Yorkshire Day is drawing to a close at findmypast.co.uk, but we’ve got one more example to show you. So far, we’ve looked at the family history of a modern-day celebrity and found the unknown family of the Brontë sisters. Now it’s time to take a look at the life of an everyday hero, in the shape of John William Mansfield.

We found John William Mansfield’s incredibly detailed record in our Militia Service Records. At 30 pages long, it’s the largest record we’ve found in the collection so far.

Mansfield attested to the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1882 and saw regular service with the British Army until he was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1890. He later signed up with the Royal Eastern Reserve and finally the Royal Garrison Regiment, serving for a total of 15 years.

The service record provides us with a lot of detailed information about John William Mansfield and his life, much more than you could find out through other records such as censuses. This is just a selection of what Mansfield’s record reveals:

Mansfield’s life

• Born: Parish of Southcoates, near the town of Hull, Yorkshire
• Trade: Farm Servant
• Father: John Mansfield of 1 Beeton Street, Holderness Road, Hull
• Wife: Married Annie Elizabeth McNamara in Sculcoates, Yorkshire on 28th May 1892.
• Children: Beatrice, Elizabeth, Edith, Millicent and James

A portion of Mansfield's service record - please click to enlarge

Description

• Height: 5 feet 6 3/8 inches
• Weight: 139 lbs
• Chest: 35 inches
• Complexion: Fresh
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Reddish
• Tattoos: Tombstone and two figures on front of chest, girl with open fan on right forearm, J.W.M. on left forearm
• Church of England
• Conduct: Efficient and active, very good

Medical history while serving

• Boils (9 days)
• Balanitis (4 days)
• Ague (17 days)
• Warts (8 days)
• Gonorrhoea (36 days)
• Malaria fever (7 days)
• Rheumatism (15 days)
• Sprained ankle (8 days)

Discipline while serving

• Absent without leave in 1883 – 36 days imprisonment
• Drunk on duty in 1889 – demoted from Corporal to Private
• Drunk on duty in 1902 – 42 days imprisonment with Hard Labour and fined £1.

A portion of Mansfield's service record - please click to enlarge

Have you found a more detailed record in the Militia Service Records? Let us know if you have!

We are very proud to announce the launch of four sets of nineteenth and twentieth century military records to help enrich your family history. The records provide useful detail including attestation and leaving dates, achievements made in service and soldiers’ physical appearence. And, certainly in the case of the 1861 records, the records can fill in gaps left by the census.

The releases are the 1861 Worldwide Army Index, Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905, Paddington Rifles 1860-1912 and Surrey Recuitment Registers 1908-1933.

The 1861 Worldwide Army Index (or The 1861 Worldwide Soldier Index) entailed the extraction of some 245,000 serving soldiers.

The Paddington Rifles database contains the names of over 8,600 men who served with the battalion from its inception in 1860 until its demise in 1912. It can therefore be a vital tool in providing colour to your London ancestors.

The Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905 comprises the names of close to 5000 officers and men who took part in a series of British military campaigns between 1863 and 1904.

The Surrey Recruitment Registers comprises details of approximately 85,000 men who attested for service with a variety of regiments in Surrey between 1908 and 1933.

You can also have a look through all our military records.

BT Jones asks a  question about how to search around war records that have been destroyed by fire.

“How do I find my father’s records? He was in the East Surrey Regiment in 1916. I cannot find any records because of records being lost fire. I only have hs name and regiment - on this information only is there anyway of find his record?”

Our expert, Paul Nixon, replies:

“Once the record’s gone, it’s gone, and about 60% of First World War records do not survive - this as a result of a bombing raid on London’s Docklands in 1940. However, it may be possible to tell when he enlisted by looking at his number. Visit http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com for more information on army regimental numbers.”

You can now find the complete World War I Campaign Medal Rolls for the Royal Marines on findmypast.co.uk.

The database contains the names of over 75,000 Royal Marine Officers, NCOs and other ranks, and provides a complete listing of all Royal Marines who served in WW1. Added to the transcripts of these records are service details for a large number of men, particularly those killed in action or died of wounds during WW1 and in many cases post-war deaths and WW2 deaths are noted.

The medals covered by the rolls are: the 1914 Star, the Clasp to the 1914 Star, the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Start searching for your Royal Marine ancestors today and have a look at our Royal Marine Medal Roll knowledge base page for fascinating, detailed information about these records.

In our previous newsletters we asked you to send us your experiences of researching your ancestors. Thanks to all of you who got in touch - we love reading your stories. Read on for how Pat Trewin is getting on with her family tree research:

Pat’s story:

Many years ago, when I first started my family history and was interviewing my mum’s mum (both have now passed away) Nana told me that her father had been in the British Army for about 10 years prior to being married. She was their third child, born in 1901, so I was working back from that time. Until now I had never been able to find any evidence of this, so decided to try my luck with the new listing of Chelsea Pensioners. Imagine my delight when I found him straight away, including 7 items of his service records available for downloading.

