Was there a Red Cross Volunteer in Your Family ?

The Red Cross have now made their World War I collection of records partly available with an index of World War I volunteers.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Red Cross formed a Joint War Committee with the Order of St John, raised funds, organised volunteers and paid staff to provide equipment and services in the UK and the theatres of war. Everyone was trained in first aid, some trained in nursing, cookery, hygiene and sanitation.

Most of the women became nurses, initially in hospitals in Britain, but as the casualties mounted, more were sent overseas to casualty stations on or near the battlefield or to hospitals. Many people offered their houses as convalescent homes for the wounded or as auxiliary hospitals; some town halls and primary schools were used too.

There were over 3,000 auxiliary hospitals across the UK. They were staffed by a commandant, a quartermaster, a matron, a cook and nurses. Local GPs often volunteered for work in the hospitals in addition to their ordinary work. The nurses were all volunteers, often they were too young or old or had family commitments to serve full-time. Male volunteers usually drove or accompanied the ill or wounded to and from hospitals, many acted as stretcher-bearers, a lot were sent to France as ambulance drivers, some being wounded in enemy action.

Volunteers also collected clothing and books for soldiers in hospitals, raised funds, made bandages and splints, acted as cooks, store-keepers, worked in the offices and just as importantly, provided food and cigarettes to soldiers arriving by ambulance train. One of my great-aunts married a soldier she met on such duty.

A lot of people were displaced by the war, in 1915, volunteers started visiting hospitals looking for people who had been recorded as missing; work that the Red Cross is still involved in. By the end of the war in 1918, 90,000 volunteers had worked in the UK or abroad. There were lots of famous volunteers including Agatha Christie and Vera Brittain, perhaps some of your family were volunteers.

To find out, use the index of World War I Red Cross volunteers..

You can search by forename, surname, location or hospital or role. The initial search takes you to a search results page that shows name, county, date of engagement, age when engaged. Clicking on the name takes you to a detailed page about that person.

The information provided comes from record cards and may include name, address, age, character, service dates, hospital, rank, pay, duties, commission, honours awarded. Pictures of the cards are also included. Annoyingly, first names weren’t always recorded, some just gave initials.

Military Stories

Last Sunday's programme, the fifth episode of the new 'Digging up Your Roots', which is broadcast on 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday until 21 February was about military stories.

If you have a question to ask, write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk .

If you missed this, it is available as a podcast for another day.


The first article was a unique letter written by Andrew Anderson, a machine-gunner, on a march to Germany.

Copies of his letter have gone to the regimental museum, local museums, and schools. They recommend that paper documents should be kept in acid-free plastic.

At the beginning of World War II, Germans and Italians were allowed to escape being interned if they volunteered for the British Army Pioneer Corps which provided general labour for the Army, building roads and railways, unloading and loading ships.

Although the stories were interesting, I felt that the discussion about record sources was more useful.

Look in regimental war diaries for details of soldiers.
Prisoner of War camp records are available at Children and Families of Far East Prisoners of War, and for other theatres through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Liberation questionnaires (completed by mainly British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War of all ranks and services), Air Ministry Combat reports, unclaimed medals are at the National Archives at Kew.
Service records at Veterans UK.
Information about World War I is at The Long, Long Trail.

They talked about the "Dead Man's Penny" - a bronze memorial plaque, 5 inches (12.5 cm) in diameter, inscribed with the dead person's name, which was sent with a scroll to the next of kin to all those who died in the Great War (World War I ), there are lots of websites about this, and one that has nice pictures is http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-medals/dead-penny.htm.

I was also interested in the account of an Alexander Macleod who died of cholera in India in 1845, because they talked about a bill of sale of his possessions, and a receipt by his widow.

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