ROYAL NAVY AND ROYAL MARINES
SERVICE DOCUMENTS IN THE ARCHIVE OF THE FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM

                                                                             By Captain RC Swales RN

The Fleet Air Arm Museum (FAAM) at the Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovilton, Somerset, has assumed custody of a large number of Service Documents from the Ministry of Defence (Navy Records).  The majority of records are those of non-commissioned personnel who enlisted in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines before about 1925, the earliest records dating from the 1860s.  Also included are the papers of most of the men who were enlisted for short service ‘hostilities only’ during WW1.

The following are the main categories of these documents now held in the FAAM archive (the Service Number ranges quoted are approximate):-

ROYAL NAVY

·        Continuous Service (CS), Non-Continuous Service (NCS), and Short Service (SS) engagements, including Seamen, Stokers, Artificers, Artisans, Ship’s Police, Sick Berth Attendants.  The period covered by these papers is 1888-1923 but this varies by category.

ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE

 

·        Record cards for RNR officers: Executive (X); Engineers (E); Cadets; Warrant Officer Telegraphists.

·        Record cards for most RNR rating categories.


ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE

 

·        RNVR Divisions (Bristol, Clyde, London, Mersey, Sussex, Tyneside and Wales) pre-war Divisional Companies and wartime entry ‘Z’ ratings.

·        ‘Kitchener’s Army’ entrants to Crystal Palace/RND (‘KP’,‘KW’ and ‘KX’ ratings).

·        Civilian entrants to RND (‘ZW’ and ‘ZX’ ratings).

·        Army entrants to RND (‘R’ ratings).

·        Civilian entrants at Crystal Palace (‘PZ’ and ‘ZP’ ratings).

·        Anti-aircraft Corps (‘AA’ ratings).

·        Motor Boat Section (‘MB’ ratings).

·        Birmingham Electrical Volunteers (‘E’ Ratings).

 

ROYAL NAVAL AIR SERVICE (later ROYAL AIR FORCE)

·        RNAS officers’ service records:  ADM/273 on microfiche (also in the National Archive).

·        RNAS ratings:  Engagement Ledgers for service numbers F1 to F55000.

Note:  Some 6,500 individuals are held, comprising only those ratings who did not transfer to the RAF in April 1918 or who were commissioned.

·        RNAS officers and ratings: a comprehensive database of RNAS personnel has been compiled at the museum, drawing on numerous published and unpublished sources.  The database is complemented by files on individuals where this is warranted by the amount of data available.  Files on personnel ‘attached RNAS’ are also included.

·        RAF (i.e. RNAS plus RFC) Officers’ service records (April 1918):  AIR/76 on microfiche (also in the National Archive).

·        RAF Muster List of ratings/other ranks as at formation on 1 April 1918.

 

ROYAL MARINES

·        Royal Marines Light Infantry (RMLI):-

1.      Plymouth Division Continuous (Long) Service – Service Numbers Plymouth/1 to Plymouth/23000.

2.      Plymouth Division Short Service – Service Numbers Plymouth/1(S) to Plymouth/3300(S).

3.      Chatham Division Continuous (Long) Service – Service Numbers Chatham/1 to Chatham/25000.

4.      Chatham Division Short Service – Service Numbers Chatham 1(S) to Chatham/ 3500(S).

5.      Portsmouth Division Continuous (Long) Service – Service Numbers Portsmouth/5500 to Portsmouth/23000.

Note 1: The Portsmouth Division RMLI (CS) papers at the FAA Museum are mainly (but not exclusively) of those men who re-enlisted for pension (21 years).  Many other papers (for example of men who left after 12 years) have, for reasons unknown, been separated from the main run of papers and are in the National Archives.

Note 2:  Papers for Portsmouth Division Short Service are held in the National Archives.

·        Royal Marine Artillery (RMA):-

1.      RMA Continuous (Long) Service – Service Numbers RMA/10000 to RMA/17200.

Note 1:  Consequent upon the amalgamation of RMLI and RMA in 1923, these papers now reflect the transfer of RMA men to Portsmouth Division numbers.  The Portsmouth numbers use the original RMA numbers but were made six-figure numbers by adding the prefix ‘2’.

Note 2:  The RMA (CS) papers at the FAA Museum are mainly (but not exclusively) of those men who re-enlisted for pension (21 years).  Many other papers (for example of men who left after 12 years) have, for reasons unknown, been separated from the main run of papers and are in the National Archives.  The papers of many other former RMA men may be found in the papers of the Chatham and Plymouth Divisions to which they transferred.

