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WW1 Military Records

Medal Entitlement Records - Military Service Records

Below are listings of Jacombs for whom there exist records relating to their military service in WW1 within the named document classes at The National Archives (TNA), Kew. These lists do not cover every class of WW1 records in which there may be a Jacomb, merely those in which names are more easily found. The lists are incomplete and are works in progress. The vast majority of Jacomb records existant within these classes are probably listed here, but I plan to identify where others are located in the near future. I am aware of some records that exist but which are not listed here, purely because I haven't yet obtained sufficient details from them to create entries here.

Medal Entitlement Records

1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal

There isn't a 'master' list of every British serviceman who fought in WW1, but the medal entitlement records in TNA are a good substitute. They record the medals each man or woman were due given their particular service during the war.

• For the army, this consists of a set of index cards, one for each individual, noting their name, rank & number, regiment, theatre of war first served in (and date of entry therein), medal entitlement and where their entry can be found in the individual medal rolls (lists by medal-type then regiment of each medal issued).
• For the navy, this consists of a series of lists by service (i.e., RNVR, RN, RNAS, RM) noting their name, rank & number (not for officers) and their medal entitlement.

The TNA has entries on microfiche for those Jacombs listed below under the document references noted. For full details of their medal entitlement you should consult the appropriate reference at Kew. Alternatively, TNA's DocumentsOnline is scanning the army medal index cards and making them available for download online (for a charge). This has just begun (in 2004) and is being carried out alphabetically by surname, with those beginning with the letter 'J' due to be available for download by the end of May 2004.

'*' denotes this is an incomplete reference - need to check TNA resources to identify exact reference.

Military Service Records
Service records for WW1 servicemen are to be found in a number of different document sequences at TNA. The list below is an attempt to bring them all together into one list. The most important point to make first, however, is that service records for the 'other ranks' (i.e., not officers) in the army were damaged by a bomb dropped on the War Office record repository during WW2. Many records were lost altogether; estimates vary that only between 20-40% of the service records survived. What did survive has been microfilmed in recent years with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and can now be searched at TNA. Army officer records and navy records were unnaffected by the bombing and can also be searched at TNA.

The documents and information to be found in a service record can vary but generally you can hope to find a variety of information such as a physical description of the soldier, the date he enlisted, his home address, next-of-kin, details of his movements, any promotions and the date he completed his service.

The TNA has service records for those Jacombs listed below under the document references noted. For full details of their service records you should consult the appropriate reference at Kew.

'- - -' denotes either page numbers are not marked or not relevant.
'?' denotes information not obvious in source.
'*' denotes this is an incomplete reference for a known service record - need to check TNA resources to identify exact reference.

The lists above were compiled by Matthew Jacomb from various records held at The National Archives, Kew. Jacomb.com asserts no claim over the accuracy or completeness of these lists, transcriptions or the records from which they have been prepared.