Clik here to view.
An example of a record from the King’s Regiment database
In my last Family History Day blog, I talked about the experts who will be on hand to help our visitors with their research on all sorts of First World War subjects at our First World War family history day. However there is another “star of the show” – the King’s Regiment database.
The database is a collection of information, about the men who served with the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) during the First World War. Most museums and heritage groups have lists and databases of information. So what makes ours so special? Our database is huge. It is estimated that around 110,000 men were enlisted with the Regiment during the War. Thanks to the work of one very dedicated compiler, almost 92,000 of those men have a listing on the database. And we can connect photos to 5,000 of them.
The information generally isn’t taken from soldier’s service records, but is a compilation of a variety of material, that perhaps is a little more difficult to access; newspaper articles, school year books, listings on memorials, family diaries and letters, journals, official War Diaries. Anywhere that information appears about an individual, our researcher has tried to uncover it and include it. Sometimes we don’t know much about the soldier and there might just be a name and a service number. Often we can provide details about the man’s family life, or his work, his actions on the battlefield, if he was killed, where he is buried – a real mix of information.
There is an online index and the full database has been available to search in the City Soldiers Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool since the gallery opened, but the newest version, available at our Family History Day, has an additional 10,000 records added, plus an extra 2,000 images. Many of the existing records have also had more information added to them.
Clik here to view.
Our experts helping the public during Family History Day
I am so pleased that we are able to offer this unique database as a resource for visitors and our King’s Regiment experts who will be there on Family History Day (including Joe, the compiler) are always able to help with further information.
Family History Day is Saturday 21 November, 10.30am to 4.30pm, free entry.
