Choose the army and the record type

For a family account of military service, first establish the force, approximate period and unit. The National Archives’ Indian Army guide distinguishes the British Indian Army from British Army units also stationed in India. It directs personal service and pension enquiries primarily to British Library material, while identifying unit war diaries in WO 95. A diary records a unit’s activities; it is not automatically an individual’s service file. The guide also describes Indian Army Lists as officer-career sources. Their usefulness depends on rank and period, so an unsuccessful officer-list search does not settle whether someone served in another capacity.[1]

Follow the series rather than a general label

The British Library’s IOR/L/MIL/14 description separates service statements, promotion lists, casualty returns, passage cases, pensions and records of service. Its catalogue also points to indexes under IOR/Z/L/MIL/14. Preserve the subseries reference and date range when following a lead. A title such as Indian Army Records covers many different administrative functions and cannot promise a complete personal file for every soldier recruited in Punjab. This guide inspected the series description only, not a service box, index entry or pension document.[2]

Read commemoration records for their purpose

CWGC’s guide for researching someone from undivided India explains a different record set. Its casualty records centre on burial or commemoration and may omit the person’s place of origin or exact place of death. Search with service number, unit and date as well as possible name forms, then compare the details. The guide distinguishes headstone, grave-registration and concentration reports: each records a different part of the commemoration process. Neither a shared name nor a memorial’s location independently establishes the village a person came from.[3]

Use the Punjab Registers as a local lead

Williams, Rand and Madra’s October 2020 scoping report describes Punjab Registers arranged by district, tehsil and village. Its reproduced Ferozepur example includes father’s name, unit, rank and service information. These fields can support comparison across records, rather than matching by surname alone. The report’s geographical scope excludes princely states such as Patiala and Kapurthala; it should not be treated as a universal register of every military recruit from every part of historical Punjab.[4]

Date any claim about a missing name

The state of a database can change through research. On 6 July 2026, the University of Greenwich reported that work by the Punjab Registers partnership had led to 9,909 previously omitted Indian Army casualties being added to CWGC’s records. This is a dated institutional account of the project’s outcome, not an independent check of every new entry. Record when a search was made and retain the particular evidence behind a match or an apparent absence.[5]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. The National Archives, United Kingdom. Indian Army personnel ↗Inspected institutional research guide · Source date: Undated; checked 2026-11-01 · Locator: Complete actual guide: army distinctions, WO95 unit diaries, service/pension records and officer Army Lists. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual full guide retrieved and read after text-reader 403. No partner-site subscription record or original diary inspected. The article excludes the guide’s oversimplified army-foundation date and uses only the specific record distinctions.Return to Choose the army and the record type, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. British Library, India Office Records and Private Papers. Indian Army Records — IOR/L/MIL/14 ↗Inspected archival catalogue · Source date: Series described as 1866–1948; checked 2026-11-01 · Locator: Complete series scope and child headings; records of service239–72481; related index IOR/Z/L/MIL/14. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete catalogue body retrieved and read. Series metadata only; no physical service file, index or pension record inspected. Return to Follow the series rather than a general label, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Researching someone from Undivided India who died in the First World War — guidance sheet ↗Inspected institutional research guide · Source date: Undated version2; checked 2026-11-01 · Locator: Actual 4-page PDF: pp.1–2 name/additional-field searching and origin limitations; p.3 report types. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete PDF text read; pages1–2 rendered and inspected. No individual live casualty record or underlying commemoration report examined. Common research instructions repeated in CWGC’s related guides share a conservative pool.Return to Read commemoration records for their purpose, paragraph 1 ↑
  4. George Williams, Gavin Rand and Amandeep Madra. Summary of scoping work on Punjab Registers & Indian Army Casualties ↗Inspected institutional research report · Source date: 2020-10; unpublished working paper for CWGC committee · Locator: Actual 6-page report: p.1 register organisation and note 5 geographical scope; p.2 Ferozepur figures1–2; p.4 date and authors. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual full written report read, with reproduced register headings on p.2 rendered and inspected. No full original register or underlying casualty file consulted. Repository metadata confirms 2020; its later modification date is not publication. Conservatively pooled with the later project-outcome account.Return to Use the Punjab Registers as a local lead, paragraph 1 ↑
  5. University of Greenwich. Thousands of Indian First World War soldiers commemorated after historical omission ↗Inspected institutional research guide · Source date: 2026-07-06 · Locator: Complete institutional report: 9,909 added casualties, Punjab Registers partnership and research process. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete dated institutional account read. The announced outcome is attributed; no independent full-database comparison performed. Shared project facts are conservatively pooled with the 2020 scoping report, not treated as independent eyewitness evidence.Return to Date any claim about a missing name, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-COL-0049 · English edition · human review not performed