Free access to Ancestry's military collections

A reminder that Ancestry is opening up free access to its worldwide military collections until the 11th - see http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/remembrance:

Access millions of records, adding an extra level of personal detail about the soldiers who served those countries. Find out more about where they were deployed, their day-to-day movements and the medals they won.

†Access to the records in the featured collections will be free until 11 November, 2015 at 23:59 GMT. To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address. We will then send you a username and password to access the records. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry.co.uk paid membership.

A full list of collections accessible can be found at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/military_records?o_iid=68144&o_lid=68144&o_sch=Internal+List

Research Tip: A couple of Ancestry's British collections are actually accessible via the Canadian portal, but are very much British military records, comprised of regiments who at some stage did some time in Canada. These include Canada, British Army Regimental Rolls of Non-commissioned Officers and Soldiers, 1806-1892 at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=3383 (depot description books from TNA WO 67/7–20), and Canada, British Army and Canadian Militia Muster Rolls and Pay Lists, 1795-1850 at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=3230 (General Muster Books and Pay Lists. WO12/11960–11967, 11972, 12018–12033, 13295; Militia and Volunteers Muster Books and Pay Lists WO13/3673–3717; and Confidential Print North America CO880/1–2).

These have actually cracked a couple of brick walls in my own tree for me, noting places of birth etc, and may do for you also - so do think beyond Ancestry's UK branded holdings when using them!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.