MILITARY
Indexes to service records for First World War soldiers can be freely searched at familysearch.org, but images can only be accessed at local FamilySearch centres, or from home if you register as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chris Baker’s The Long, Long Trail ( longlongtrail.co.uk) provides detailed accounts of the regiments and battalions that fought in the conflict, while the Great War Forum ( 1914-1918.invisionzone. com/forums) covers just about every topic that you may wish to discuss. If your ancestors were Irish, soldiers’ wills from the First World War are freely available at soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie, while resources for the Welsh experience of the conflict are at cymru1914. org. For both world wars the National Library of Scotland provides monthly army lists for the British Army at archive. org/details/nlsarmylists.
First World War military prisoners were documented by the Red Cross, with the relevant records freely available at grandeguerre.icrc.org, while my own project The Ruhleben Story at ruhleben.tripod.com lists more than 2,000 British and Commonwealth civilians interned in the German camp at Ruhleben. The Friends Ambulance Service also has a great project at fau.quaker.org.uk for civilians who volunteered for service in the First World War, while the British Military Nurses site at scarletfinders.co.uk includes war diaries from both world wars, and nominal rolls for 1939–1940.
If your ancestors fell in either of the world wars, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has details of burials at www.cwgc.org. The Roll of Honour ( roll-ofhonour.com) also lists casualties from the world wars and other conflicts, including the Boer War of the late 19th century, while further Boer War resources including a discussion forum are available at angloboerwar.com.