Nick Peers reveals how you can use The Ogilby Muster to research your ancestor’s service
As you’ll know if you read the ‘Best Websites’ article in our Summer issue, The Ogilby Muster is a fantastic resource for family historians looking for information on their relations who fought during the First World War. Launched by the Army Museums Ogilby Trust, it’s an ever-expanding digital collection of records, photos, letters, diaries and book extracts from 75 collections held nationwide. As our step-by-step guide reveals, it’s easy to search and in addition to saving searches and records for future review, you can purchase full-sized digital images of records for a small cost to incorporate into your research.
Although it’s worth searching for individual names, you’re more likely to find useful material pertaining to your ancestors’ units. For example, a search for my great grandfather Joseph Peers yields no matches, but Joseph’s battalion is referenced in several documents.
You can search the collections on the website without an account, but you need to create one to see full details of each record – and it’s free. In most cases the text on the free previews is legible, so you aren’t required to buy a copy. However, any purchases you do make will help fund the website and future acquisitions, as well as provide you with a high-quality digital image of the record in question.
TOP TIP!
Tick ‘Get emails about new matching results’ when saving a search to be told when relevant new content is added to the website.
1 Create A Free Account Sign up for your free account at theogilbymuster.com/user/create – you’ll need to provide your name, email address, country of residence and a strong password. After clicking ‘Register’ you’ll be logged in, but make sure you verify your email address by clicking the link in the email that is sent to you.
2 Perform A Simple Search The website provides a keyword search that works in a similar way to Google’s. So typing the words Monmouthshire Regiment returns all records containing both words, but adding double quotation marks – “Monmouthshire Regiment” – only returns records containing that specific phrase.
3 Review And Filter Results You’ll be shown a series of thumbnail images – one per result. If there are too many, use the ‘Filter & Sort’ dropdown menu to change the sort order or apply filters, such as date, era or regimental collection, to restrict your results. Click a particular filter and the results should automatically update.
4 View A Record Click a thumbnail and a summary of the record will appear
