A guide to the records
The Royal Navy is known as the ‘Senior Service’ as it can trace its origins back to the reign of King Henry VIII, almost 200 years before the first standing army was established.
Although never as big as the Army in terms of the number of men on the books, the Navy has always been a major employer. At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the British fleet comprised around 140,000 men (and, apparently, one woman), while the official Report on the 1881 Census gives a total of 44,000 officers and men in the service at that time.
This is an introductory guide to tracing the records of those ancestors who served as ‘ratings’ in the Royal Navy during the 19th century. Naval ranks were far more complex than those used in the British Army and the general term ‘rating’ is used to include those who served as Boys, Ordinary Seamen, Able Seamen and a whole host of non-commissioned or petty officers (midshipmen, master’s mates, carpenter’s mates, sub-lieutenants etc). Records relating to commissioned officers are, by-and-large, quite different and are not covered here.
As we will see, tracing an ancestor who served in the Royal Navy from 1853 onwards is relatively straightforward and this guide will focus on the more difficult task of finding records relating to those who served during the first half of the 19th century.
Our ancestors’ life experiences
The most useful records for researching a Royal Navy ancestor can be divided into five main categories:
• service records
• pension records
• medal awards
• allotment books
• muster books and pay books
Continuous service
Until the middle of the 19th century, men were engaged by the Navy for the duration of a particular voyage. At the end of the voyage they were discharged and ‘paid off’ and they then began the task of finding themselves a place on another ship. All of this changed in 1853 with the establishment of a system of ‘continuous service’. As well as giving the men a new level of job security, the system allowed for the creation of comprehensive service records.
Comprehensive service records
Although not as detailed as the equivalent Army service records (they include nothing in the way of next of kin details), these continuous service records provide us with some very useful information, including:
• the name of the seaman along with their date and place of birth
• their ‘rating’ (i.e. their specific rank at the time of each period of service)
• the names of the ships they served on and the dates of service on each ship
• the dates of their ‘entry’ to the service and final discharge.
Later service records (from 1892 onwards) should also record their civilian occupation or trade as well as a basic physical description, notes regarding their character and the reason for their discharge.
About those ‘dates’ of birth ...
It’s fair to say that the dates of birth recorded here are frequently unreliable, as boys often lied about their age when they joined up. A seaman’s service didn’t officially begin until their 18th birthday so there was an incentive for them to be economical with the truth – if they could get away with it!
Service records 1853-1928 [ADM: 139, 188, 362 & 363]
The records cover ratings whose service began between 1853 and 1928 and comprise four discrete National Archives’ record series
[ADM 139, ADM 188, ADM 362 and ADM 363].
Each rating was given a CS (Continuous Service) Number (later known as an Official Number) which can be used to track men across the various record series.
All of these continuous service records can be searched on the National Archives’ Discovery catalogue. You can then (for a fee) download digital copies of the records.
The records in ADM 188, ADM 362 and ADM 363 can also be accessed via Ancestry while the some of the registers are also available on Findmypast.
Records of service before 1853
With no centralised system before 1853, we need to use other methods to trace our ancestors’ naval service. The most important records in this period, namely the Ships’ Musters and Pay Books, are also the most difficult to access. In order to use these
records we need to the know the name of the ship on which our ancestor served. Fortunately, there are some other records we can use which might, if we’re lucky, provide this information.
Entry Books of Certificates of Service, 1802-1894 [ADM 29]
Firstly, there’s a series of ‘Entry Books of Certificates of Service’ [ADM 29], covering the period 1802 to 1894 (warrant officers to 1919). These were compiled by the Admiralty to assess qualifications for pensions, gratuities, medals etc. Each entry provides a summary of an individual’s service including the names of the ships served on, their number on the ship’s books (this is useful when searching the muster rolls), their periods of service and rank on each ship, and the total amount of service in years, months, weeks and days. Occasionally you might find a CS or Official Number here which should lead you to the relevant continuous service record. The records can be searched via the National Archives’ Discovery catalogue, with linked digital images available on Ancestry and Findmypast.
