- Home
- Articles
- World Records
- Full list of United Kingdom records
- Armed Forces & Conflict
- British Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 1917-1920
Armed Forces & Conflict
- 1st Sportsman's Battalion, Royal Fusiliers 1914-1918
- 1861 Worldwide Army Index
- Afghan War, Fallen Officers & Victoria Cross Recipients 1878-1880
- Airmen Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
- Anglo-Boer War Records 1899-1902
- Army Deserters 1828-1840
- Army List August 1878
- Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945
- Birmingham City Battalions 1914-1918
- Birmingham Employers Roll of Honour 1914-1918
- Bradford Pals 1914-1918
- Britain, Gestapo Invasion Arrest List 1940
- British Armed Forces Soldiers' Wills 1850-1986
- British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records
- British Armed Forces, First World War Widows' Pensions Forms
- British Armed Forces, Roman Catholic Registers Baptisms
- British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945
- British Army Discharges, 60th Foot 1854-1880
- British Army Officers' Widows' Pension Forms 1755-1908
- British Army Service Records - WO 363 & WO 364
- British Army Service Records WO 22 & WO 23
- British Army Service Records WO 96 & WO 97
- British Army, Bond Of Sacrifice: Officers Died In The Great War 1914-1916
- British Army, British Red Cross Society volunteers 1914-1918
- British Army, East Surrey Regiment 1899-1919
- British Army, East Surrey Regiment 1899-1919
- British Army, East Surrey Regiment 1899-1919
- British Army, Honourable Artillery Company
- British Army, Imperial War Museum Bond of Sacrifice 1914-1918
- British Army, Indian Volunteer Force Medal Awards 1915-1939
- British Army, Irish regimental enlistment registers 1877-1924
- British Army, List Of Half-Pay Officers 1714
- British Army, Lloyds Of London Memorial Roll 1914-1919
- British Army, Northumberland Fusiliers 1881-1920
- British Army, Queen's Royal West Regiment 1901-1918
- British Army, Queen's Royal West Regiment 1901-1918
- British Army, Queen's Royal West Regiment 1901-1918
- British Army, Railwaymen Died in the Great War
- British Army, Royal Artillery Officer Deaths 1850-2011
- British Army, Royal Artillery Officers 1716-1899
- British Army, Royal Artillery War Commemoration Book, 1914-1918
- British Army, Royal Artillery, 80th Field Regiment, WW2
- British Army, Royal Welch Fusiliers
- British Army, War of 1812 Casualties
- British Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 1917-1920
- British Army, worldwide index 1851
- British Casualties, Aden 1955-1967
- British Casualties, Indian Mutiny 1857-1859
- British Casualties, Korean War 1950 – 1953
- British Casualties, Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939
- British in Argentina 1914-1919
- British India Office Army & Navy pensions
- British Officers Taken Prisoner of War 1914-1918
- British Red Cross & Order Of St John Enquiry List, Wounded & Missing, 1914-1919
- British Red Cross Register of Overseas Volunteers, 1914-1918
- British Royal Air Force, Airmen's Service Records 1912-1939
- British Royal Air Force, Gallantry Awards 1914-1919
- British Royal Air Force, Officers’ Service Records 1912 - 1920
- British Royal Naval Reserve 1899-1930 ADM240
- British Royal Naval Reserve 1899-1930 ADM337
- British Royal Navy & Royal Marines service and pension records, 1704-1919
- British Royal Navy & Royal Marines service and pension records, 1704-1919
- British Royal Navy & Royal Marines, Battle of Jutland 1916 servicemen
- British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795-1852
- British Royal Navy personnel 1831
- British Royal Navy Seamen 1899-1924
- British Royal Navy, Foreign Awards To Officers Index 1914-1922
- British Royal Navy, Ships' Musters
- British subjects who died in the service of the Indian Empire
- British Women's Royal Air Force Service Records 1918-1920
- Chelsea: documents of soldiers awarded deferred pensions 1838-1896 - WO 131
- Chelsea: pensioners' discharge documents 1760-1887 - WO 121
- Chelsea: pensioners' discharge documents, foreign regiments 1816-1817 - WO 122
- City of York militia & muster rolls 1509-1829
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour, 1914-1921
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour, 1938-1947
- Crimean War casualties 1853-1856
- Cyprus Emergency Deaths 1955-1960
- De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918
- Edinburgh Pals 1914-1918
- Essex, Clacton Roll Of Honour 1914-1918
- Glasgow Pals 1914-1918
