Discover your ancestor among over 200,000 soldiers who were serving in the British Army at the time of the 1871 England and Wales Census. Find both officers and men of the Cavalry, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Guards, Infantry and Colonial units serving both in Britain and elsewhere in the British Empire. The Worldwide Army Index 1871 is an especially invaluable resource if you can’t find your male ancestor in the 1871 census.
Each record is a transcript of original source material. The information contained may vary but you can find out the following about your ancestor:
Rank or description (remember this index contains many civilians attached to the military)
Regiment or unit
Location of regimental headquarters
36000 additional notes
The National Archives reference
Period of the year that the record covers
The 1871 Worldwide British Army Index has been compiled by military historian Roger Nixon. It follows on from the 1861 Worldwide Index, already on Findmypast. Building on the success of the 1861 index, this new collection contains not only a substantial number of entries but also a wealth of additional data not provided in the earlier edition.
Using data extracted from the War Office army pay lists held in The National Archives at Kew, a new database of over 205,000 entries has been compiled. To this has been added a further 36,000 notes. Basic entries give name, rank, army number and regiment of officers, other ranks and civilians attached to the military, as well as the regimental HQ location as at 2 April 1871. The record date frame is also given along with The National Archives reference.
As with the 1861 Worldwide Army Index the primary aim has been to identify the location of men serving in the British Army throughout the world as at the 1871 Census day – 2 April 1871. However, the index generally covers much of the June Quarter 1871. Because men were not always stationed at their regimental headquarters, notes of their whereabouts have been included wherever it was practical to extract the details. Officers were often absent on leave for long periods and all ranks were regularly detached from their HQ units around the empire, often being in other countries. Equally, many soldiers were attached to other regiments and not a few were on the high seas or en-route escorting deserters and felons to and from prisons and assizes around the kingdom.
Additional notes also indicate details of men being discharged during the June Quarter of 1871. The reason for discharge – to pension, by purchase, desertion, dishonourable or just plain inefficient – are included along with details of former occupation and birthplace. Many short references to trades and birthplaces are also included: All valuable material for research. Also indicated are men, who were being detained in either civil or military prisons, thus providing new avenues of investigation for family historians.
Unfortunately, not all records of officers and men have survived. Soldiers discharged by purchase, deserters and those dishonourably discharged during the June Quarter 1871 are unlikely to have attestation/discharge papers but they may be found in the index. Once identified they can be researched further in original records. Remembering that a man serving in 1871 might have joined the army as early as 1845 or served as late as 1896, the 1871 Worldwide Army Index provides a valuable research platform for finding a soldier and reconstructing his army career.