British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials
Findmypast brings together an extensive collection of death and burial records from The National Archives and the General Register Office. Among the records, you will find members of the British armed forces who died while serving their country overseas, British civilians who died while travelling or working overseas, and individuals, including seamen, who died at sea.
See description
Findmypast brings together an extensive collection of death and burial records from The National Archives and the General Register Office. Among the records, you will find members of the British armed forces who died while serving their country overseas, British civilians who died while travelling or working overseas, and individuals, including seamen, who died at sea.
Learn more about these records
Each result will provide you with a transcript with a combination of the following facts. The details in each transcript will vary depending on the nature of the record. Many records will also provide an image. We recommend viewing the image as it can provide even more detail about your ancestor.
- Name
- Birth year
- Death year
- Burial date
- Place
- County and country
- Type
- Source
- War
- Document type
- Records year range
- Archive reference and archive
Within this collection, you will find individuals who died while serving in the armed forces, civilians who died while travelling or working abroad, and individuals who died at sea. The collection brings together records from The National Archives and the General Register Office. Below we have provided a full list of all the available sources. In most cases, any death of a British civilian abroad usually resulted in a notification being sent to the relevant British Consul or the UK High Commission, which will allow you to find their details within the General Register Office (GRO) consular indices.
Within this collection you will find some of the following records:
- Registrations of British armed forces (including serving members who were not British nationals) posted overseas.
- Regimental registers and chaplains' returns for army deaths which took place in the British Isles.
- A card index of naval officers who were killed between 1914 and 1920, including some Royal Marines and Naval Reserve officers, as well as officers of the Canadian and Australian navies.
- A card index of ships lost from 1914 to 1919.
- A war graves roll from 1914 to 1919.
- Statistical casualty books 1914-1933.
- Registers and indexes of births, deaths, and marriages at sea from 1891 to 1972 maintained by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. The registers include both British and foreign subjects, passengers and seamen.
Please note that it is common for the place of death field to be missing or to include the names of vessels as well as the names of cities and ports.
Many of the records found in this collection have been available on Findmypast as separate record sets: British nationals died overseas 1818-2005, British nationals armed forces deaths 1796-2005, and Deaths at sea. The various record sets have been pulled together, along with new additions from The National Archives, to create this extensive collection of death and burial records.
General Register Office
ARO2 - GRO War Death Army Officers Indices (1939 to 1948)
ARR1 - GRO War Death Army Other Ranks (1914 to 1921)
ARR2 - GRO War Death Army Other Ranks (1939 to 1948)
D1995ONWARDS - GRO Deaths Abroad Indices (1995 to 2005)
AIRD - GRO Air Death Indices (1947 to 1965)
AIRM - GRO Air Death Missing Persons Indices (1947 to 1965)
ARO1 - GRO War Death Army Officers Indices (1914 to 1921)
ARO2 - GRO War Death Army Officers Indices (1939 to 1948)
ARR1 - GRO War Death Army Other Ranks (1914 to 1921)
ARR2 - GRO War Death Army Other Ranks (1939 to 1948)
DABR - GRO Death Abroad Indices (1966 to 1994)
DABR - GRO Death Abroad Indices (1966 to 1994)
DARM - GRO Army Death Indices (1881 to 1955)
DCHA - GRO Army Chaplains Death Indices (1796 to 1880)
DCON - GRO Consular Death Indices (1849 to 1965)
DINC - GRO Ionian Islands Chaplains Returns Death (1818 to 1864)
DIMN - GRO Ionian Islands Military Registration Death (1818 to 1864)
DINV - GRO Ionian Islands Civil Registration Death (1818 to 1864)
DMR1 - GRO Marine Death Indices (1837 to 1846)
DMR2 - GRO Marine Death Indices (1846 to 1902)
DMR3 - GRO Marine Death Indices (1903 to 1965)
DSRV - GRO Service Departments Death Indices (1956 to 1965)
HCD1 - GRO High Commission Death Indices (up to 1955)
HCD2 - GRO High Commission Death Indices (1956 to 1965)
INDI - GRO War Death Indian Services (1939 to 1948)
NATA - GRO Natal & South African Forces Death (1899 to 1902)
NAVO - GRO War Death Naval Officers Indices (1939 to 1948)
NAVR - GRO War Death Naval Ratings Indices (1939 to 1948)
NAVY - GRO War Death Navy All Ranks Indices (1914 to 1921)
RAFA - GRO War Death R.A.F. All Ranks (1939 to 1948)
The National Archives
ADM 242 - Royal Navy officers killed 1914-1920
ADM 80 - Dead men's wages from the Royal Greenwich Hospital 1787-1809
BT 153 - Registers of Wages and Effects of Deceased Seamen, 1852-1889
BT 156 - Monthly Lists of Deaths of Seamen, 1886-1890
BT 157 - Registers of Seamen's Deaths, Classified by Cause, 1882-1888
BT 334 - Deaths at sea 1891 1972
CO 386 - Register of deaths of emigrants at sea, 1847-1869
CUST 67 - Register of deaths at sea, Falmouth, 1892-1918
ADM 1/8465/194 - Deaths on board HM Ships
ADM 102/374 - Haslar Royal Naval Hospital: deaths of seamen
ADM 102/842 - Death certificates from Naval hospitals & hospital ships
ADM 104/127-139 - Registers of reports of deaths: Naval ratings
ADM 305/103-114 - Haslar Royal Naval Hospital burial register
ADM 73/460-465 - Royal Hospital Greenwich burial register
BT 158/1-10 - Registers of births, deaths & marriages of passengers at sea
BT 26/71/39 - SS Pennland travelling from Philadelphia to Liverpool. Embarking at Philadelphia. Official Number: [No official number listed]. List of passengers disembarking at Queenstown & Liverpool. [Passengers included one child that died during the voyage]. [Passengers included one female that was born during the voyage. Nationality: British. No date of birth given].
