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Military Sources held at Gloucestershire Archives

Background

Although Gloucestershire Archives does not hold military service records, we do hold other sources which refer to the military and wars. This guide gives a brief, general overview to the sorts of records held at Gloucestershire Archives which relate to the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH), the Gloucestershire Regiment, the Home Guard, early records and other popular sources. For a more detailed list, please see the Sources for Military History Guide (Handlist), available to download from our website.  

What records are there and what information will they contain?

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

The main collection of material of the RGH is D4920. This includes admin papers, diaries, minutes and regiment history. D4652 is a collection of photographs of the Hussars in Egypt and Palestine 1914-1918. A WW2 Roll of honour is held under the reference of D4576.

For a history of the Hussars, and its predecessors, see:

  • Royal Gloucestershire Hussars by Rollo Clifford (GAL/E3)
  • Second Royal Gloucestershire Hussars by Stuart Pitman (GAL/E3/41199GS)
  • 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 1795-1943 (JF5.66GS)

Gloucestershire Regiment

The majority of records relating to the Regiment are held by the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum.  A few documents are held in the Archives, but there is no major collection. The following items could be of interest:

  • Boer War journal of an unnamed soldier of the regiment 1899-1901 (D7474)
  • 2/5th Battalion Correspondence and papers concerning history of regiment 1914-1930 (D2431)
  • The Story of the 2/5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, by A. F. Barnes (B330/39699GS)

For more information and a detailed list, see the Sources for Military History Guide (Handlist).

Rolls of Honour

A large number of local Rolls of Honour have been produced for places in Gloucestershire. These can be identified using our online catalogue. Try searching for “roll of honour” and the name of the village/parish/place you are interested in. Some rolls were drawn up by the local parish church; others are rolls of honour for employees of a business, members of society or ex-pupils of a school. There are also some rolls of honour which were created recently based on research conducted by local volunteers.

Records of Individual Soldiers

Gloucestershire Archives holds some collections which include the personal papers of men who served in the Army or Navy. These tend to include letters home, diaries, notebooks, photographs and official papers.

Home Guard

Gloucestershire Archives does not hold records relating to individual men who served in the Home Guard. But we do hold some administrative records of various Battalions of the Home Guard. These include:

  • 7th Battalion (B Company) (D264)
  • Hardwicke Home Guard (D286)
  • Dursley Home Guard (D2078/5/5)
  • 5th Glos (Gloucester) Battalion, Home Guard (D2095)
  • Nailsworth Home Guard (D2934)
  • Hardwicke Home Guard (D3549/33/4/15)
  • Stroud Local Defence Volunteers and Home Guard (D4693/6)
  • Painswick (C Company) 7th Battalion (D5023/3)
  • St Briavels Home Guard (D8795)
  • Cirencester Home Guard (various items contained within D10820)
  • Whiteshill, Ruscombe and Randwick Home Guard (P363 MI 1/1)
  • Slimbridge Parish War Book (Includes lists of Home Guard - P298a PC 50/1)
  • Home Guard's 6th Gloucestershire Battalion [Olveston and Aust] (S3/1/10/5)

There are also lots of other items relating to the Home Guard in other collections, including photographs, scrapbooks and personal items.

Muster Rolls

Although most Muster Rolls are held by the National Archives, some originals and copies have made their way to Gloucestershire Archives. Most of these come from the period before there was an official standing army (17th Century and earlier).

  • Men & Armour 1608 (D678/1 Z6/2/1-3 – use transcript at GAL/E3/43876GS)
  • Gloucestershire Muster Rolls 1592 (D837)
  • Various muster rolls covering one parish/hundred – see Military History Guide (Handlist).

Other Records

Lots of other records, particularly during the two world wars, contain information about the effect on the local area, news from the front and details of local men.

You may wish to try looking at:

  • Parish Council Records
  • School Records
  • District Council Records
  • Civil Defence Committee (C/CDa)

How to Find the Records

To view a list of records in these collections please use our online catalogue available on our website at: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives. Type the references given above into the search box as your search term. You can search for diaries, letters and other items by searching for keywords (e.g First World War) using the “advanced search” option. You can refine your search, for example by place. For more guidance on using our online catalogue, please see the Help page and the FAQs. You can also watch our YouTube tutorial.

Related guides on our website

Sources for Military History Guide (Handlist)

Research Guides: Military Service Records, WW1 Soldiers, WW1 the Home Front