Canadian Military Records Notes from OGS Seminar May 1978 held at Carleton Univ, Ottawa, Ontario Canada. Speaker: Grace Brymner Canadian Forces Records Branch National Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington, Ottawa, On K1A ON3 (formerly P.A.C) There are no lists of Muster Rolls available from the Archives, but the speaker has compiled some for an article for FAMILIES, Dec 19__. She is Director of RCAF History; NAC has existed for 105 years and houses records of those serving in its military forces. Has records of Military Engineers;public and private records from the middle of the 18th to the 20th centuries; but does not include Dept of Defense. Records Centre, Canadian Forces material has personnel files for all those in armed services, but these are "closed" files. They do have a reference service, if one is a descendant of individual whose record is sought. If he is still alive, must get written permission of the veteran. Colonial Records: As of July 1, 1867 British Army and the Royal Navy continued to maintain the defense of Canada after Confederation. By 1871 they had left Quebec; by 1905-6 they left Nova Scotia; many records are located in Britain, of course, but copies have been microfilmed of some of these and are located in Ottawa. The waters of Newfoundland were fished by fishermen from the West Country of England in the 1600s. NFD and Nova Scotia were later important naval bases for England. The Royal Navy provided convoy protection and tried to protect the fishing waters. Royal Navy ships of war were posted at St Johns and Halifax in the 1800s. Naval officers surveyed the coastal waters and mapped them. The Great Lakes were an important highway and the provincial marines and the Royal Navy protected and patrolled them. Dockyards grew along the lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The British Army was also important in the history of early Canada. The Queen's Rangers were prominent in the history of Toronto. The Indian Dept. was aligned closely with the Dept. of the Army. The original order in which documents were issued governs the arrangement of papers in the Archives, following Administrative history and procedures. Knowing the rank, unit or ship on which an individual served is required in order to locate service records. Military Records available from the 19th century: Army Lists of Commissioned Officers; were published annually. It is possible to trace any officer. Generals Lt Generals Colonels Lt Colonels Majors Cavalry Officers Misc Regts (many regiments changed names and numbers) Regiments of the Line Royal Marines Royal Engineers Royal Navy Lists (also published) Ships' Officers Retrospective Lists Periodicals annual: Naval Chronicle contains history of the Royal Navy's actions; biographies Journal of Royal United Service Inst. Militia Lists begin in the early 19th century;British Army List Records stored; some transferred to the Keeper of Records, Public Record Office, London; tried to keep records. The War Office has Army records; the Admiralty has Naval records. AEM38 - ships' masters. NAC only has 20 pages of these. orders, claims, accounts, and receipts ADM 171 - Rolls of Medals issued in Royal Navy and Royal Marines. ADM9 has registers and certificates; Returns of Officers ADM104 has Medical Records ADM1 has Adm Sec papers & correspondence records ADM106 - Navy Board Records, which include shipbuilding at dockyards for North America WAR OFFICE records are more useful. Board of Ordnance, Comm Dept, Paymaster Dept. 1855 - 113 vans moved 14,000 bound volumes to the PRO in London. These were transcribed in 1899 and copies sent to Canada in 1950. BOARD OF ORDNANCE is the best source of military records; this group was responsible for the building of canals, roads, plans, military movements. WO44 and WO55 Misc; neither are good, but together may prove useful. ROYAL ENGINEERS do have records; transcribed from originals Some Commissary records are in the TREASURY DEPT: T64 : Misc & various; T66 Vittling Lists of provisions;names mentioned in lists. What can one expect to find in a record? Places & dates of birth, enlistment dates, and place of enlistment. MUSTER ROLLS. Muster Master cks records (made) by comptroller. There were ten British Line Regiments which served in British North America during the Seven Years' War. The 104th Reg Glengary Light Infantry Fencibles, New Brunswick Light Infantry Fencibles. In 1791-98 the Queen's Rangers. 