Lives of the First World War 'digital memoria

[geneius]

Discover their stories...Remember their lives. Interactive site. I typed my grandfathers name in and he is listed, just waiting for me to find a photo etc.....

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

[christanel]

Hello geneius

I typed in our unusual surname and found the four men who I know served in WW1. My grandad has 16 pages of service records (very informative and confirms he was irresponsible and unreliable). I now need to find the energy to supply some information and sources for these men.

Christina

[Lesley Robertson]

I had a quick look when I had access to wifi yesterday, and found GUncle Andrew immediately- with a name as common as ours, that was pretty good. The site seems easy to use, so I'll certainly use it as soon as my {rude word of your choice} provider sorts out the mess they've made and I get my normal connection back....

[thewideeyedowl]

Having spent the last half hour browsing the site, it strikes me that it will be only as good as its content - datasets provided by all the usual suspects, items drawn together from museums and the like, plus contributions from the likes of you and me. And that is what makes it different.

As we all do, I immediately entered the number and/or name of the ancestors who were involved in WW1. It was, in fact, easier to search just by number. All three men came up immediately and all three were tagged 'Not yet known', because there is no data on them on the site. This confirms my experience of trying to research them - their records must be amongst the 60% that were lost in the disastrous fire in WW2. I am minded, though, to join the site with a free account and perhaps upload some info about my paternal grandfather, a bank clerk who served in the AOC. We have photographs of him and of his company (or whatever it would have been) and these might help to build a picture for someone somewhere. And at the end of the war, he went back to being a bank clerk.

I also note that D C Thomson (FMP) are the people behind this new venture. I gather that some records are or will be classified as premium and so will be available only via subscription. I could not, though, find any details of what a sub would include or cost.

So my conclusions, at this early stage, are that this is a potentially very useful site, it might be worth becoming a contributor, but - quite honestly - more information is needed before I am prepared to commit to even a free account.

Owl

[richard40]

Hi, I have just had the very same experience, "Not yet known". One of my two in particular I know a great deal about. have visited his grave near Zillibeke many times, but still can find no evidence of where and how he died, the date given on his stone 07/07/17, Does not coincide with any battle in the immediate area, He is buried at Wood Cemetery Zillibeke, his name "G.W.H.Watts 572538, London Rifles. have been trying for years to find out the circumstances of his death, any ideas would be welcome.

[Peter Goodey]

They seem rather coy about what records they link to. All they say is "At present there are over 35 First World War record sets and 105 social history record sets available in Lives of the First World War". But what are they?

[simmo1]

Hi

It seems they are linked to FMP and have all the datasets there. I just did a months subscription there and find I can access all the information and attach it. No known records mean no one had done any searching yet, they just start off with the MIC attached to the name. Anything else you have to search for and attach.

regards

Robert

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi all...

I have been delving further and reading their Support pages: https://support.livesofthefirstworldw.../knowledgebase. From these pages, I gather that DCT (FMP) is managing the website on behalf of The Imperial War Museum. You need to become a Free Member if you wish to add a Life Story and, as Simmo1 says, the names on the site are just taken from the Medal Index Cards. (That's what it looked like to me when I did some name-searching this afternoon.)

To gain access to Premium material and unspecified "special features", you need to become a Friend, i.e. paying member. Membership rates are £6/month or £50/year and run continuously unless you cancel in good time.

If you look through the list of premium material datasets, I suspect you will find an uncanny likeness to the datasets available on FMP. (I do NOT know, because I do not have a sub to FMP.). However, this new collaborative venture with IWM may go some way to explaining the many changes to FMP search (which I have read about on BritGen). So, sticking my neck out, I would suggest that if you subscribe to FMP, you would not really gain much (anything?) from becoming a Friend of L of the First WWar (but I may be mistaken); you might just as well use the new site as a Free Member if you want to contribute a 'Life Story'. (Forgive all this website jargon!)

In spite of all this, I am still interested in possibly contributing to this venture. But first I feel I need to check with family before posting any photographs or info about my paternal grandfather, who died in 1930, aged 46.

I am also interested in the collaborative Europeana1914-1918 project, https://www.europeana1914-1918.eu, which seems to be completely free.

Has anyone yet contributed to either project, Lives the First WWar OR Europeana? Now, that would be interesting to know...

Owl

[christanel]

I now need to find the energy to supply some information and sources for these men.
Christina

I also note that D C Thomson (FMP) are the people behind this new venture

Thanks for pointing that out TWEO as it changes my perspective on contributing.

Christina

[almach]

Thanks for pointing that out TWEO as it changes my perspective on contributing.

Christina

I feel the same, Christina.