World One History John Bowers

It is now 90 years since the end of world war one. During November 2008 Ancestry.co.uk are offering free access to the World War 1 records, so you can research your relatives history; War Records - Medals - Pensions.

Does it work ?

Well it does and it doesn't. I have been trying to find out about Grandfather Thomas Edwin Hill, but failed. The majority of First World War records of service will be found in, however, the Soldiers' Documents, First World War 'Burnt Documents' (catalogue reference WO 363). These are the 'burnt documents' that survived the bombing in 1940, and consist of about 20 to 25% of the original total. These are not yet available in their entirety online although ancestry.co.uk have digitized and made available records for surnames between A-N.

What did I do Next....... John Bowers
I spent a couple of days looking through the records on www.ancestry.co.uk, and found nothing. I knew there was history available, so I looked at another branch of my family tree and decided to look at all members who may have been eligible for was service. So who was 18 years of age between 1914 and 1918 ?

I found John Bowers, born 1896 and then the work began........