Officers service papers at the PRO- my opinion

On 2nd February the service papers for officers were released to the PRO amongst much trumpeting etc of famous officers, ie Sassoon and T.E.Lawrence. But to the researcher and enthusiast what was there and how good were there. I popped along there on the 10th Feb to take a look, apart from the flock and flocks of family historians who were milling around getting in everyones way and generally pissing me off, I was able to form an opinion.

Whats There ?

 Well from my look quite a few people will be dissappointed I feel. The papers have been weeded several times, I don't know what has been ditched. Whats left in the folder is the original signing on sheet. If the man was promoted from the ranks, the original enlistment documents will be there. Sometimes the invalueble B103 form out lining movements etc, but not always. In the case of a casualty, there is details of a will, correspondence relating to that, and the details of kit shipped home by Cox brothers who seemed to be onto a good thing!. If the man was missing you will find details of the enquiry including witness statements from other ranks who last saw him. If your man was wounded or invalided in any way you will find details of the medical boards etc. What I often found was personal correspondence from relatives relating to a casualty in the usual balck edged paper, also correspondence relating to injury by the officer himself. So there is something to get your teeth into.

Success rate:

Not every officers papers were there, I found that 25% of those I was looking for were not there, also if your man was serving in 1920 then they won't be there. I did however find Royal Marine officers papers to my suprise. These were men who joined the RM through officer cadet units, therefore had papers on that strength.

How easy is it:

Ok for someone experienced like me, the PRO laid on a lot of bodies to help but were overwhelmed by the amount of basically clueless people there. The moral of the story is to go prepared with as much info as possible, it's no use pitchi