Browse new British Army records from Surrey to South Wales

6-7 minute read

By Daisy Goddard | January 5, 2024

With a total of 22,608 new records added, there are so many heroic stories to discover this Findmypast Friday.

This week, immerse yourself in the lives of your military ancestors like never before. We've added over 22,000 new British Army records to our collection, with new additions spanning across England and Wales. We also added a brand new newspaper title, as well as a million free-to-view pages.

From photo albums to attestations, read on for a full rundown of this week's fascinating new additions.

British Army, Coldstream Guards 1800-1981

This week's biggest update comes to our Coldstream Guards collection, to which we've added 17,896 photo album records and 497 attestations. Founded in 1650, the Coldstream Guards is one of the British Army's oldest regiments. It has historically been responsible for the protection of the Royal family, and is thus is also considered to be one of the army's most prestigious regiments.

With this update, our Coldstream Guards collection now totals in at over 167,000 records, making it easy to track down relevant information about your ancestors that may have served with this regiment between 1800 and 1981.

The first part of this record update consists of images and transcriptions of over 17,000 photo album entries. Glean high quality images from some of history's key moments - who knows, you may even spot a familiar face or two.

Soldiers marching at the Battle of the Somme. View the full album.

But that's not all - on top of these detail-rich images, there are also attestation records for you to explore. As indicated by Thomas William Andrew's attestation record from 1957, you can expect to learn a name, regimental/soldier number, birth year and place, enlistment date, and date of discharge from records within this set.

Explore this record.

Spanning from the Napoleonic era right up the Cold War post-1945, our Coldstream Guards record collection may contain key information about the life of your military ancestor.

British Army, London Regiment, Surrey Battalions 1914-1940

This week's second addition consists of 3,517 British Army records from London's Surrey Battalions, between 1914 and 1940. Though this brand new set doesn't stretch until the end of World War 2, it covers the outbreak of the First World War, the interwar period, and a year of the second major global conflict. It may just be able to provide some much-needed insight into the stories of your wartime ancestors.

The images and transcriptions within this set can tell you a name, rank, service number, battalion and regiment, as well as the dates of enlistments, transfers and discharges.

The attestation of Stephen George Dousdall, who enlisted in Bermondsey on 29 March 1922. Before joining the army aged 18, Stephen was a clerk. View this record in full.

As always, be sure to consult the original record to ensure you glean all the information from each source - some images contain a birth place, attestation place, occupation and spouse's name.

British Army Service Records, South Wales Borderers

This week's last military addition takes the form of 698 new transcriptions from South Wales, added to our British Army Service Records set. They document the military service of men from the South Wales Borderers line infantry regiment, which was founded in the late 17th century.

These transcriptions cover the 1890s and the year 1915. During this time, the regiment was involved in active service across the world, from the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) to the First World War in 1914. If your ancestor fought with the South Wales Borderers during this time, their name may just appear within this collection.

The information contained within these service records varies depending on the document type, from pensioners' discharges to medical records. You'll see the document type listed on each transcript.

Field Service Offence Report of South Wales Borderer Robert John Davis, 1917. Explore this record.

In general, you can expect to learn a full name, birth date and place, service number, rank, regiment, unit, age at attestation, residence and pension status. In the case of fatalities, you'll also find a death date.

Discover new pages from Bromley to Buxton

We've kicked the new year off with a bang, adding a brand new title - the Coleraine Times - to our newspaper collection, in addition to a million new free-to-view pages.

Published weekly in the Londonderry town of Coleraine on the mouth of the River Bann, the Coleraine Times is a tabloid title that was founded in the latter half of the 20th century. In addition to local news and community updates, you'll find articles on sports and special interest topics within the Coleraine Times' pages.

Coleraine Times.

Owned in the 21st century by National World Publishing, this newspaper is still published today. We've added pages from 1990 to 1999 to our newspaper collection this week, offering you an in-depth insight into Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

In addition to this new Northern Irish title, we also made massive updates to our free collection at the end of 2023. With a million new pages updated, we now have 3.4 million free-to-view historical newspaper pages available for you to explore.

These recent additions cover over 100 years of history, between 1798 and 1900. They aren't limited to Britain - in addition to pages from the United Kingdom and Ireland, we have stories from the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Antigua.

Between this week's update and the free-to-view pages added at the close of 2023, here's a full rundown of all that's been added to our newspaper collection in recent weeks.