1817-1850 The War Office acc 2810 volumes of bound records 1775- 1805 Vol. 4-Muster Rolls - Butler's Rangers, Jessup's Rangers,Roger's Rangers Vol. 5 - Queen's Rifle Rangers, New York Rangers Vol. 6 - Quebec to the Lakes-Engineers Vol. 10-Non-commissioned Officers, drummers, privates serving in the American Revolution Memorials transferral WO25 - Misc Regmts & Returns of Casulties, medical records in the Revolution and Napoleonic Wars WO100 - medal returns;Nile Expedition of 1884-85; WO34 Sir J. Amhearst papers; AWO17 &73 - Monthly Returns-not useful; lists only commanding officers of commissioned officers; WO1 contains dispatches, letters, enclosures; from 1801 to 1840 there are no letters; 1801-1854 WAR OFFICE & COLONIAL OFFICE were one; in 1854 they were split and then military correspondance was taken to the Colonial Office. WO11, CO5 CO42 contain American West Indies correspondence and correspondence originating in Canada. Military Records contain 900 reels of microfilm of 1000 papers per reel. PRO Classes also in Treasury Board Records. Exchequer and AO Audit; MG14 - inventories; MG11-16 contain important military material in Volume 2 of PAC General Inventory World War I diaries of Royal Fusiliers and NFD Volunteers; Private papers include those of William Pitt, Sir Guy Carleton and the Chatham papers. The British Museum, now the British Library, has most personnel private papers, including those of important military figures. MG21-imp: contain Bouquet and Haldimand papers; A series=Bouquet; B series=Haldimand. MG21-a rich collection of private papers, muster rolls, departmental inventories National Archives of Canada has 200 coll. from 750 libraries copied for their archives. The manuscripts are arranged and described with origins and placed with those of similar types. MG18 (Manuscript Group 18) are "pre-conquest" papers & misc, a rich source. MG17 are Ecclestical Records MG19-Fur trade papers and militia records MG23-Late 18th century papers: MG23B-American Revolution MG23K-military documents separated by colony MG24-19th century pre-Confederation papers MG24A-British official and policy papers MG24B-North America policy figures MG24F-Military figures & Naval MG24G-Militia & Muster Rolls;75 documents for Ontario MG27-Policy figures of 1867 to 1950 MG30-manuscripts for first half of 20th century MG26-Prime Ministers' papers MG28-Post-Confederation corporate bodies MG28,MG365-Curtiss School of Aviation papers,includes all records of personnel for 1915-16, those enrolled for Royal Navy Air Service MG=Military Group Record Group 8-government officials-richest collection of original documents of a military nature; RG9-same RG8=1.C series - 1757-1899 British Military Records RG8 Series 2 - 1757-1878 - Ordnance records, very few of use to genealogists RG8.Ser. 2.3A Administrative-1814-1833 RG8.Ser.2,3B Adm 1858-1903 RG8.Ser.2,4=Vice-Adm Halifax 1784-1818 Series C is best (RG8.Ser.C).It is the third collection of transcriptions of the papers of A. Bouquet, B. Haldimand, and C. Complete military documents which were left in Canada instead of being sent back to Britain. There are 8 tons of official documents. For MG Series C, Archivist Brymner used his own system, sorting all documents chronologically and placed them into subject categories;e.g. Claims for losses " Half-Pay Pensioners' Claims Settlers' Claims UELs' Claims A subject index was prepared for each volume and bound into each volume; a card index was created for the entire C series. It is in the Reference Room of the Manuscript Division. Lt. Col. Cruickshank - "Guide to C Series," publ. in 1910. "Preliminary Inventory" 1. Check the card index to the C Series. The volume and page numbers lead to the document. 2. Read the Preliminary Inventory 3. Check vol. # in Cruickshank, which gives a rough idea of the contents 4. Scan each one if possible to see what is contained Of the Original military records in Series C, a number of volumes were transferred to other collections. New 58 volumes of Loyalist Muster Rolls. Private papers have been added. Essex, Oxford RG9-Dept of Militia and Defense overlaps with 9 and 10-18th century to after World War I;includes War of 1812, Rebellion of 1837,1870,South African War, and World War I. There are shelf lists and finding aids. Few RG9 papers are yet on film.RG24-20th century-not much available;personnel records closed. Grace Brymner, speaker.