Search British Army, Worldwide Index 1881

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Name

Rank

Service number

Regiment

Location

The British Army, Worldwide Index 1881 provides a valuable snapshot of more than 235,000 men serving in the British Army at a time when its regiments were stationed across Britain and throughout the British Empire. The index has been compiled from surviving muster rolls held at The National Archives and complements similar Findmypast collections for 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871. Muster rolls were administrative records used to account for officers and soldiers belonging to a regiment, recording the men present with their units at home and overseas. As a result, the collection can help locate soldiers who may be difficult to trace in the 1881 census, particularly those serving outside Britain.

In 1881, the British Army was a global force, with troops stationed across an empire that stretched from the Caribbean and Mediterranean to Africa, India and Asia. The period followed the major Cardwell reforms of the 1870s and coincided with further reorganisation under the Childers reforms of 1881, which reshaped the regimental system and created many of the familiar county regiments of the late Victorian Army. These records therefore offer more than evidence of an individual soldier's service: they can place him within a particular regiment and location during a period of significant military change and imperial expansion. Used alongside service records, medal rolls, Army Lists and later census returns, the index can help researchers reconstruct a soldier's career and trace the movements of both individuals and regiments around the world.