- Hampshire, Portsmouth Military Tribunals 1916-1919
- Harold Gillles Plastic Surgery Archives from WWI
- Harts Army List 1840
- Harts Army List 1888
- Honourable Women of the Great War, 1914-1918
- Imperial Yeomanry, soldiers' documents, South African War 1899-1902 - WO 128
- Irish Officers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
- Jersey, 1815 Militia Survey
- Kempston Servicemen 1914-1920
- Kilmainham Pensioners British Army service records, 1771-1821
- Leicestershire and Rutland, Soldiers Died 1914-1920
- Lincolnshire, Kesteven Militia Ballot List 1824
- Liverpool Pals 1914-1918
- London County Council Record Of War Service 1914-1918
- London Stock Exchange Memorial Roll 1914-1918
- London volunteer soldiers, 1859-1955
- Manchester Employers' Roll Of Honour 1914-1916
- Manchester Regiment city battalions 1914-1916
- Middlesex War Memorials
- Middlesex, Poplar, Military Tribunals 1916-1918
- Military Nurses (Royal Red Cross)
- Military Nurses 1856-1994
- Napoleonic War Records
- Napoleonic War Records
- Napoleonic War Records 1775 - 1817
- National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
- Northamptonshire Military Tribunals 1916-1918
- Northamptonshire militia lists 1771
- Officers' services, First World War - WO 339 & WO 374
- Oldham Pals 1914-1920
- Oldham Pals Roll of Honour
- Palestine Conflict British Deaths 1945-1948
- Peninsular Medal Roll 1793-1814
- Plymouth Militia records 1625-1831
- Plymouth Rolls Of Honour 1914-1919
- Plymouth Second World War records 1939-1945
- Plymouth Subscribers For Redemption Of Captives In Turkey and Algiers 1680
- Prisoners of War - Second World War (1939-1945) - Europe
- Prisoners of War - Second World War (1939-1945) - Far East
- Prisoners Of War 1715-1945 - Napoleonic
- Prisoners of war 1745-1945: Crimean War to Boer Wars
- Prisoners Of War 1914-1920
- Regimental records of officers' services 1775-1914 - WO 76
- Royal Air Force Muster Roll 1918
- Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942
- Royal Artillery Honors & Awards
- Royal Artillery Military Medal Awards
- Royal Artillery Other Ranks: casualty cards 1939-1947
- Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905
- Royal Fusiliers, Stockbrokers' Battalion 1914-1918
- Royal Marine Medal Roll
- Royal Marines 1899-1919
- Royal Naval Division Casualties, 1914-1919
- Royal Naval Division Service Records, 1914-1920
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve medal roll
- Royal Navy Officers 1899-1919
- Royal Navy Officers Medal Roll, 1914-1920
- Royal Sussex Regiment Southdown Battalions 1914-1918
- Royal Tank Corps enlistment records, 1919-1934
- Salford Pals 1914-1918
- Silver War Badge roll 1914-1920
- Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919
- South Africa Roll Of Honour 1914-1918
- South Lancashire Regiment Prisoners of War 1914-1918
- Surrey Recruitment Records
- Surrey, Military Tribunals 1915-1918
- Swansea Pals (14th Welsh Regt)
- The Household Cavalry 1801-1919 - WO 400
- Waterloo Roll Call 1815
- Welsh Guards 1915-1918
- World War One British Army Medal Index Cards
- WW1 Ships Lost at Sea, 1914-1919
- WWI Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations
- WWII Escapers and Evaders

Explore this amazing collection of records from your ancestor’s service with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War One. The records include application forms, medical examinations, uniform assignment forms, personal references and much more. Through these documents you will find your ancestor’s birthplace, a physical description and medical history, work and education background and details about your ancestor’s parents’ nationalities. For the family historian this is an amazing resource and exciting to discover with so many documents in one place. The original documents are held at The National Archives in London in series WO 398.
Each record includes a transcript and many have images. Some documents are more than one page. Use the arrow to the right to flip through the document and the arrow to the left to go back to the beginning.
Transcript
- Name
- Age
- Birth date
- Year
- Service number
- Regiment
- Parish
- County
- Country
Image
Each file contains different types of documents related to the individual’s service with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Crops. Some of the documents available include: official forms, medical examinations, telegrams, letters and various documents. Below is a list and details found in the most frequent types of documents available.
