Family History in Manchester

Please note free access to Ancestry.co.uk via Ancestry Library Edition is available at The Manchester Room@City Library or any Manchester City Council library. Free access to Findmypast is available at The Manchester Room@City Library.

National Rolls of Honour

In 1919, the National Publishing Company sought to publish a brief biography of as many of those participating in the First World War as was possible. We have made the Manchester and Salford volumes available on the 'Spinning the Web' web site:

• National Roll of Honour: Manchester - When you click on this link, use the global search option at the top of the page to type in Manchester National Roll of Honour - and the surname you are looking for.
• National Roll of Honour: Salford - When you click on this link, use the global search option at the top of the page to type in Salford National Roll of Honour - and the surname you are looking for.

All 14 volumes of the National Roll of Honour are also available on Ancestry.co.uk.

In addition we the following can be accessed on CD-ROM in The Manchester Room@City Library

• Soldiers who died in the Great War (also available on Findmypast and Ancestry.co.uk)
• Army Roll of Honour - World War II (also available on Findmypast)
• Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour (1916)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a searchable database of the 1.7 million Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars, plus the 67,000 Commonwealth civilian casualties who died as a result of enemy action in the Second World War.

Service Records

Please note we do not hold any army service records. 

Pre 1914 and First World War service records are held by the National Archives, but many were WW1 records were destroyed by bombing in 1940.

The National Archives are making British Army Service Records (WO 363) and British Army Pension Records (WO 364) available on Ancestry.co.uk (subscription website).

Service records for the Second World War are held at the Army Records Centre.

Manchester Regiment

The Manchester Regiment Archives are held at Tameside Local Studies Library.

We hold copies of the Manchester Regiment Gazette 1913-1958 (Local Studies 356 M5) and several books on the history of the regiment. Our Local Images collection also contains some photographs relating to the regiment.

Medals and Honours

Th London Gazette lists medal awards and, except for the Military Medal, usually gives the citation. It can be searched on-line at Gazettes Online.

Campaign medal records cards for the First World War can be searched on-line at the National Archives or on Ancestry.co.uk (subscription web site).

Absent Voters List

We hold some absent voters lists for the City of Manchester for 1918-1923 on microfilm. They give information such as the regiment, regimental number, rank, battalion.

Armed forces births, marriages and deaths

Findmypasy.co.uk contains:

• Armed forces births 1761-1994
• Armed forces marriages 1818-1994
• Armed forces deaths 1796-1994

Guides

For more detailed information please see the following published guides:

• William Spencer, Army Records. A Guide for Family Historians (The National Archives, 2008). Archives Reference 929.1072 SPE.
• William Spencer, Army Service Records of the First World War (The Public Record Office, 2001). Local Studies Lending 940.40941 SPE.
• William Spencer, Medals: The Reseacher's Guide (The National Archives, 2006). Local Studies Lending 737.22072 SPE