Alternative WW1 merchant seamen medals index on FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has placed an index online to a collection of Merchant Seamen medals from the First World War. Here's the blurb:

British Merchant Navy, First World War Medal Index Cards 1914-1925

The British Merchant Navy First World War Medal Index Cards, 1914-1925, contain over 157,000 records. During the First World War, Merchant Navy seamen, who had served at sea for at least six months and who had served on at least one voyage through a danger zone, were entitled to the Mercantile Marine Medal. The Medal was awarded by the Board of Trade, a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. Recipients of the Mercantile Marine Medal were automatically entitled to the British War Medal and those who were invalided out of the navy during the war were entitled to receive the Silver War Badge.

Each record is a transcript of the original medal card and contains a link to purchase and download an image of the original record card from The National Archives. Medal cards tell you which medals were awarded, details of the seaman’s career in the Merchant Navy and their discharge number.

Accessing original copies once you've been redirected to The National Archives site is £3.30, or free to view at the facility in London. As this is a third party index, you can also go directly to the website's Discovery catalogue (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk) and do the search there (the collection is located within BT351), neglecting the need to use FindmyPast. There is a dedicated page on the subject at the TNA website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/merchant-seamen-medals-ww1.htm, with its own alternative search screen. FindmyPast claims its index covers 157,424 merchant seamen, the TNA page claims 155,000 for its offerings.

NB: Whilst the TNA database lists its sources up front as records held under BT 351/1/1, BT 351/1/2 and MT 9/1404, FindmyPast does not say anything up front other than "Recipients of the Mercantile Marine Medal were automatically entitled to the British War Medal and those who were invalided out of the navy during the war were entitled to receive the Silver War Badge". This seems to match the description of records available via the TNA database.

FindmyPast has also released various Dorset based parish records - full details at http://blog.findmypast.com/fridays/.

Chris

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