Shropshire Routes to Roots

5. War bureaucracy

Official documents

Official documents - letters from the Army, Navy or one of the Ministries of State can give us a lot of information about individual soldiers and the inevitable bureaucracy that the families back home had to cope with if the soldier was killed or wounded. Demobilization or Discharge papers are also valuable sources of information, although these were obviously only issued if the soldier survived the war.

Letter from the Army Service Corps to George Higley regarding his son, W.J. Higley. Wilfred Higley had died of wounds on 13th November, 1917.

ASC Letter to George Higley [Shropshire Archive reference: 5310/C/16] Larger image and transcription in a new window [46kb]

We have to be careful about mistakes in sources such as this. See if you can answer the following questions about the letter above:

• What was Private W. J. Higley's Service Number?
• What is the discrepancy between the letter and the accompanying text?

War Office Letter Larger image, in a new window [32kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: 5310/C/22]

Letter from The Director-General of Graves Registration and Enquiries, War Office. George Higley, Wilfred's father, had requested a photograph of Wilfred's grave.

It was very difficult for most families to visit the grave or memorial of their dead or missing men, although such visits did become very popular in the 1920's and 1930's. A photograph of the area where their family members were buried was the nearest many families were able to get.

Continue

Return to top of page