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The following Personnel Service Records have been transferred to the National Archives at Kew (formerly the Public Record Office) and are available for us to inspect:
  • Royal Navy Officers who enlisted prior to 1914
  • Royal Navy Ratings who enlisted prior to 1924 and First World War records for Women's Royal Naval Service
  • Royal Marine Officers and Other Ranks who enlisted before 1926
  • Army Officers and Other Ranks that enlisted prior to 1920
  • Royal Air Force Officers that served prior to 1922
  • Royal Air Force Airmen that served prior to 1924
PSRs relating to service after these dates - including World War II - are not available for public inspection and are therefore unavailable to us.


Records after the above dates:
Retired Personnel and Next of Kin of deceased individuals are able to gain access to these PSRs by applying to the MOD or the appropriate repository direct having followed certain criteria:

Requests from former Service personnel:
(note: the following data is courtesy of The Veterans Agency & MOD -
http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk as of April 2005)

Requests from former Service personnel for his/her personal data held by the Ministry of Defence are processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998; such requests are called Subject Access Requests (SAR).

A SAR must be made in writing and must be accompanied by proof of identity (e.g. a copy of a passport or recent utilities bill), and sufficient information to locate the data sought. To assist the search, your letter should include as much information as possible eg: Service Number, Rank, Full Name, Date of Birth and period served (dates from and to).

Requests for data for ex-Army personnel must also include the Regiment or Corps. Once all the necessary information has been received, your request will be processed and you should receive a reply within 40 calendar days.

To download the SAR form please go to http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_records/sar.doc

For service records of non-UK personnel please email: defencerecords.hayes@gtnet.gov.uk

To access a record the following information (or as much as possible) is required: Service Number, Rank, Full Name, Date of Birth and period served (dates from and to). For queries to the Army also state the Regiment or Corps in addition to the above information.

A full copy of the record can be requested however, original documents, discharge papers/books cannot be replaced. The MOD will also provide extracts from service records.

Requests from Interested parties, researchers etc:
Enquirers must provide a letter of consent from the subject of the record. Refer to: http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk

Deceased personnel:
Enquirers must provide the consent of the Next of Kin and unless the person died in Service, proof of death. A charge may be made for enquiries. Prior to 1972 all Royal Navy personnel were given their service record when they were discharged. For pension purposes the Royal Navy retained pay details. Therefore the only data held on Royal Navy personnel who served prior to 1972 is their Service details (number, rank, name etc) and a list of dates and ships/shore bases.

Where do I write to for access to data?
Personnel records are stored at archives and repositories throughout the UK. Additionally there are also Subject Access Request Co-ordinators for each Service.

Please refer the The Veterans Agency website at http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk

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