RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
Biographies and dictionaries
The most famous naval officers, and some lesser ones, had biographies published in the 19th century, so it is worth checking online, because many can be downloaded, as can biographical dictionaries, such as A Naval Biographical
Dictionary by William R O’Byrne (published 1849), Royal Naval Biography by John Marshall (12 volumes, published 1823–30) and Biographia
Navalis by John Charnock (six volumes, published 1794– 8). The best place to start is at archive.org which has copies of all of the above titles free to view. Searching by the name of the officer in question may also deliver results.
Databases
Brief details of officers are in The Commissioned
Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660–1815 edited by David Syrett and RL DiNardo ( Navy Records Society, 1994). This can be found on ancestry.
co.uk and familyrelatives.com, while for 1793–1815, the Commissioned sea officers of the Napoleonic Wars database compiled by Patrick Marioné, available at ageofnelson.org, is useful for sources of information.
Navy lists
Official navy lists didn’t begin until 1814. Prior to that date, Steel’s Navy List was popular (one for 1813 can be found on archive.org and 1782 and 1799 can be found on Google Books). A full set of Navy Lists is held at The National Archives ( TNA) and other libraries. The bare bones of an officer’s career can be traced through them, with dates of promotions and, after 1810, lists of officers on board each warship. Other sources include newspapers and magazines such as the
Naval Chronicle, many of which are online, and The Gazette, free to search at thegazette.co.uk.
Battle of Trafalgar list
A quick way to check for seamen who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar is via nationalarchives. gov.uk/trafalgarancestors. If you pinpoint your ancestor, his ship’s name will be invaluable for further research.
Pension records
Some details of seamen can be found in the Royal Greenwich Hospital Pensioner Records in TNA ( discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ details/r/C1782), and many are available via findmypast.co.uk. The burial records for the hospital are in TNA, but not online.
Muster rolls
Muster rolls recorded the name and date of birth of everyone on board ship for administrative purposes, including pay. Muster books for many ships can be found at TNA and can now be searched online at findmypast.co.uk.
Naval General Service Medal
In 1847 a campaign medal was approved for those who had participated in naval actions during the Napoloenic Wars. Applications had to be from surviving officers and seamen (no posthumous medals were given) and a lack of publicity means that only 20,933 were awarded. A list of recipients can be searched for free at
www.dnw.co.uk. Results include the name of the ship plus the campaign it was awarded for.
Medical officers’ journals ADM 101
Every ship had a surgeon who kept a log of who they treated and for what. Although not digitised, surviving journals have been catalogued at name level on TNA’s website discover.nationalarchive
.gov.uk. Search by name plus ADM 101.