Officers are usually easier to research than the men of the "other ranks" - but this is not always the case ...

 

Q1: Did he serve after 1922?

Yes, I know he did

If the officer served after 1922, his record will not yet be public.
It should be available on application from the Veteran's Agency.

I do not know

You can find out when he was commissioned, promoted and relinquished his commission by searching for him in the London Gazette (the details from which were then usually republished in the "Times") or the Army List. The London Gazette is online and searchable; there is a set of the Army List at the National Archives and in various other libraries and archives. Once you know when his service ended, go back to the top of this page.

No, he left the army or died before 1923

Then you can follow the advice given below.

 

Q2: Was he commissioned into the regular army or the Territorial Force?

He was a Territorial officer

Records of Territorial officers are held at the National Archives in document series WO374.
They can be found by searching the National Archives Catalogue.
The records are held in the original. They are not online. It is necessary to visit the archives to see them, ask the National Archives to provide a copy or obtain professional help to do this on your behalf.

He was an officer of the regular army, Special Reserve or Reserve of Officers

The records of these officers are held at the National Archives in document series WO339.
They can be found by searching the National Archives Catalogue.
There is an index in series WO338. This has been digitised and can be downloaded from the National Archives website free of charge (but beware they are VERY large downloads).
The records are held in the original. They are not online. It is necessary to visit the archives to see them, ask the National Archives to provide a copy or obtain professional help to do this on your behalf.

The National Archives Catalogue and officers records

It is unfortunate that the National Archives Catalogue is not always terribly helpful in determining which record belongs to which officer. For example, a man may be indexed as A. Smith rather than Arthur Smith - and there are in many cases duplications: many A. Smiths. It is not possible to tell which one you need. The WO338 index (see above) can give you the officer's "long number" but this does not relate to the WO339 piece reference you need in order to obtain it. Improvement is underway and the National Archives is retrospectively adding the detail that helps distinguish each man, but completion is some way off.

An example of the changes being made to the WO339 index: note the initial/surname of the men at the top, and the much richer detail of those below.

Help ! I still do not know what type of commission he held

You can find out what type of commission he held by searching for him in the London Gazette (the details from which were then usually republished in the "Times") or the Army List. You will need to find the announcement of when he was commissioned and that will tell you. The London Gazette is online and searchable; there is a set of the Army List at the National Archives and in various other libraries and archives. Once you know what type of commission he held, go back to the top of this question.

 

Q3: did he die in the war?

You will find this article helpful in finding the details.

 

What does an officer's service record include?

The "standard" content of an officer's record

There is no standard content. The record consists of a number of different army forms, papers and correspondence and no two records are exactly alike in their content. Sadly what remains is generally only part of the man's original file. The records were thinned out in the 1930's and much was destroyed; generally the documents that remain are to do with his medical condition and money, although in this there is often much of value with regard to his postings to units. We have seen officers files of just a few pages, up to whoppers of 100 documents or more in a single file. If he was commissioned from the ranks, the chances are there will be much more detail about his time befeore being commissioned than there is of his service as an officer.

Exceptions

Sadly not all officers records have survived or are available. Men who were at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher rank are often missing. The existence or whereabouts of their records is not known. But this does not only apply to these men of high rank: in a recent study of more than 300 officers who died on a particular day in 1916 (undertaken in 2010 by fourteeneighteen|research for an Australian university), it was discovered that almost one fifth of the records do not exist: this is a fact rarely mentioned by research guides. A small number of records of notable and generally very high ranking officers can be found in National Archives series WO138.

Another exception concerns Territorial officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps, whose records appear to have been destroyed en masse.

What an officer's record will not tell you

The record will not tell you what his physical movements were (although there might be a few clues as to his location) or the battles and engagements in which he participated. You will need to reconstruct that from knowledge of the units to which he was posted. In addition it is quite unusual to find much on what happened to a man when he was at home, other than for periods in hospital.

What you can find from the Army List

Each month, the War Office published a complete listing of all officers in the Army List. The list is organised by regiment, with officers shown in order of seniority. That means that they are split by rank, going from the highest (Field Marshal) down to the lowest (Second Lieutenant). It also includes Warrant Officers Class 1, the most senior non-commissioned officers. All men at a given rank are listed in ascending order of the date at which they were promoted. Each volume has an index, so if you do not know the man's regiment you should be able to track him down. The basics of an officer's career can be recreated to a large extent from consulting the Army List.

What else can I find about an officer's service?

There are a number of other sources which can be consulted and which can add detail to that found in his service record and the Army List and London Gazette. They include

• The documents relating to campaign medals that he was awarded;
• The documents relating to mentions in despatches, gallantry and other special awards;
• The war diaries of his unit(s);
• Published regimental or unit histories are much more likely to mention officers than "other ranks";
• The Imperial War Museum, the National Army Museum, the Liddle Collection and the regimental archives all have extensive collections of documents, photographs, correspondence and other material in which an officer may be mentioned.

All I have is a photograph; how can I tell if he is an officer?

Some tips for spotting an officer in a photograph

Officers wore different uniform to the men of the "other ranks". In the photo below, there are two officers sitting amidst some NCOs and men of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Note that they are wearing collars and ties, and a uniform jacket rather than a tunic. They have "collar dog" badges on their lapels. They have a Sam Browne leather belt and shoulder strap. In most regiments, they wore a flat peaked cap. Note too the insignia on the sleeve cuff of the officer on the right. The two men are flanked by senior NCOs. Other clues include: collar and tie, boots to the knee rather than puttees, cavalry-type trousers (broad above the knee).

It can be harder to spot an officer if you are lucky enough to find a photograph of him in the trenches: he is likely to be wearing the same steel helmet as the "other ranks", perhaps rubber waders if it is flooded and he may have covered up his insignia. But long mackintosh coats, "British warm" woollen coats, riding boots and cavalry trousers (billowing out above the knee) often give the game away.