Research Services Offered by the Keep

The Keep Military Museum offers a research service using resources held in our collection. We can only supply information about our own Regiments. Not all the information we hold is exclusive to us. Please read the read the section explaining the resources we hold in the museum before sending in your query. We do not hold service records.

We need to make a charge for this service:

Administration Fee £5 (£8 outside Europe to cover increased postal costs)
We will not be able to give you any advice or guidance without first receiving this £5 fee. All enquiries, even those we cannot assist with, take time and resources to reply to. This fee will cover an initial search of our archives and databases and up to 5 pages of photocopying.
Research Fee £10 (£15 outside Europe to cover increased postal costs)
This will cover a further two hours work in our archives and must be paid in addition to the administration fee. We will request this fee if we are able to help.
Scanning Fee £5 per photograph (£8 outside Europe to cover increased postal costs)
This reflects the costs of materials and labour.

Please note that we cannot guarantee success and that fees are not refundable. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for research to be completed.

The Regiments We Cover

We cover the following Regiments only:

11th, 39th and 54th Regiments of Foot.
The Devonshire Regiment.
The Dorsetshire and The Dorset Regiment.
The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment.
The Queens Own Dorset Yeomanry and associated Dorset Yeomanry units.

We do not cover:

The Devon Yeomanry and Militia - all material has been deposited at the Devon Record Office in Exeter. Some items relating to the North Devon Yeomanry are at Barnstaple Museum.
The 46th (South Devon) Regiment of Foot which became the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.
Fordington Barracks and the Royal Artillery.
Other Regiments based either in Dorchester or elsewhere in the County.
Dorset Militia records are few and far between. We suggest you try the National Archives and the Dorset History Centre first.

Information We Require

We need you to supply certain information which we do not hold. This would include Regiment, service number, rank, battalion and service dates. This information will be found in the soldier's service record which will be held either at the National Archives, Kew or The Army Personnel Centre, depending on date of discharge.

Service Records for Soldiers Discharged Before 1914

These records are held at the National Archives, Kew. They have not been filmed and you need to visit in person to view them, or hire a researcher to visit on your behalf. See www.nationalarchives.gov.uk for further information. Please note that the records of men killed in, or discharged at the end of, The Boer War, were destroyed.

Service Records for Soldiers Discharged Between 1914 - 1920

These records are held on film at the National Archives, Kew and include service, pension and discharge records. You can also view these films at LDS (Mormon Church) Family History Centres nationwide. Pension, Medal and Service records can be accessed from www.ancestry.co.uk on a pay-per-view basis. Please note that over 60% of World War Service records were destroyed in the blitz and those records that survive are badly damaged. There were no copies. We hold no World War 1 enlistment records. The only records held elsewhere were those for the Guards Regiments.

Officer's records are not available online, although there is an on-line catalogue available on the National Archives website. You will need to visit the National Archives to view these records. Again survival rates are very low. Note that Officers did not have numbers in World War 1.

World War 1 Campaign Medal Cards for all ranks can be purchased from either the National Archives or the Ancestry website.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website can also supply useful information about soldiers who died in the two World Wars.

Service Records for Soldiers Discharged After March 1920 and Officers Discharged After March 1922

These records are still held by The Army Personnel Centre. Visit the Veterans Agency website www.veterans-uk.info for advice and to download the application forms. You will need a copy of the soldier's death certificate and his army number or his date of birth. If the soldier has been deceased for less than 25 years, you will also need proof that you are the next of kin. There is a £30 fee for this service.

We may be able to assist with service numbers for men who enlisted between the wars.

The Veterans Agency website also gives advices about replacing lost or stolen medals, World War 2 onwards.

Sending in an Enquiry

Please send your enquiry to us at:

The Keep Military Museum
Bridport Road
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1RN

Please enclose as much relevant information as possible, ideally with copies of any service records you have obtained.

Please enclose a cheque for £5 made payable to The Keep Military Museum. If enquiring via the internet, please use the PayPal research payment facility on this website to make your payment.

Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for a reply. Please be aware that we will only photocopy documents and scan photographs if this can be done without damaging the original. Some items are in poor condition.

Visiting The Library in Person

Our library and archive are not open to the public. Under certain circumstances, visits can be arranged for a Wednesday morning, but this is at the discretion of the Curator. We would need at least two weeks notice. We would need an outline of your research needs in the first instance.

Personal archive visits are charged at £20.

Collections Access Policy

A Collections Access Policy is available on request from the Administrator.