Militia Attestations Index 1860-1915
About the Militia Attestations Index
Militia Attestations can be very fruitful sources of genealogical data. They were documents filled in at the time of recruitment and contain much personal data. The Origins Network will be making available indexes to over a hundred thousand militia attestations, covering the whole of the British Isles, for the period of late 19th & early 20th centuries. Presently the database contains covers over 110,000 recruits to militias in England and Scotland; a further 12,500 recruits are included in our Irish Origins database.

For all the militia attestations in these indexes you can order copies of the original documents online from The Origins Network.

The index contains the birthplaces of nearly all recruits. While, as one might expect, most recruits to a particular militia were born locally, typically a quarter to a third come from further afield. For example, nearly 10% of recruits to the Scottish militia were born in Ireland.

Militia Number of recruits Period covered TNA References
English militias:
Cheshire Regiment 6,460 1892-1907 WO96/429-444
Cornwall & Devon Miners RGA 1,060 1885-1912 WO96/1323-1325
Devon RGA 935 1882-1911 WO96/1326-1328
Dorset Regiment 2,065 1886-1910 WO96/673-677
Durham RGA 2,449 1887-1912 WO96/1337-1343
East Yorkshire Regiment 2,627 1886-1905 WO96/304-310
Essex Regiment 13,000 1886-1910 WO96/754-783
Hampshire & Isle of Wight RGA 1,290 1875-1912 WO96/1365-1368
Kent RGA 5,080 1872-1913 WO96/1369-1382
Lancashire RGA 5,390 1872-1913 WO96/1384-1398
Lincolnshire Regiment 6,325 1870-1903 WO96/215-229
Middlesex Regiment 11,520 1860-1901 WO96/921-950
Norfolk Regiment 5,420 1882-1906 WO96/202-214
Norfolk RGA 3,020 1874-1912 WO96/1407-1414
Northumberland Fusiliers 3,067 1880-1908 WO96/86-93
Suffolk Regiment 2,910 1887-1908 WO96/245-252
Suffolk RGA 2,710 1872-1912 WO96/1434-1439
West Riding Regiment 4,996 1840-1905 WO96/614-625
West Surrey Regiment 9,210 1881-1895 WO96/11-31
Wiltshire Regiment 4,973 1860-1902 WO96/973-985
York & Lancaster Regiment 4,625 1882-1902 WO96/1058-1070
Yorkshire RGA 2,470 1877-1913 WO96/1454-1460
England total 101,600  
Scottish militias:
Edinburgh RGA 2,860 1882-1915 WO96/1344-1351
Fife RGA 890 1882-1911 WO96/1352-1353
Forfarshire & Kincardine RGA 1,970 1881-1915 WO96/1354-1359
South East Scotland RGA 1,000 1877-1913 WO96/1423-1425
West Scotland RGA 1,890 1872-1911 WO96/1426-1431
Scotland total 8,610  



What do these records tell you?
The index records give the last name and first name of the militiaman, place and county of birth, and The National Archives reference.

The original Attestation Papers, copies of which you can order online, are very rich, and can tell a great deal about these men and their families. They show the following details: The Attestation was filled in at the time of recruitment, and if a man was found to be medically unfit all his details remained on file. So even if your ancestor did not serve as a militiaman there may be something about him in these documents.


The original documents
Click on the "thumbnails" below to view examples of original Attestation Papers, which show the kind of documents you could order.

Militia Attestation of William Byrne - WO96/1441
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Militia Attestation of Joseph Hogan - WO96/1451
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© Crown copyright. Images reproduced courtesy of The National Archives.

The amount of information in the documents varies: some, such as those of William Byrne, have much information about their family on the last page (Byrne has a brother in Plymouth, England, two sisters in Chicago, and three further sisters in Queensland); others, such as those of Joseph Hogan, show no relatives but contain a wealth of other personal information.


Ordering copies of original documents online
You can order copies online, directly from the index records and receive the copies by mail. Each copy costs £10 (approx. US$18.50 or €15). Click the "Add to Cart" button on the displayed index record to add the order to your Shopping Cart. You will be asked for a credit/debit card number and delivery details on the Checkout page.


Accessing original documents in person
The original documents are held at The National Archives, London. The index records include the information necessary to find the original records yourself at The National Archives (see Source Records Archives).

The National Archives Reference Number identifies the class - always WO96 - and the box (the number after the slash) within which the attestation papers are stored; eg WO96/1441. The Sequence Number was generated from the order of the documents within each box at the time the index was created; the documents should all be - more or less - in alphabetical order. If the document you are looking for does not appear where you expect it, it may be because someone who accessed the documents previously has put the documents back in the wrong order. (The National Archives take a dim view of this, and prefer that even where a document is clearly out of order it be left where it is.) If you do not find them in this order, then look for them in alphabetical order or at the top of the box.

The Indexes to Militia Records were created by Jenifer Edmonds, and are made available on The Origins Network with her permission.

See also:  Help on Searching - Militia Attestations Index
  About Militia Attestations Index (Irish Origins)
  Source Records Archives
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