We are happy to announce our new collection of UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards dated 1914-1923. This collection provides details of military and military-related personnel who filed for a pension following WWI. When a soldier was killed in the war, his widow and/or other dependents were also entitled to pension benefits. This collection may also contain records for fallen soldiers who were unmarried and had other next-of-kin apply for benefits.
The collection is divided into Mercantile Marine Index Cards, Naval Pensions Ledger, Pension Record Cards, and PRC Ledgers.
Mercantile Marine Index Cards contain details on pensions awarded for death or injury to a seaman on a British ship, like this one for Boatswain William Alfred Belanger. He drowned when the S.S. Van Stirum was torpedoed on Christmas Day in 1915. The index card lists his widow’s name and address, along with the date and the cause of his death.
Naval Pensions Ledger records provide details of military and military-related personnel who filed for a pension if injured or killed. This ledger also contains details about their widow, dependents, or next of kin if unmarried without children. In this example, we see the Pension Ledger for William J. Barnes. It provides the name and birthdates of his wife and their three children.
Pension Records Cards are particularly valuable for providing details on soldier’s dependents. This card for Albert Head, who went missing before being declared dead, lists his wife and four children and even includes details about when his widow remarried.
PRC Ledgers relate to British servicemen and does not extend to Empire/Commonwealth soldiers who would have received pensions from their own governments. These ledgers provide information on the types of wounds and injuries received during the war. In this example, William Tarn served in the Royal Air Force and suffered “Delusional Insanity” as a result of his service in the Great War.
Start Exploring this new collection of UK records on Fold3 today!
I have a all access Ancestry membership, but does not cover Fold 3.
Can I take advantage of the $59.95 one year discounted amount?
Does it have records too of regular soldiers who did come back not killed but maimed and applied for pensions too?
Kind of tired of ready about all the leaders and their stories, since the majority of the members of the military in UK were the one.s who put their lives on the line for king and country.
Want more of their stories.
Also still waiting for more on the UK military records for WW2….as my current ancestors are gone now who served in WW2, and would like more information on their service…I am 82 and my husband is 84, and his Dad, was capture in Arnheim, and have only the camp where he was in. But if you look further, they always seem to have the records of the leaders…come on now lets give the average man/woman a voice please.
WW2 UK service records are available from the MOD; cost £30.
Catherine, if you have All Access you do have access to Fold3 records. You should be able to log in Fold3 using your Ancestry credentials. If you need help, please contact [email protected].
Question if you are alive and you are a descendent of a from that era can you still get the deceased family members benefits – whether it be next of kin or child if the widow has dies also?
Can you be clear, please, on what you’ve added? I know you already had a percentage of WW1 British Army Pension record cards, as I’ve used them, so what is new?
We’ve added more than 5 million new records, almost doubling the size of the collection.
Hi,
Are these a new set of records? Or just an update on the records that were already available via Fold3?
I downloaded one of these cards back in 2018 from Fold3 so perhaps this is an update… be nice to know either way.
Hi Doug, We added over 5 million new images to this collection in December.
My Father was in there US Army and he fought in France as well as I can tell. He passed away in 1997. Being a “jerk” of a son I never thought to ask him what he did. When I discovered his WWII footlocker in the attic I was fascinated by all the “stuff” that he returned with. I found his maps of France and Germany plus a German Luger hand gun and so much other of his souvenirs that he brought home with him. He found out that I had been poking around in his foot locker, especially with the gun, so he made everything “go away”. When he passed away I found out that his unit had earned to Bronze Star for something but I never knew what it was. I tried to get his service records but they apparently perished in a fire along with many others. My Mother passed away in 2017 at the age of 101. Our family had to empty her house in order to sell it. In her attic we found a large box of every single letter he had ever written to her while he was over there. Every one’s letters were subject to an “examiner” who reviewed them to make sure that the writer’s didn’t reveal “where they were” or “what their unit’s plans were”. Apparently the Germans had been stealing their mail to see what the Americans were up to. So three years of his mail were mostly “lovey dovey” stuff. Quite a few of them had words, sentences or paragraphs sliced out of them. He also explained that he received a Purple Heart because of a road side bomb explosion caused him to get hit, with a piece of shrapnel, in his leg. I couldn’t find out how he received his second Purple Heart because I never asked him.
So many of us wished we would have asked more questions when we could.
Are there any records for injuries or benefits for those that may have been injured working in a munitions factory? My gg-aunt went blind workingim a factory and went to live In a home. Having trouble tracking her info down.
Hi Heather, we don’t have any records like that on the site but I am checking with my colleagues in the UK to see if they have a source they can recommend.
My grandfather & husband’s father were over in Europe for WWII .. I’d like to find some records for them .. I’m in Canada, F.inLaw was a rear gunner in Airforce & my grandfather was injured & trained w/ the British medics that were in war .. can I find any records in Fold (haven’t been able to thus far ..nothing has come up) Haven’t found anything in Canadian records in Ancestry either .. I DO have my F.inLaw’s medals
Thx
Russell Odell Wells was in the Mercantile Marine. Dont know the dates. From Arkansas.
I found the headline somewhat misleading. While I am glad to have the index card for my grandfather, I thought I would be getting his actual pension record, rather than just an index. It would be helpful if the story included information on where to get the full records (or whether they actually still exist). There is very little on the front side and only a date of June 12, 1931 on the back. My grandfather was gassed in WWI, so I wonder if he only applied for a pension in 1931.
I am looking for any records for Raymond Cletus Klapp. He was in the Army Air Corp and a POW in WWII