Pensions paid [ADM 73 & ADM 82 WO22 & 23 1842-1883]
Records of pensions paid to Royal Naval ratings can be found in a number of different sources but relatively few are available online. The most important records are those of the Royal Greenwich Hospital (covering both in- and out-pensioners) [ADM 73 and ADM 6/223-320] and the Chatham Chest [ADM 82]. Some of the records in ADM 73 are searchable by name on Discovery and most of them are on Findmypast. Between 1842 and 1883, responsibility for the payment of Royal Naval pensions was taken over by the War Office and some of the surviving records [WO 22 & 23] can be found on Findmypast.
Medal rolls, 1793-1949 [WO 100]
Another useful way of discovering which ship your Naval ancestor served on is to consult the Medal Rolls [WO 100] on Ancestry and Findmypast. These contain details of medals issued between 1793 and 1949.
Sailors’ wills [ADM 48]
The National Archives also holds a small collection of around 20,000 sailors’ wills, covering the years 1786 to 1882 [ADM 48]. These include wills of officers and of men who served with the Royal Marines and can be searched and downloaded via the National Archives’ Discovery catalogue.
Allotments [ADM 27]
Most of these records tell us very little about the families of our seafaring ancestors but there’s one source we can use that is almost certain to provide us with some real genealogical detail. From 1795, warrant officers and ratings were allowed to have part of their wages sent home (allotted) to their next of kin, most often their wife or mother. Two sets of registers, one covering the years 1795 to 1812 and another running from 1830 to 1852, record the details of these ‘allotments’. The registers [ADM 27] were arranged by ship but have now been fully indexed by the names of the men (the ‘alloters’) and can be searched both on the National Archives Discovery catalogue and on Findmypast. The earlier books record the name of the allotter, his number on the ship’s books and the name and identity of the allottee, together with details of the payment of the allotment itself. The later registers can prove even more useful as the entries often include the date and place of the allotter’s marriage and sometimes even give details of his children.
The bad news here is that the surviving allotment books cover only a minority of the men serving at the time – never more than a fifth of the total – but if you’re lucky, not only will you find the details you need regarding the ship(s) your ancestor served on, you may also get some useful genealogical information.
The census
In theory, the census returns from 1861 onwards should include a full record of the men on board Royal Naval vessels on census day. However, the returns for ships in foreign waters from the 1891 Census have been lost and the returns for
some ships in foreign waters in 1901 (those listed alphabetically between HMS Amphion and HMS High Flyer) are also missing.
Musters/ pay books [ADM 31-39, 41, 115 & 117]
Assuming that you’ve found your ancestor in one of the above sources, you should now be able to find the musters/pay books for the relevant ship(s) [ADM 31-39, 41, 115 & 117]. A very small selection is searchable on Findmypast but in most cases, you’ll need to access the records onsite at Kew.
The records themselves are bound registers, each one usually covering two to three years of lists for a particular ship. Within the registers, you’ll find that each list covers the musters for a two month period, the front page giving details of where the ship was located at the time of each muster. The names of the men on board are arranged by individual number (if you already have this number it should be quite easy to find your man but bear in mind that the number isn’t a service number as such and relates to a particular ship/voyage).
Each entry covers a double-page spread, with the most useful genealogical data appearing on the left-hand page. Here we should find the following: the date of entry (i.e. when they officially joined the ship) and the date of their ‘appearance’ on board; where they joined and whether they were ‘pressed’ or volunteers; their place of birth and age; their name and ‘quality’ (i.e. rank) and how and when they were discharged. The ‘cause’ of discharge is indicated by a ‘D’ for discharged (usually at the end of the voyage), ‘DD’ if the man had died, and ‘R’ for ‘Run’ (i.e. deserted) – the latter is perhaps more common than you might expect. The information on the right-hand page largely relates to pay and deductions.
In theory, each entry should give you the information you need to trace a particular seaman both forwards and backwards in time, and, with a bit of luck, you should be able to trace their entire career from their first entry (usually as a boy) up to their final discharge. The National Archives is home to a vast collection of material relating to the inner-workings of the Royal Navy which you can tap into to find out more about your ancestors’ remarkable journeys around the globe.