British Jewry Book of Honour online

From Forces War Records (www.forceswarrecords.co.uk):

The British Jewry Book of Honour is now available for military ancestry searches online at Forces War Records

50,000 Jews served in the British and colonial forces during World War I. Forces War Records is the only genealogy website to make these military service records available online for ancestry searches and tracing family history.

Forces War Records has recently transcribed The British Jewry Book of Honour and published its full contents on the website, making thousands of Jewish military service records available for online ancestry searches.

The British Jewry Book of Honour was published in honour of the 50,000 Jews who contributed to British and colonial forces' involvement in World War I. It includes an alphabetical list of Jewish soldiers awarded military honours, and those killed in action. Published in London in 1922, the book is a permanent record of Jewish enlistment, casualties, military honours, Jewish Units, Jewish hospitals and other Jewish institutions and agencies. It also contains the nominal rolls of Jews who served, listed by service and by regiment; indexed photographs of many of these individuals, as well as letters of support and acknowledgement from distinguished men of the day, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The book was originally edited by Reverend Michael Adler who was the first Jewish chaplain to serve in HM Forces.

Forces War Records is the definitive online guide to military ancestry searches and sister site to Forces Reunited, the leading British military community on the web with more than one million members and reuniting veterans since 2001. The British Jewry Book of Honour is exclusive to the Forces War Records Collections List.

NB: In the covering email from Dominic, he has indicated that the company is working closely with the JGSGB and the Jewish Miitary Museum, so more Jewish material will be forthcoming.

(With thanks to Dominic Hayhoe)

UPDATE (27/3/2013). From the JGSGB:

JGSGB welcomes the British Jewry Book of Honour going online

The JGSGB (Jewish Genealogy Society of Great Britain) today welcomed the announcement by Forces War Records that it has transcribed and placed online the British Jewry Book of Honour. First published in 1922, this compendium of Jewish military service records honours the 50,000 Jews who contributed to British and colonial forces' involvement in World War I. The ‘Big Blue Book’ as it is known, is a permanent record of Jewish enlistment, casualties, Units, hospitals and other Jewish wartime institutions and agencies. It also contains the nominal rolls of Jews who served, listed by service and by regiment and including indexed photographs of many of them. There’s an alphabetical list of the thousands of Jewish soldiers awarded military honours, and those killed in action. The full, searchable records are exclusively available at www.forces-war-records.co.uk (fees apply).

Mark Nicholls, JGSGB Chairman commented “JGSGB has wanted this book to be transcribed for a long time and had been exploring how to do it before Forces War Records’s excellent initiative. We know the value of the book to people with Jewish ancestors who served, were wounded and died in WW1. We know too, that many people will be inspired by the Centenary of WW1 in 2014 to search out their ancestors’ involvement WW1 and the transcription will be invaluable to them”.

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. For my other genealogy books, please visit  http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.