New titles:

Coleraine Times, 1990-1999

Updated titles:

Bromley Journal and West Kent Herald, 1886
Buxton Advertiser, 1988, 1991
Cork Daily Herald, 1868
Dundee Weekly News, 1880, 1882
Liverpool Daily Post, 1997
Musselburgh News, 1988
Northampton Herald, 1844
Portadown Times, 1998
Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser, 1986-1987
Wharfedale & Airedale Observer, 1912
Worthing Herald, 1979, 1982

New free-to-view pages:

Aberdare Times, 1889, 1892
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1798-1900
American Settler, 1880-1892
Ayrshire Weekly News and Galloway Press, 1879-1891
Boston Gazette, 1861
Bradford Observer, 1834-1875
Brechin Herald, 1890-1892
Brecknock Beacon, 1883-1896
Bright’s Intelligencer and Arrival List, 1860
British Yachtsman, 1894
Brondesbury, Cricklewood & Willesden Green Advertiser, 1892
Brunswick or True Blue, 1821
Colonies and India, 1875-1898
Comet for Hornsey, Crouch End and Highgate, 1889
Course of the Exchange, 1825-1900
Daily News (London), 1846-1900
Derby Exchange Gazette, 1861
Derby Mercury, 1800-1900
Dublin Hospital Gazette, 1856-1862
Dudley Guardian, Tipton, Oldbury & West Bromwich Journal and District Advertiser, 1874-1875
East Kent Times, 1859, 1861-1864
East Suffolk Mercury and Lowestoft Weekly News, 1858-1859
East Wind, 1875-1876
Eastern Star, 1853
Eastleigh Weekly News, 1895-1900
English Mail, 1859-1860
Evening Times (London), 1852
Evening Times 1825, 1825-1826
Faversham Gazette, and Whitstable, Sittingbourne, & Milton Journal, 1855-1857
Financial Standard, 1891
Finsbury Free Press, 1868-1869
Freeman’s Journal, 1820-1900
Glasgow Property Circular and West of Scotland Weekly Advertiser, 1879-1891
Gloucester Mercury, 1861-1884
Govan Chronicle, 1864-1884
Grantown Supplement, 1894-1900
Haddingtonshire Advertiser and East-Lothian Advertiser, 1881-1888
Hampshire Advertiser, 1831-1832, 1834-1849, 1851-1852, 1854-1863, 1865, 1867-1895, 1897
Hampshire Telegraph, 1802-1878, 1880-1900
Hartlepool Free Press and General Advertiser, 1860
Hebrew Observer, 1853-1854
Holmes’ Brewing Trade Gazette, 1878-1886
Holt’s Weekly Chronicle, 1837-1855
Illustrated Times 1853, 1853-1854
Ipswich Journal, 1800-1828, 1830, 1833-1896, 1898, 1900
Isle of Man Times, 1869, 1872, 1874-1895, 1897-1900
Isle of Wight Observer, 1852-1870, 1873-1876, 1878-1895, 1898-1900
Labour Pioneer (Cardiff), 1900
Leeward Islands Gazette, 1893
Leith Herald, 1879-1891
Liberty, 1894-1896
Little Times, 1867
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 1842-1900
London & Provincial News and General Advertiser, 1861-1867
London and Liverpool Advertiser, 1847
London and Scottish Review, 1875
London Life, 1879
London Mirror, 1871-1876
London News Letter and Price Current, 1859-1865
London Weekly Investigator, 1855-1857
Luton Weekly Recorder, 1855-1857, 1859
McPhun’s Australian News, 1853-1855
National Observer, 1888-1897
North Wales Chronicle, 1827-1900
Northman and Northern Counties Advertiser, 1880-1886, 1890
Nottinghamshire Guardian, 1849-1871, 1873-1887, 1889, 1892-1896, 1898-1900
Oxford Journal, 1800-1895, 1898-1900
Preston Chronicle, 1831-1885, 1887, 1889-1893
Radnorshire Standard, 1898-1900
Reynolds’s Newspaper, 1850-1900
Scottish Border Record, 1881-1892
Seren Cymru, 1851, 1856-1860, 1875, 1877-1884, 1889, 1892-1893, 1895
The Era, 1838-1900
The Star, 1869-1877, 1879-1891, 1893-1897, 1900
Weekly Free Press and Aberdeen Herald, 1876, 1879-1888, 1890-1892
Wrexham Advertiser, 1854-1857
Y Genedl Gymreig, 1877-1900
Y Goleuad, 1869-1900

Have you made a surprising family history discovery? Whatever you've uncovered about your past, we'd love to hear about it. You can now get in touch and tell us using this handy form.

In the last record update of 2023, we added almost 20,000 workhouse records, school registers, and memorial inscriptions. Be sure to discover the full update for yourself here.