I’ve finally found my Grandad’s RN service number and also been told he’d won a gallantry medal of some kind for rescuing his mates during a u-boat attack in the North Sea.

I’d like to find out more about his service but after a quick Google search all I can find is pay per search sites where the record you request might not even be his.

Any help on where to start would be much appreciated.

start with, via google

“rn disclosure cell whale island”

Maybe a start…

http://www.naval-history.net/

http://www.forcesreunited.org.uk/

London Gazette?

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search

Otherwise write to Manning and records. They’ll help I expect.

Do you know which regiment ? The regimental museum is a good place to start.

Which war ? Medal records are (I think) held at the Public Records Office at Kew, or if not, they should have a bod who can tell you where.

Was he of high rank ? Other ranks tend to not have much in the way of records held, Officers will get a lot more mention in rolls etc.

Don’t pay anybody just yet, if you can do the legwork yourself can get quite far, especially if he was an Officer.

Not really my field and my knowledge is more Scotland, but hope that helps.

Oops sorry I mean The National Archives, at Kew

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI

Put Military History in the search field to get an idea of the holdings. You still might have to visit.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Personnel/ServiceRecords/MakingARequestForInformationHeldOnThePersonnelRecordsOfDeceasedServicePersonnelAndHomeGuardRecords.htm

Instructions clicky

You could do worse than visit the Naval Museum at Greenwich, they have records there as well, and may well have on-line access too.

Cheers all, that gives me some good starting points.

Hels, it was ww2, he definitely wouldn’t have been an officer and I’m afraid I only have a number to go on, no regiment etc.

If he had been awarded a medal, it will have been “gazetted” and be present in the London Gazette records. Search online and perhaps send them a request?
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/medals-british-armed-services-gallantry.htm
It the rules innit?
Care to share his name? We can all have a go.

Wrecker – I’ll have a look first (it’d be quite nice to do the Inspector Morse act myself ;)) and be sure to ask for help if needed. I’ll post back if I can find anything.

Ah, fair enough. Good luck trawling the gazette. It’s brilliant but there are LOTS of records.

You need to write to the Records office in Glasgow:

Services Personnel & Veterans Agency (SPVA)
Kentigern House
65 Brown Street
Glasgow
G2 8EX

Thanks all, managed to find a fair bit in an hours worth of searching!

Thomas Burchill P/KX109345 Stoker First Class served on HMS Rhododendron a flower class corvette used for convoy escorts. Assuming he was on the same ship throughout the war(not sure how often men got moved between ships) he escorted Atlantic convoys, Artic convoys to Russia and was involved in the Normandy landings.

His medal is a 1939-45 Star however the gazette doesn’t give details as to whether it was awarded for an act of gallantry (which is what I’ve been led to believe) or the more common ‘6 months service or voyage in operational area’.

That’s brilliant. Very pleased for you. Where did you find the info?

May I suggest reading The Cruel Sea (Nicholas Montserrat) a brilliant read, all about the convoys.

The medal details i found just by doing a name search on the London Gazette website. I’m not sure how the ship connection was found, the old man emailed earlier to say he’d found that bit out.

Cheers Cheekyboy I’ll be sure to look out for that.

The 1939-45 Star was a service medal not an award for specific gallantry. My father had one, there was also a general service medal which he probably had as well.