 

2.      RMA Short Service – Service Numbers RMA/1(S) to RMA/3900(S).

Note:  The papers of some RMA (SS) men, including most of those who were who were discharged dead (including killed in action) have, for reasons unknown, been separated from the main run of papers and are at the National Archives, where they are mixed up with other Portsmouth/RMA papers.

·        Royal Naval Division (Divisional Engineers, Divisional Train, RM Medical Unit and Ordnance Company) Deal Short Service – Service Numbers Deal/1(S) to Deal/4600(S).  Note:  In addition to service papers, there are also RND Record Cards for most of these men.

·        Royal Naval School of Music Continuous (Long) Service – Service Numbers RMB/1 to RMB/3100.

·        Royal Marines Labour Corps (RMLC)(New) Short Service – Service Numbers Deal/1N to Deal/1400N.


NAVAL PAPERS


RN and RNVR ratings’ papers are bound in volumes (Engagement Ledgers) in service number order and the principal documents to be found therein are original attestation or enlistment papers.  However, some individual records can be more extensive.  In particular, the RNVR records of ratings who served with the RND usually contain original Active Service Casualty Forms (Army Form B.103), the contents of which were typed onto the RND Record Cards and can hold other administrative correspondence.  Summaries of RND Service and Courts Martial records are among the other papers which are sometimes also bound in with an RNVR rating’s records.

 

ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION RECORD CARDS

 

The originals of the RND Record Cards have now also been transferred to the FAAM archive.  The microfiche version is still available in the National Archives at Kew under ADM/339 (and is now available on-line) but this version contains numerous filing errors and some cards have not been copied correctly.  It should also be noted that RND Record Cards for the Divisional Engineers, Divisional Train, RM Medical Unit and Ordnance Company held at the FAAM are not available in any form in the National Archives.

 

NAVAL RECORDS IN MANUSCRIPT LEDGERS

 

No service papers of officers are held at the FAAM but the museum does hold an extensive series of nearly one hundred WW1 pay and appointing ledgers for officers of the RNVR, RNR and RNAS.  These can offer useful information on pay and movements (including tax bills and probate) to complement the officers’ records in the National Archives.

 

Other ledger records include:

 

 RM PAPERS


RM papers are unbound.  Instead, the records (sometimes referred to as “Attestation Packs”) were loose-filed in bundles or boxes in order of Service Number.  In contrast to the RN/RNVR ledgers, they may contain a much more extensive record of a man’s service from attestation to discharge, with a wealth of data in between.  A description of the type of information contained in many of the RM records is presented below to give a feel for what may be available.  An individual’s papers might include:-

 

·        Original RM Attestation.

·        Army Attestation of those who were conscripted or transferred.

·        Letters of release and recommendations from civilian employers.

·        Appeals against conscription.

·        Original arithmetic, handwriting and dictation tests.

·        Examination questions and worked answers for RM Gunner.

·        Records of medical examination on entry and during service.

·        Active Service Casualty Forms (Army Forms B.103).

·        RND Record Cards.  Very few cards of RMLI men serving in the RND are in the main RND card index at the FAAM (see below).

·        Conduct Record Sheets – often for a whole career and with extensive lists of offences.

·        Various discharge papers, including parchment discharge certificates of those with previous service.

·        Invaliding Medical Record.

·        Hurt Certificate.

·        Report of Accidental Wounding.

·        Report of death in action.

·        Service Certificates.

·        National Health Insurance card.

·        Declaration of alias.

·        Court Paternity Orders and other Court papers.

·        Correspondence to/from military authorities, including letters from next-of-kin.

·        Records of inquiries conducted in the field, often including original witness statements written in Field Notebooks.

·        WW1 Ration Book.

·        Unemployment stamp book.

·        Active Service Will.

·        List of effects at death.

·        Naval Pay Book.  The records of the many pensioners recalled for service on the outbreak of WW2 usually retain their WW2 Pay Book, with photograph.

·        Army Pay Book from previous Army service – some have been found to contain Army identification discs (dog-tags).

 

The above list is by no means exhaustive.  The documents as a whole give a remarkable snapshot of military life and contemporary society in the first decades of the 20th Century.  Those of individuals can give an amazingly detailed record of their service in the Royal Marines.  The amount of detail in the records held at the FAAM shows how comprehensive the RM records were and how destructive the administrative ‘weeding’ on certain records held at Kew has been.  Even amongst the FAAM records there is evidence of this destructive process:  the Conduct Record Sheets had been removed from the Plymouth Division CS records.  Fortunately they were boxed separately and survived.  The museum has now completed the task of sorting them and they will soon be re-united with the parent files.  Inevitably there are some gaps where records are (or appear to be) missing.  Many of these are probably are as-yet-unidentified inter-Division, or inter-Service transfers.  It is known, however, that the papers of many men who had completed their twelve-year limited engagement and were recalled during WW1 from the Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR) are often absent.  The whereabouts of these RFR papers is unknown.

