Researching Chelsea Hospital / Pensioners Records (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, July 29, 2012, 18:40 (4503 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Jenny, so my Sailor was indeed your Nailer, of course, silly me !!(?)

Re Chelsea Hospital Records
Please understand although I have a lifelong interest in general military history, I've only been researching the actual service records of those who fought for the last 6 months or so, and all online & selftaught as I go. I have no previous experience of the Chelsea Hospital records at all except that I saw they were available on FindMyPast while researching my ancestors of the late C19th British Army, so again not your earlier period which I imagine contains less records in general.
So sorry, I do not know what the National Archives Records would show, but I do suspect they will be essentially the same as you have already found off FindMyPast as these both quote the same WO (War Office) File 97 References.

The FMP site quotes
"Many of your ancestors will have served in the army and the Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records provide rich detail about them. The Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records provide information on men pensioned out of the British Army 1760-1913. Findmypast.co.uk and The National Archives are working closely together to bring you these records.
The connection with 'Chelsea Pensioners' is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The vast majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and were not residents at the hospital itself. TNA's record series number is WO97 for this set of records."

This BBC article from 2010 seems to suggest that FMP are the "preferred" partner for the TNA records, so I think it fair to assume whatever the TNA records show for an individual would, eventually, be available on FMP; but thats just my assumption.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11755938

The FMP website "blog"(whatever that is !?) states "The survival rate of documents in WO97 for men discharged to pension between 1883 and 1913 is very good; in fact Michael and Christopher Watts, in their book My Ancestor was in the British Army (Society of Genealogists 2009) describe finding a document as ‘a near certainty’."
see http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/chelsea-pensioners/
Perhaps you should contact the above FMP experts and hopefully let them help you ?

Further Googling shows that the Chelsea Pensioner records should have all been transcribed online by last September, see http://www.ramsdale.org/chelsea.htm
Also the majority of their records relate to periods later than yours, so I wouldnt expect too much detail in your case. Indeed, the Chelsea Hospital website itself states that ALL records pre 1871 are held by TNA and not the Hospital.
http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/tracing-chelsea-pensioner-ancestors

I see references in these articles to actual photographic images, rather than just transcripts, I'd be very interested please to hear what you obtained from the FMP site; perhaps this is an area where TNA is better ??
However I've just searched for Robert on the TNA site, tricky as using their new search engine, but have finally found the exact same record as quoted earlier on this thread. I cannot find a price for ordering copies, but below the "view online" option it states "This record may be provided by one of our partner websites. Searching indexes is usually free but there may be a charge for accessing information." Clicking this option directs you to the FMP site, suggesting that ALL the relevant Records are available on FMP.
You've probably already seen the TNA page which may help http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/RoyalHospitalChelsea.asp

What I have learnt in my researches is that for supposedly the exact same records relating to WW1 Soldiers the FMP site often gives more information compared to Ancestry, for example.

Finally, please see my earlier suggestions wrt contacting the various Regimental Museums/forums direct. Some regimental Museums such as the Royal Worcestershires have very grand Museums which must be funded, I guess, they ask for a £10 fee upfront before starting any research. Others can be more helpfull, eg the Glosters museum website has a forum and this can give very helpfull replies free-of-charge including accessing subscription websites on one's behalf. No harm in asking !

Good luck.