Like many others I suspect, my request(a year ago)for my father's service records seems to have disappeared into a black hole. Not even an acknowledgement that the request has been received. I was in any case thinking of engaging a professional researcher but would welcome advice if this is worthwhile before getting a service record? Can a professional researcher bypass the backlog?
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Thread: Hiring a researcher
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03-03-2021, 5:21 PM #1
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Hiring a researcher
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03-03-2021, 6:32 PM #2
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The short answer to the bit in bold is 'no'.
Covid-19 working restrictions mean that few, if any, records are being sent out at the moment, but I am very reliably informed that once the people are working normally in the office, then (I quote) "additional staffing resources have been identified and these will be utilised when lockdown is ended".
Depending what you already know about your father service (army/RAF/navy), where he was sent, etc, a researcher might be able to find out information about the regiment, ship, etc, though remember that at the moment places where that information might be found (e.g. The National Archives) are closed.
PamVulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
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03-03-2021, 7:05 PM #3
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Thanks. I thought that this would be the case but its good to have confirmation.
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04-03-2021, 7:32 AM #4
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In my experience (quite a lot), the vast majority of post-1922 research will require the service records BEFORE asking a professional researcher to dig deeper for specific data within archival files (most of which aren't digitised/online contrary to some popular belief).
The main issue a researcher will have is identifying the exact unit designations and dates from/to the person served -generally only the service records have that level of details.
Otherwise, with the best will in the world, a researcher will have to assume an awful lot or/and provide lots of documentation that may/may not be relevant to the person being researched.
The MOD were reporting a 12 month (at least) backlog the last time I heard I am afraid.
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