Discover more about these records
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps papers were retained by the Ministry of Defence after the war, then later transferred to The National Archives at Kew. Unfortunately, while the records were held at the War Office Record Store they suffered substantial fire, water and mould damage due to a German air raid in September 1940. The current records are only a small percentage of the original.
The records that are still available today are highly detailed and contain extraordinary information for genealogists. The medical papers will give you a full physical description of your ancestor but also information related to her own health and family medical history. The completed references are valuable for getting to know more about your ancestor’s character as well as people important enough in her life to be asked for a reference. Various other forms will include addresses, parents’ nationalities and next of kin details, all excellent material to help grow your family tree.
The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps first started in January 1917. The corps was initiated by Brigadier A C Geddes. The war office needed to release men from working ‘soft jobs’ so they could fight on the battlefields. The WAAC received a royal patronage and changed its name to the Queen Mary’s Auxiliary Army Corps (QMAAC) on 9 April 1918 and Her Majesty became the Commander-in-Chief of the organisation. The change in name is evident in the records because you will often see administrators have crossed out the word Women’s and have written in Queen Mary’s. Also, that same month, the Women’s Royal Air Force was created and a number of QMAAC members transferred to the WRAF. You can explore those records on Findmypast too. The QMAAC was disbanded on 27 September 1921.
Approximately 57,000 women served with the WAAC during World War One. Each woman worked in one of the four sections: Cookery, Clerical, Mechanical and Miscellaneous. They were stationed in England and abroad in France and Flanders. Those in the cookery department prepared the men’s food either in the camps or the hospitals and the waitresses served the food. They made mutton broth, potato pie, stuffed tomatoes, curried cod and more. In the Clerical section, women provided administrative support for the war offices. Some of the women were required to have special typing and shorthand skills. The women in the Mechanics department worked with the motor vehicles. They would help to repair the vehicles if they broke down sometimes on the roadside and they even worked in factories to build new ones.
Abbeville bombing
On 29-30 May a German bomb fell on a trench at Abbeville, France and killed eight workers outright and another worker died later from wounds sustained during the blast. They were the first WAAC deaths on active service. The press tried to direct the public’s attention to this atrocity of the death of women, but the WAAC Commander Helen Gwynne Vaughan made it clear that these women were on active service and replacing male soldiers in crucial roles. Their deaths were equal to those of their male counterparts. The women were given a full military funeral with troops lining the road to the Abbeville Communal Cemetery, coffins covered with the Union Flag and Royal Flying Corps pilots flying overhead.
Margaret Annabella Campbell Gibson
In the records we have found Margaret Gibson, who received the first WAAC Military Medal. She was one of six women to be recognised for their actions during the Abbeville attack. The first woman to receive the Military Medal was Sarah Bonnell, a member of FANY. Bonnell was the first woman because the six women received their medals in alphabetical order.
The London Gazette from 5 July 1918 stated that Gibson received the Military Medal: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an enemy air-raid when in charge of a QMAAC camp which was completely demolished by enemy bombs, one of which fell within a few feet of the trench in which the women were sheltering. During the raid, Unit Administrator Gibson showed a splendid example. Her courage and energy sustained the women under the most trying circumstances and undoubtedly prevented serious loss of life.’
In Gibson’s file we discovered that prior to the war Gibson worked as warden in a hostel for working ladies. She was very popular with the residents and was always friendly and sympathetic. She was a widow when she joined the service at the age of 40. Gibson worked as a unit administrator when she joined the WAAC in July 1917 and was said to be a favourite among the girls. The records show that Margaret Gibson died of dysentery at No. 16 General Hospital, Le Treport, France on 17 September 1918. Additional records for Gibson are available in Findmypast’s Medal Index Cards and Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919.
International
The women who joined the WAAC were not only residing in the United Kingdom or Ireland, but many came from America, Australia, West Indies, Africa and more countries. Many of them were children of British parents and may have moved to these countries before the war but felt a sense of national pride and duty to come back and join the war effort. Others were wives of active soldiers and wanted to assist British forces.
One example is Annie Harris (nee Regan) - through her WAAC records we find that Annie was born in Australia and had an Irish father and an Australian mother. Her nationality at birth was stated as Australian, but at the time of the application she was British. We can also find that she was married to a British man, had one child and was living in Tasmania. 18 months prior to applying for the WAAC, Harris was living in South Africa. When she joined the corps she was assigned to be a waitress to work abroad. This is a great resource for Annie Harris’ family because it provides further clues to search for Annie’s parents, her child and even has a physical description; Annie was 5ft 3 inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair.