Thousands of Royal Navy records have been added to Findmypast this week.
New records for two separate sets have been added to the collection, British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records, 1704-1939.
The first 93,000 new records cover the years 1925-1939. You’ll normally see an ancestor’s full name, birth year, birthplace and service number on these Royal Navy Seamen’s Services Continuous Record cards.
Next into the same collection, 29,000 Registers of Seamans’ Services have been added for 1925-1929. After 1925, the Royal Navy introduced a new payroll system, and the Admiralty wished to distinguish new naval recruits under a new pay code. Here, you’ll find a letter that aligns with each service number: using that code, you can define the serviceman’s role.
In both of these new additions, you’ll find a letter code that aligns with each service number. This code helps define the serviceman’s role on the ship, and goes as follows:
F – Fleet Air Arm.
J – Seaman and Communications Branch.
K – Stokers.
L – Officers’ Cooks and Stewards.
M – Miscellaneous.
SS – Short Service, Seamen and Stokers.
SSX – Short Service Seamen.
Pensioners – no prefix.
To search these records, use the advanced search page and filter to series ADM362 for the 1925-1929 additions, or ADM363 for the 1925-1939 additions. They’re a continuation of the British Royal Navy Seamen 1899-1924 collection, so if your ancestor did join before 1925, you may have already found them here.
Royal Navy Officers’ Service Record Cars & Files, 1840-1920
Brand new this week, this collection contains nearly 6,000 officer cards spanning 80 years. It includes the Royal Navy, but also the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Women’s Royal Naval Service.
