Musters WO 16

Knowing a serviceman's number can make research a great deal easier. But, how to find 'your' man? Medals are great but if all we know is his name, and if it was William Jones how can we identify the right one?

Musters are a limited source of information but they do provide the details of the personnel in a particular Battalion, and their service number. There may be more that one William Jones but it will help narrow things down.

More detailed information can be found on the National Archives Website and it is possible to order muster records on-line.

These are some musters I have used;

WO 16/1565 1st Batt RWF 1880-1883
16/1569 2nd Batt RWF 1882-1884
16/1570 2nd Batt RWF 1884-1886
16/1571 2nd Batt RWF 1886-1888
16/1572 Depot RWF 1882-1884
16/2814 1st Batt RWF 1883-1886
16/2815 1st Batt RWF 1886-1889

Thanks for that info Roger, that very interesting. Many of us are still early students of military research. A few questions spring to mind:

1. Are all the muster rolls prefixed WO16

2. What period do the muster rolls span, i.e. Great War? Boer War?

3. Do you have to visit Kew, or can you identify a particular roll online

4. What is the cost of each muster roll

5. Does each Bn's muster roll cover all the Bn, or only parts of it.

Thanks again RogerSmile

Hi Al,

1 and 2. Please check out this page. There are other WOs such as:

WO 12 Cavalry and Infantry 1732 - 1878
WO 10 Artillery 1708 - 1878
WO 11 Egineers 1816 - 1878
WO 16 1878 - 1898
WO 12 also includes musters for some colonial regiments.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/f...rmy/muster.htm

3. It is possible to order musters on line. Input the WO code, ie WO 16 to find the regiments. The ones I have given refer to the RWF Smile

4. Cost is £0.40 per page of the muster. It is not necessary to order all of a muster, just the page or pages you believe are relevant to your ancestor. I ordered 24 pages and with postage it came to about £11.50. How many pages a muster contains will depend on how many men were in the regiment or battalion etc.

5. As far as I know the muster covers all the personnel by rank.

Once you have decided to order a part of the muster just follow the instructions. It is important to give as much information as possible, submit it and in a few days you will receive an estimate before confirming your order.

HTH

Regards,

Roger