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The WFA Pension Records on Fold3

As members of The Western Front Association will know, in 2012 the WFA stepped in to save from destruction over six million pension records of men who served in the Great War. These records - the WFA's 'Pension Record Cards and Ledgers' (PRCs) - are now available to view via our partners Ancestry.co.uk - the records being on their 'Fold3' site.

We are delighted to say that WFA members can freely access these Pension Records via the WFA web site from the web page linked below:

Member access the WFA Pension Records on Fold3

The types of records

The published records are as follows:

  1. The Naval and Mercantile Marine cards 
  2. The Army, Naval Ratings and Airmen's Ledgers which you can find out more about in this article 'A Further Release of First World War Records from Ancestry'.
  3. The pensions claimed by the next of kin of soldiers who died. This set is explained here Claims for soldiers who were killed
  4. The pensions claimed by other ranks who survived the war. This set is explained here Other Ranks Survived: The final release of Pension Records 

If you are unable to find the records you are looking for it should be noted that in the past the ledgers (but not the cards) have been 'weeded' by government departments - this is particularly the case for records of men (or claimants) who lived in the south and south east of England. Details regarding this can be found in the article Understanding the Ledger Indexing

In addition, the link above will enable WFA members to access the Medal Index Cards

Guides and Help

A number of helpful articles, videos and examples are available which can be accessed. Please visit the Guides and Help to find more than 40 individual help pages

Contact

WFA members who have enquiries regarding the records can contact us however due to the likely volume of interest in these, it will not be possible to offer help in terms of deciphering the handwriting on the cards. If you struggle with interpreting a card beyond what is covered in these help screens, for example reading awkward handwriting or understanding abbreviations you might be able to get help either through The Great War Forum, or through social media.

Pension Records contact