 

Those with an interest in the Royal Marines will be naturally drawn to the records of the men who served in the RMLI  and/or RMA but the other records are important because they often contain information on parts of a man’s service career outside the Royal Marines.  For example, although most RNVR volunteers during WW1 found themselves serving as naval ratings with the MEF or BEF as part of the Royal Naval Division (RND), many ratings were transferred to the RM to serve in units in the RND such as the Divisional Train, Ordnance Company or as RM Cyclists.  Men who enlisted in the RMLI often transferred later to the Royal Navy and continued their service as, for example, stokers or ship’s police.  Of particular interest to the FAAM are those Royal Marines and naval ratings who moved across to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in the very early days of naval aviation.  Some of these men were involved in the building of the first British rigid airship, the Admiralty’s R.1 (also known as “MAYFLY”), in 1911.  Some were commissioned as RNAS pilots and observers.  Many of these ex-Marines of the RNAS transferred to the fledgling Royal Air Force in 1918, some as aircraft mechanics, some in supporting trades.  Even within the Royal Marines transfers were commonplace, some RMLI men serving in all three Divisions, often more than once, and others moved to and from the Royal Naval School of Music and the RMA.

 

It is regrettable that the dispersion of records from MOD Hayes has resulted in some RM records (including some Portsmouth CS, all Portsmouth SS and many RMA and RMLC) being stored in the National Archives at Kew.  It is also known that there are many examples of papers at Kew being misfiled, RMA and RMLI records being mixed together.  The Portsmouth Division papers at Kew appear to have suffered from drastic ‘weeding’ at some stage and the papers are, unhelpfully for the researcher, filed by year of discharge and surname.  There appears to be no clear justification for this splitting of the RM records, which will merely serve to complicate the work of the researcher.


CURRENT STATUS

 

Many of the records received from the MOD were in poor condition, some having been neglected and badly stored for decades in damp conditions.  Some had been damaged by fire.  Some parchment documents seem to have attracted rodents, with their teeth marks much in evidence.  It was noted that the papers of RM deserters, in particular, had suffered fire and water damage, indicating that they had all been stored together at some time in the past.  No index of the records existed.  A continuing programme of work is underway at the FAAM to ensure that the many hundreds of thousands of papers (the RMLI Continuous Service papers alone cover some 63,000 service numbers) are properly cared for and indexed but this is a very long-term effort and much still remains to be done.  The loose RM documents are being removed from string-tied bundles and transferred to archive boxes.  At the simplest level, indexing allows the papers to be searched either by surname or service number but other data is now being recorded such as date of enlistment, date and place of birth and cause of discharge.  Conservation and indexing has been completed on Chatham and RMB CS, Plymouth, Chatham and RMA SS, as well as the Deal SS men of the RND (for whom a separate RND Record Card archive has been formed).  Plymouth and Portsmouth CS and RMA CS are currently in progress.  In the course of conservation, thousands of pins, staples and paperclips, which have rusted into the documents, have been removed, damaged papers have been repaired and large numbers of misfiled papers have been put back in their correct place.

 

The FAAM is privileged to be the custodian of such a priceless collection of personnel records.

 

ACCESS TO THE FAAM ARCHIVE


The papers described above are available to the public by prior arrangement.  It will normally be wise to check in advance that the Service Number sought is in the series held by the FAAM and is not among those held, for example, by the National Archive.  However, because many documents can, at present, be accessed only by Service Number until a complete system of cross-indexing is in place, it is not always possible for the FAAM to provide a Service Number for a given name.

 

Those wishing to consult RNAS, RND or RAF records in ADM/273, ADM/339 or AIR/76 may find it more convenient to view these at the FAAM rather than at Kew.

 

Those who wish to examine papers should contact:-

Centre for Naval Aviation Records & Research
Fleet Air Arm Museum
Box D6, RNAS Yeovilton
Near Ilchester, Somerset
BA22 8HT
Tel: +44 (0) 1935 840565, selecting 2 for research.
Fax: +44 (0) 1935 842630
E-mail: research@fleetairarm.com