General enquiry.

[Red Tom]

Open question-the Ancestry searches I've made re my relatives WWI enlistment/attestation have drawn a blank (apart from mic) so is it reasonable for me to assume that none exist, or are there other options for me to try?

[AllanUK]

First of all, over 65% of WW1 soldiers records were destroyed by fire when the storage facility was hit during the bombing of London in WW2.

Second, if you had male relatives that were of age to serve in WW1 then if they served overseas they would have qualified for a medal. The Medal Index Cards and Medal Rolls can be seen on Ancestry. Please be careful, just because you may find a medal entry for a man with the same name as one of your relatives it doesn't mean that he is 'your man'.

[Red Tom]

Thank you for your response AllanUK.
I should have made it clear in my post, but I found the relevant index cards on Ancestry, and they're without doubt my man's, but nothing turns up otherwise, so do I assume there is nothing else to find (re enlistment)?

[Andy J2022]

If you haven't found the service records of your relatives  and you are fairly confident that you've used the correct search terms, then the chances are that the records are among the majority which haven't survived. By the correct search terms, I mean that you have tried both precise details, such as first names and dates of birth as well as more fuzzy searches. For example someone born Henry may well appear in the records as Harry, and dates of birth given to recruiters can differ greatly from the actual date of birth - no independent checks were made.

But even if the main service record has been lost, there are other records which have survived. For example some medical records and some prisoner of war records are available, and if any of your relatives were entitled to a pension as a result of their service,  the records of this will still exist. Finally some ancillary sources such as absentee voter records for 1919-20, and the 1921 census can throw up some details about a man's military service. Also if you know any of units that your relatives served in it may be worth contacting the museum connected with each unit as they hold other sorts of records. This last approach works best with infantry regiments and less well with the larger corps such as the Labour Corps or Machine Gun Corps. 

If you found Medal Index Cards which you are certain belong to your relatives (bearing in mind what AllanUK said) then having each man's regimental number(s) will aid your search using the other sources I have mentioned, and also may allow you to pin down when they enlisted, as the numbers were issued sequentially. Use Paul Nixon's excellent website to help with this: https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/p/index.html

[Kingsclere]

The records on Ancestry don't include commissioned officers. What survives is only at the National Archives but you may be lucky.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-officers-after-1913/

[hanes teulu]

Don't forget newspapers.
A separate thread is running at the moment hoping to pin down "date attested", in the absence of records other than medal roll, death record CWGC etc. The key record was part of the so called "burnt documents" lost WWII. This morning a photo and newspaper article was found of how the soldier being researched had fared. The newspaper article did not solve "date attested" question but added significantly to what was previously known.

[Red Tom]

Andy J2022 - Kingsclere - Hanes leulu, thank you all for your replies. I hadn't intended to request specific help with this, but I should probably included the attached to assist anyone kind enough to lend a hand. 
From what I know for sure, my man was aged 17 in 1914,and his regimental number seems to me to indicate enlistment at a date prior to 1919? The regiment was in India at the outbreak of war, so I'm assuming he was sent overseas at a point around 1917? (purely guesswork)

[ALAMO2008]

Do you know where he was on 1921 Census ?

[Red Tom]

Do you know where he was on 1921 Census ?

Hi, he's single and at home in Hough Green ,Widnes. He married the following year.