BT 85/74/65 - SS India (British India Steam Navigation Company Ltd) travelling from Brisbane to London. Embarking at Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Cairns, Cooktown & Aden. Official Number: 85861. List of passengers disembarking at Plymouth & London. [Passengers included one male child born during the voyage. Nationality: British. No date of birth given]. [Passengers included two individuals that died during the voyage].
FO 1045/3 - Re-interment of British dead at Shuhogahara Cemetery, Kobe, Japan
FO 128/454 - British cemetery at Bahia, Brazil
FO 141/441 /4 - Members of the Egyptian Labour Corps who died in service & the registration of graves in military cemeteries & elsewhere, Egypt
FO 170/1222 - Testaccio Cemetery, Rome, Italy
FO 174/390 - British cemetery at El Jadida, Morocco
FO 177/542 - British Cemetery at Iquitos, Peru
FO 179/548 - St George's Church & cemetery, Lisbon, Portugal
FO 185/1777 - British cemetery at Madrid, Spain
FO 195/2486/617 - British cemetery at Alexandretta, Turkey
FO 195/2723 - Crimean Cemetery at Haidar-Pasa, Turkey
FO 211/633/31/190 - Denmark Embassy, Consulate & Legation: death certificates
FO 211/673 - Embassy, Consulate & Legation: Denmark: War graves, Allied Air Force personnel buried in Denmark
FO 233/210 - British Cemetery at Tsingtao, China: plans & correspondence
FO 233/212 - China: Plans, correspondence & register of graves of Weihsien Cemetery.
FO 233/213 - China: Amoy: Kulangau Cemetery, Hospital Trust, Foochow: restoration of St John's Church.
FO 233/214 - British Cemetery at Tsingtao, China: register & photograph album of graves
FO 286/1393 - Anglo-French Crimean Cemetery at New Phaleron, Greece
FO 299/22 - Consulate Leipzig, Saxony: death register
FO 332/17 - British cemetery at Malaga, Spain
FO 369/2515 - Protestant cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 369/2544 - Protestant cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 369/3844 - Madeleine cemetery at Courtrai, Belgium
FO 369/4440 - International cemetery at Hankow, China
FO 369/4942 - Protestant cemetery at Luanda (Angola) Portuguese Africa; transfer of remains to new
municipal cemetery
FO 369/5045 - Anglo-American Cemetery in Romania
FO 369/5053 - Protestant Cemetery at Iskenderun,. Turkey
FO 369/5068 - British cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 369/5222 - British graves in the Foreigners' Cemetery at Managua
FO 369/5428 - Removal of British & US graves from Luwan (formerly Lokawai) to Chian Cemetery, China
FO 369/5441-5442 - Removal of graves from Abeno Foreign Cemetery, Japan
FO 369/5721 - British war cemeteries at Murmansk & Archangel, Russia
FO 371/21899 - British cemeteries at Henjam & Basidu, Iran
FO 371/67822 - British church property & cemeteries at Leghorn
FO 371/98722 - List of persons buried in the Christian Cemetery at Khorramshuh; damage to graves in the cemetery
FO 375/4 - Consulates Luanda & Sao Tome, Portuguese West Africa: death register
FO 376/2 - Consulate Aux Cayes, Haiti: death register
FO 377/4 - Consulate Riga, Russian empire: death register
FO 378/8 - Consulate Leningrad/St Petersburg: death register
FO 378/9 - Consulate Leningrad/St Petersburg: death register
FO 383/137 - Belgium: prisoners, including William F Lee formerly interned at Wittenberg Camp, Germany & Arthur G Slater interned at Ruhleben Camp, Germany
FO 440/10 - Consulate Libau, Latvia: death register
FO 443/16 - European cemetery in Morocco
FO 45/731 - Protestant Cemetery at Rome, Italy
FO 45/921-923 - British burial ground at Naples
FO 509/4 - Consulate Konigsberg, Germany: death register
FO 514/8-9 - Consulate Tallinn, Estonia: death register
FO 518/4 - Consulate Moscow, Russia: death register
FO 532/2 - Consulate Drammen, Norway: death register
FO 559/1 - Consulate Ponta Delgada, Portugal: Register of deaths, births, marriages & burials
FO 560/1 - Bushire, Iran: register of Births, Baptisms, Marriages & Deaths
FO 564/14 - Legation Peking, China: death register
FO 604/2 - District of Dusseldorf consulate: death register
FO 604/7 - District of the Vice-consulate at Aix la Chapelle: death register
FO 604/8 - Christ Church, Dusseldorf: baptism register
FO 617/5 - Consulate Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire: death register
FO 625/3 - Consulate & Embassy Bucharest, Romania: death register
FO 637/86 - British Cemetery at Port Mahon, Balearic Islands
FO 65/15 - Russian Empire: British cemetery at Messina
