REGIMENTAL ARCHIVES

Researching ancestral military history is extremely popular nowadays. Regular enquiries are made by individuals to the Museum, asking about the careers of relatives or ancestors in the West Yorkshire Regiment (14th of Foot), the East Yorkshire Regiment (15th of Foot) or the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire. However, it is essential before any enquiries are made that as many details as possible are known about the individual's Army record.

This section of the Web site is provided in order to give as much help as possible to those who are researching the military careers of their ancestors or relatives, so that before approaching the Museum they have obtained as much information as possible beforehand.

The Archives consist of the Regiment's collection of Books, Documents, War Diaries and Photographs. These were transferred to their current home from Imphal Barracks, York for the West Yorkshire Regiment and Beverley for the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1984.

The collection has, over the years, grown considerably. This now includes:- Official documents, books, maps, photographs, war diaries and papers, Regimental music and film footage. Additionally, there is a growing collection of photographs, photograph albums, personal diaries and items relating to the Regiment, which have been donated by ex-serving members and the relatives of deceased members.

The Archives are of principal interest to families researching their military ancestors, though there is also a growing awareness and interest from both military historians and the publishing, audio and video media industry.

Search the Archives

There is an ongoing project to digitise the archives, to make research much quicker and easier. This was started in May 2007 and it is estimated that it will take up to five years to complete. Photographs are being scanned every day and deposited in the database for public viewing. All the photographs are available for purchase:

A5 size - £2.99 on either photo paper or CD

A4 size - £3.99 on either photo paper or CD

plus £1.50 per order post and packing.

Download the photograph order form:  

A description of the Historical Research Service available at RHQ is set out in the "ARCHIVE RESEARCH DOCUMENTS" together with a self explanatory letter. This includes a historical enquiry form which can be downloaded and forwarded to the 'Archives Dept' at Tower Street , York . It should be noted that the archive staff are all unpaid volunteers and are only available on a part-time basis. Some enquiries may take time for our archive staff to obtain the relevant information from other sources. A small nominal charge is made for doing research on historical enquiries, which is used to help fund the upkeep of the Regimental archives.

Download the research documents: