound to me to be a purely military question? As it sounds as though you really want the service documents so that you can find details of his marriage and his parents: perhaps you should first of all explore the series of GRO fiche in respect of Births, Marriages and Deaths for H.M. Forces, unless you've already been this avenue: these relate to births, marriages and deaths among members of H.M. Forces and certain other persons working for or attached to H.M. Forces. Entries in the Army Registers appear to date primarily from 1881, although some records are known to go back as far as 1761. May or may not include you man, but if he's not in the regular GRO fiche it may be worth a try. I understand that these are available at the Family Records Centre at: 1 Myddelton Street London EC1R 1UW see: http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/contact.htm I don't know anywhere else that has a copy of these records and can find no trace of the LDS holding them? Perhaps someone else may know? I would have thought that a set of these fiche might have reached your part of the World by now? Perhaps the FRC may know? On to things Army: The chances of finding information that has been archived at the PRO depends in part on the length of the soldier's service. If he completed pensionable service or otherwise gained a pension the chances are usually far higher and from the dates you supply it would appear that he may well have completed pensionable service. The Army: Soldiers' Pensions, 1702-1913 Military Records Information Leaflet No 6 which can be found at: http://www.pro.gov.uk/leaflets/ri2006.htm explains where to find the information. Royal Artillery pensions come under WO 116/125-185, but if he isn't included in these then WO 97 is the main series of records for long service soldiers and survive for most men discharged between 1882-1913. documents are listed alphabetically for all soldiers who completed an Army career, and not just those discharged to pension. They are said to contain a wonderful supply of information about the soldier and his career. But what information they would provide that would help you regarding his Next of Kin, I'm not sure: I would guess that his parents details would have been removed or erased once he married and changed his next of kin, but I could be wrong? Can anyone with experience here advise? Unless you're planning a holiday over here you would need to employ a researcher so see: http://www.pro.gov.uk/readers/independent.htm for details. Best of luck in your research Roger and would love to know how it pans out? Regards Paul Portland