FO 661/5 -Consulate Libau, Latvia: death register
FO 663/89-92 - Consulate Amoy, China: death register
FO 665/5-6 - Consulate Foochow, China: death register
FO 667/4 - Consulate Ichang, China: death register
FO 670/3 - Consulate Ningpo, China: death register
FO 671/577-578, 581 - Foreign cemeteries in China
FO 672/2 - Consulate Shanghai, China: death register
FO 673/10 - Consulate Ningpo, China: death register
FO 676/491 - Cemeteries in China
FO 687/5 - Consulate Papeete, French Polynesia: birth, marriage & death register
FO 701/13 - United States consulate Galveston: death reports
FO 712/1 - Consulate Dieppe, France: birth register
FO 712/1 - Consulate Dieppe, France: death register
FO 712/3 - Consulate Dieppe, France: death register
FO 713/2 - Consulate Le Treport, France: death register
FO 716/2 - Embassy & consulate Darmstadt, Germany (formerly Hesse): death register
FO 72/2158 - British Cemetery at Bilbao, Spain
FO 723/2 - Embassy & legation Mexico City: death register
FO 723/92 - British Cemetery at Mexico City: burial notices
FO 736/3 - Consulates Cartagena & Santa Marta, Colombia: death register
FO 743/12-13, British cemetery at Parà, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
FO 748/27 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/32 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/39 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/45 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/49 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/58 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths
FO 748/66 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/73 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/83 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 748/86 - Legation Stockholm, Sweden: deaths notified by local authorities
FO 796/187 - Urakami Cemetery, Nagasaki, Japan
FO 796/236 - Consulate Nagasaki, Japan: death register
FO 83/1493 - Marriages abroad, miscellaneous
FO 83/1582 - Marriages abroad, A-G
FO 83/1967 - Marriages abroad, G-Z
FO 831/7 - Saffi cemetery, Morocco: proposed transfer of bodies
FO 835/138 - British cemetery at Casablanca, Morocco
FO 835/188 - British church & cemetery at Casablanca, Morocco
FO 847/102/48 - Abdul Moneim Cemetery, Alexandria, Egypt
FO 861/115 - Protestant cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 861/124 - British Protestant Cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 861/125 - British Protestant Cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 861/126 - British Protestant Cemetery at Aleppo, Syria
FO 866/14 - Legation & consulate, Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Registers of births, deaths & marriages
FO 868/2 - Consulate Philippopolis, Bulgaria: birth register
FO 884/3-5 - Consulate Varna, Bulgaria: death register
FO 886/2 - Embassy & consular Sulina: birth register
FO 887/2 - Consulate Kustendie, Ottoman Empire: death register
FO 888/2 - Consulate Rutschuk, Ottoman Empire: Register of deaths
FO 891/60 - Old British Protestant cemetery at Alexandria, Egypt
FO 904/13 - British cemetery at Leghorn, Italy
FO 905/16 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 905/34 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 905/36 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 905/47 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 905/63 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 905/68 - European cemetery at Jedda, Saudi Arabia
FO 908/5 = Protestant Cemetery at Hakodate, Yokohama, Japan
FO 910/3-6 - Consulate Lausanne, Switzerland: death register
FO 923/12 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/15 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/16 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/17 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/23 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/24 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/4 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 923/8 - Various Consulates, Iran (formerly Persia): death register
FO 927/28 - British cemetery at Malaga, Spain
FO 97/385 - British burial ground in Spain
FO 97/600 - Protestant cemetery at Para (Feri Keui), Turkey
FO 97/618 - British Cemetery at Suez
FO 97/619 - British Cemetery at Suez
FO 993/1 - Möllendal Cemetery, Bergen, Norway
RG 32/36-41 - Miscellaneous Foreign Returns
RG 32/43-53 - Miscellaneous Foreign Returns. Entries.
