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For well over 20 years now Norman Brown and our resident historian Lt Col John Starling have responded to hundreds (if not getting into the thousands!) of research requests. The research is often done in their own time and they respond to every single email that is sent in. Examples of this research can be seen in the Forums (see WW2 area).

If you do send in an email in regard Labour Corps / Pioneer Corps research for a relative etc please bare in mind that they do not do this full time and they might not get back to you straight away with any results.

They do this research for free, all they ask is a small donation to the Royal Pioneer Corps Association. However this is not compulsory! They also do not do undertake any research for medal collectors, so please if you are a medal collector please do not email us.

The areas below will give you a good starting point into where to start.

The records of World War 1 soldiers are kept at the Public Record Office, Kew. Unfortunately enemy bombing in 1940 meant that many records were destroyed so that only about one-third still survive. In the case of a man who served in the Labour Corps the situation is made even worse as the bombing also destroyed their nominal rolls. This means that there are no official records of which Company a man served in. However Ivor and John's research means that very often he can identify where he served.

  Email John Starling
  Email Ivor

Even if you know the Company a man served in there is no guarantee that you will find a War Diary. None of the British based Companies kept War Diaries. Most of the overseas-based Companies either did not keep War Diaries or they have not survived. Those Diaries that do survive are kept at the Public Record Office however IvorI will be pleased to let you know whether reference is made to a specific Company.

The Public Records Office is now known as The National Archives. It is situated at Ruskin Avenue, Kew, London and holds service records for other rank soldiers discharged before 1921 and for officers serving until about 1922, although the records are not complete. It also holds war diaries for both world wars and sub units belonging to the Forming Corps.They also hold the Service records of soldiers from the pre-1914 era.

It can provide general guidance on holdings, including a useful information leaflet section, and point you to other sources. We cannot conduct research at the Public Records Office on your behalf - staff at Kewunable to undertake research, identify document references or check the content of the records for you. ID is required for a reader's ticket. All enquiries should be directed to:

The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue
Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU

Any queries they can be reached on
Tel: +020 8876 3444
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Pioneer Corps Unit histories from World War I, World War II and upto 1984 are available on written request.
If anyone is doing research on the service of their relatives in the Labour Corps Major John Starling may also be able to help you, provided you have a service number and a company number. We offer this research service to family, relatives and fellow historians so please no military collectors (please do not waste our time).

Lt Colonel John Starling
Royal Pioneer Corps Association
St Georges Barracks
Arncott
Bicester
Oxfordshire
OX25 1PP

Alternatively you can email your requests to myself and I can pass them onto him. Please ensure you send in a Name, Service No and a Company No to the email address below.

  Email Norman

If your ancestor died during the war you can find details of where he is buried or commemorated from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site.

The Army Personnel Centre used to be the authority for all enquiries concerning the records of ex-servicemen, however this has now moved to The National Archives (UPDATED 2024).

Records date from 1914 and go up to 1992, after which records are held by individual units. This includes territorial, volunteer, militia and home-defence forces and some colonial forces. You should note that there is some risk that the official archives of the British Army personnel records between 1922 and 1940 are incomplete. This is because up to half of the original pre-World War II British Army soldier's personal records were destroyed or badly damaged following a World War II German fire-bombing raid on the War Office documents repository at Hayes in 1940. Those that survived are often in a poor condition having been damaged by both fire and water.

Army service records are held by Service Number, Rank, Full Name and Date of Birth. It is important that as much of this information as possible is provided, together with the Regiment or Corps if known, to assist in locating the correct record.

This form needs to be filled in with as much information as possible and ideally with Full Name, Service Number, Date of Birth and most recent unit or unit from which the individual was discharged Rank at discharge.

  Visit National Archives to start the process

Once you have got the personnel records from your relative, contact us with the company number / unit numbers that are on the records and we will look into our records and will be able to tell you where your relative was and what they got upto !

Details to apply for or replace medal are contained in the below link. For a replacement medal you will have to pay for the replacement medal plus a fee.

After applying it normally takes around 4 weeks from the Medal Office getting your payment to you receiving the medal.

  Visit Replacement Medals site

The Royal Logistic Corps hold the full run of RLC and Forming Corps journals, which are readily available to researchers. They also hold unit records from the RLC and the Forming Corps, but these are not always complete and we are not responsible for any omissions.

The contents of the archive reflect the material that has been passed to the Museum and they cannot carry out active collection to answer the specific interest of individuals. They do not hold reserve collections of classified documents or other items that are not available to the public. There is a very large archive of over 100,000 items, which, by appointment, can be viewed by researchers.

If you would like to proceed with your enquiry please provide as much background information as you can to your enquiry. You will then need to provide us with your full postal address, contact telephone number, email address and a £10 cheque payable to ‘The RLC Museum Trust Fund’. Serving members of the RLC and enquiries from the wider British Army/MOD are exempt from this charge.

• The information that they are able to provide enquirers with depends entirely on the sources available in the archive. The available sources can be limited in certain areas and detailed in others.

• The archive does not hold individual service records. However, it is possible that information about an individual may be covered in other more general documentation. For example, certain individuals may be referred to in the Journals of Forming Corps of The RLC.

• It must be appreciated that, although the archive may contain no relevant information to an enquirer, effort is still required to arrive at that conclusion. In this event, staff at the archive will always try to suggest other sources available elsewhere that may me of use to enquirers.

Research Enquiries
Royal Logistic Corps Museum
The Princess Royal Barracks
Deepcut
Camberly
Surrey
GU16 6RW

Reception Telephone: 01252 833371
Corps Shop Telephone: 01252 833484

  Royal Logistic Corps Museum Website

History Index