Our military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.

From Veronica Scarborough:

‘I am trying to find out where and when my grandfather joined the army. I always believed he joined while in South Africa as he was working there on the railways when WWI started but on his records it says he enlisted in Gravesend, Kent. All I know about him are the following details: his name was James Barrett, born in Highworth, Wiltshire in 1867. He was a corporal in the Wiltshire regiment and died in France in September 1915. I would also like to know where in France he was serving. Where can I find this information please?’

Paul says:

‘7073 Cpl James Barrett of the 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regt, died of wounds on 28 September 1915. He was born in Highworth, Wiltshire and was living at Gravesend, Kent when he enlisted. He joined the Wiltshire Regiment at Swindon in the second half of 1904. He arrived in France on 20 October 1914 and is buried in Chocques Military Cemetery in France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that, ‘Chocques was occupied by Commonwealth forces from the late autumn of 1914 to the end of the war. The village was at one time the headquarters of I Corps and from January 1915 to April 1918, No.1 Casualty Clearing Station was posted there. Most of the burials from this period are of casualties who died at the clearing station from wounds received at the Bethune front.

War diary entries for the 2nd Wiltshires around this time read:

“27th - France, trenches

Early in the morning the Comdg Offr Major CD Forsyth was given to understand that the 1/4th Cameron Highrs needed immediate support, and at once ordered the Battn across the open to reinforce the 1/4th Cameron Highrs. This was done under heavy rifle & machine gun fire, and the Battn again suffered heavy losses. Capt EC Mudge & Capt WM Geddes were killed, also 2/Lt E Schultz, who had got safely into the 1/4th Cameron Highrs trench got out again to give directions to some men coming on behind and was shot in the head. Major CG Forsyth was wounded in the thigh, but remained in command. The morning was misty, and several men of each Coy took the wrong direction. These Major CG Forsyth collected in the trench we had vacated. In these positions the Battn remained until dusk, when it was possible to reorganise. The men collected by Major CG Forsyth in the trench by HULLOCH ROAD were ordered to remain. The men who had succeeded in reaching the trench held by the 1/4th Cameron Highrs were collected together in companies and placed on the Camerons left.

28th - France, trenches

We remained in our positions all day with nothing to report other than fairly heavy artillery duels. The nights became cold and wet.”

It would appear likely that Corporal Barrett died as a result of wounds sustained on the 27th, although the absence of a surviving service record makes this difficult to prove with certainty.’

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Almost 70,000 new Dorset and Wiltshire parish records now on findmypast.co.uk

We have just published 69,545 new parish records for Dorset and Wiltshire on findmypast.co.uk

These records were provided by the Dorset Family History Society and the Wiltshire Family History Society.

The table below provides more information on these new records:

Search our parish records now for your Dorset and Wiltshire ancestors.

Over 22,000 new Thames-side and Medway parish baptism records now on the site

We have also just added 22,236 more parish baptism records to our Thames-side and Medway parish records collection. This brings the total amount of Thames-side and Medway baptism records you can search on findmypast.co.uk to 300,070 for the period 1721-1970.

Read more about our Thames-side and Medway records collection.

The value of parish records

Parish records are invaluable when tracing your ancestry as they go back much further than birth, marriage and death records. You can search parish records for baptisms, marriages and burials that date back as far as 1538 on findmypast.co.uk

The Federation of Family History Societies distributes its members’ records in partnership with findmypast.co.uk. Many family history societies contribute their records to make our parish records collection as comprehensive as it is. You can read more about the societies that contribute on our FFHS data providers page.

When you’ve found your ancestors in our parish records you’ll realise just how useful they are.

Read more about the value of parish records in our knowledge base.

We have added a total of 204,501 new baptism and burial records for Wiltshire, Manchester and Dorset to findmypast.co.uk.

These records were provided by the Wiltshire Family History Society, the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society and the Dorset Family History Society.

See the table below for a breakdown of the records:

Visit our parish baptisms and parish burials pages to search these records.

Findmypast.com, in partnership with the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS), has added nearly a million new memorial inscriptions to its Parish Records Collection. These records are the fruits of decades of transcription work by family historians nationwide.

Volunteers from different societies have visited graveyards and cemeteries in England and Wales, pulling back weeds, uncovering buried headstones and patiently deciphering weathered inscriptions.

In some cases the transcription is the only record that is left, as the headstone has completely weathered away or been destroyed.

The newly added records cover the following counties:

• Dorset
• Essex
• Glamorgan
• Lincolnshire
• Cheshire
• Northumberland
• Somerset
• Warwickshire
• Wiltshire

It is an ongoing project and there is still lots more work to do. If you would like to get involved, then contact your local family history society.

The records contain inscriptions from the 1600s to the twentieth century and will appear as part of the results when you search for a burial within the Parish Records Collection.

Some contain basic information such as parish and date of death, whereas others may contain much more information, depending on what was written on the headstone, and how much has survived the ravages of time.

Pricing for inscriptions for those with PayAsYouGo credits is either six, eight or 12 credits, depending on the amount of detail they contain. 

The findmypast.com 1901 census is expanding rapidly. Five complete counties have just been added to the site, providing over 2.1 million brand new records for you to search.

The new additions are:

• Bedfordshire
• Wiltshire
• Herefordshire
• Staffordshire
• Shropshire

We are now preparing another 5 counties for release shortly.