He was in the East Surrey Regiment and served 4 years in India as well as 6 years in England. Poor chap would probably be mortified to know that his descendants now know he had a large brown birthmark/mole on his penis! More interesting to me though was a notation at the end of his Statement of Service saying he was ‘convicted of a felony by the Civil Power’ and sentenced to 15 months hard labour! They provided a date of arrest and also a date when he was discharged because of the crime.

So then I set about to find what he had done - and I found that too! He was sentenced at the Old Bailey for ‘Stealing a letter containing a gold ring while working at the Post Office’. So I even have a convict in my past - of sorts. A year later he got married and a couple of years later, with the three children, they emigrated to Australia on the SS Osterley, settling in Brisbane. So it’s nice that he was able to make a fresh start. Punishment was pretty heavy though, I thought.

Many thanks to findmypast - what wonderful luck I had finding him straight away!

We have just published approximately 252,000 records of men who were pensioned out of the British Army between 1883 and 1900. We’re working in association with The National Archives and in partnership with FamilySearch on this ongoing project and when it is complete, you will be able to see around 9 million full colour images. We are scanning the records in the following order, so the next pieces to be released will be:

Whereas many other military records provide information about officer-class soldiers, these records relate to ordinary, non-officer class soldiers. This makes it more likely that you will be able to find details about your ancestors. The connection with ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the Hospital itself.

Why are these records so special?

The records provide rich detail and colour to our ancestors’ lives to a level that is difficult to find elsewhere. There are usually six or seven records per soldier, whereas an individual would only get one line in, say, a 19^th century census record. Most of the service records note all of the regiments in which a soldier served, with both start and end dates, ranks attained, and the total service rendered, again in years and days, in each rank and regiment. Service in either the East or West Indies is noted separately.

The reason for the soldier’s discharge (illness or wounds) is given, as are remarks on general conduct while in the service, and notations on height, complexion, eye and hair colour, and civilian occupation. The form is dated and signed by both the soldier and commanding officer. In the absence of photographs, these records are an essential tool in providing an insight into what your ancestors actually looked like. These records are among the most popular at The National Archives as family historians and genealogists have realised how valuable they are.

The Chelsea Pensioner Service Records are made up of servicemen from all over the British Empire. Below is a percentage break down of where the servicemen were born:

• England = 68.9%
• Ireland = 17.6%
• Scotland = 8.3%
• Wales = 2.2%
• West Indies = 0.6%
• India = 0.4%
• Sark = 0.00073%

Debra Chatfield

Our marketing manager, Debra Chatfield, said: “The Chelsea Pensioners’ British Army Service Records are a wonderful resource for family historians. Unlike many other military records, which often only provide information about officer-class soldiers, these records are of ‘ordinary’ soldiers.

These fascinating, detailed records enable you to find out so much about your soldier ancestors, even including what they looked like, long before the invention of photography. The colour images of handwritten records provide amazing insights into the lives of our military ancestors.”

Interesting characters in the records

William Milligan, Spike Milligan’s grandfather, served in the Royal Artillery. He was born in St John’s, Newfoundland, British America and was a carpenter until he joined the British Army on 2 September 1869, aged 18 years in Belfast. On joining the army they recorded his ‘vital statistics’ as follows: 5′9″ (69 inches), 34 inch chest, 126 lbs, ‘fair’ complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, Roman Catholic, pulse (regular): 76 beats, respiration: 14 inspirations, muscular development: good, distinctive marks: “Slight varicose back of left leg”.

Click to enlarge

John Henry Fry, the three day soldier - back in 1888 John Henry Fry signed up to become a soldier for the British Army in Exeter. He was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1870 and grew up to work as a labourer before he decided to sign up to the British Army.

On 25 September 1888, aged 18 years and 3 months he joined the British Army stating he would be willing to serve the British Army for 12 years and would like to serve in the Rifle Brigade. On his enlistment papers his physical description is as follows: 5′5 1/4″, 124lbs, 32 3/4 inch chest, ’sallow’ complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, and he belonged to the Church of England.

A 12 year service, however, was not to be. On 27 September 1888, aged 18 years and 3 months, after just 3 days’ service, John Henry Fry left the British Army. His character on being discharged was recorded as “Good during his three days’ service” and his cause of discharge was recorded as “In consequence of his not being likely to become an efficient soldier”.

Using other records available on findmypast.co.uk, John Henry Fry can be found to have moved to Cardiff by the time of the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

Click to enlarge

Start searching our Chelsea Pensioners Service Records now.