A Piece of Scottish Military Trivia

A piece of Scottish Military Trivia from the Scottish Military Research Group - the Barracks where Gadaffi lives were once home to the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders. Check out the Scottish Military Research Group's blog to learn more:

http://scottishmilitary.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-gaddafis-barracks-housed.html

World War 1 Pension Appeals

Chris Paton has a wonderful "guest post" on his blog Scottish GENES regarding pension appeals for WW1 soldiers who were disabled or killed (in this case the next of kin could make the application on behalf of the "estate"). Apparently very few of the applicants were actually granted money but there seems to be a wealth of information in the application records themselves. Well worth a look at Chris' guest post. A fascinating piece of historic information that few seem to be aware of (well, until Chris' post that is!)

Happy Searching!

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

This is  a wonderful resource for anyone who has ancestors who died in either of the World Wars. The database is fully searchable and contains 1.7 million soldiers. There are photographs of the cemeteries and of the grave stones.
In addition, the website contains historical information about various wars, a list of casualties for each country, information sheets for various battles and so much more. The website is free and the CWGC is non-profit. Take a look and see what you can find about your military ancestor:

http://www.cwgc.org/

There is also a photographic project for the Commission:

"The Photographic Project (TWGPP) was started by a dedicated group of volunteers a few years ago. Recently, following discussion with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, (CWGC) the project has become a joint venture. Family Historians can now obtain a copy of the photograph of a grave or memorial which for many is impossible to visit due to its location. The intention of the TWGPP is not only to include images of official CWGC gravestones but also photographs of family graves which commemorate an individual. A surprising number of these have already been included. If you are able to provide a digital image of your family gravestone then details of contact addresses and advice on how to do so is available on the TWGPP website. This project has proved very popular and many individuals have been able to include graves from earlier conflicts that predate 1914. Should you have images from anywhere in the world where  military personnel were based then these should be submitted."

~by Barbara Parry, BRANTches August 2011