RG 32/54-59 - Miscellaneous Foreign Returns
RG 33/1 - Foreign Registers & returns: Belgium
RG 33/100 - Foreign Registers & returns: Indian sub-continent
RG 33/103 - Foreign Registers & returns: Indian sub-continent
RG 33/11 - Foreign Registers & returns: China
RG 33/110-113 - Foreign Registers & returns: Indian sub-continent
RG 33/117-118 - Foreign Registers & returns: Italy
RG 33/125 - Foreign Registers & returns: Japan
RG 33/132 - Foreign Registers & Returns: Malaya
RG 33/133 - Foreign Registers & Returns: Iraq
RG 33/137 - Foreign Registers & Returns: Iraq
RG 33/140 - Foreign Registers & returns: Mexico
RG 33/141 - Foreign Registers & Returns: Palestine
RG 33/142 - Foreign Registers & returns: Portugal
RG 33/144 - Foreign Registers & returns: Russia
RG 33/146 - Foreign Registers & returns: Russia
RG 33/148-152 - Foreign Registers & returns: Russia
RG 33/159 - Foreign Registers & returns: Indian sub-continent
RG 33/34 - Foreign Registers & returns: China
RG 33/37-72 - Foreign Registers & returns: France
RG 33/80-81 - Foreign Registers & returns: Germany
RG 33/82 - Foreign Registers & returns: Greece
RG 33/88 - Foreign Registers & returns: Holland
RG 33/91-98 - Foreign Registers & returns: Indian sub-continent
RG 36/1-14 - Registers & Returns of Births, Marriages & Deaths in the Protectorates of Africa & Asia. Africa, part 1
SP 110/70 - British factory at Aleppo, chaplain's register of baptisms, marriages & burials
WO 156/10 - Canterbury Garrison, Kent: burial register
WO 156/100-102 - Aldershot Military Burial Ground, Hampshire: burial register
WO 156/103 - Bordon Military Burial Ground, Hampshire - Burials
WO 156/105 - Colchester, Essex - Burials
WO 156/106 - Limasol, Troodos & Polimedia, Cyprus: burials
WO 156/107 - Cairo, Egypt & Khartoum, Sudan: register of deaths & burials
WO 156/108 - Cairo & Port Said, Egypt: burials
WO 156/109 - Ismailia, Egypt: burials
WO 156/110 - Abbassieh & Helmieh, Egypt: burials
WO 156/111 - Malta: military & civilian burials
WO 156/112 - Malta: military & civilian burials (register of deaths & burials)
WO 156/113 - Malta: military & civilian burials
WO 156/114 - Malta: burials
WO 156/115 - Rinella military cemetery, Malta - Burials
WO 156/116 - Imtarfa Cemetery, Malta: burials
WO 156/117 - Malta: burials
WO 156/118 - Netley, Hampshire - Burials
WO 156/119 - Pasir Panjang, Singapore: burials
WO 156/120 - Woolwich, London: burials
WO 156/121 - Malta: burials
WO 156/122 - Mesida, Malta: list of gravestones in Military & Civil Cemetery (1801-1865) & Quarantine Bastion Cemetery (1819-1867) - Burials
WO 156/123 - St George's Garrison Church, Woolwich, Kent: burial register
WO 156/450 - College Chapel Royal Military College, Sandhurst: Burials
WO 156/9 - Canterbury Garrison, Kent: burial register
WO 156/99 - Aldershot Military Burial Ground, Hampshire: burial register
WO 32/8903 - Birth & Baptismal Certificates of militia officers, extracted from destroyed papers. Ay-We
WO 32/8905 - Certificates of births, baptisms, marriages & deaths extracted from old personal papers, Bu-We
WO 32/8920 - Death certificates of Army personnel, Ae Vou
WO 347/10 - Allied Prisoner of War hospitals, Thailand & Burma: death register
WO 347/13 - Official War Diary & Death Register: including brief account of move from Singapore to Thailand (with reference to work on [Burma-Siam] railway); journal of camp activity July-Nov 1943, with copy letters to
IJA Camp Commandant; plan of camp; various death registers; & nominal roll of persons buried at Kando
WO 69/71 - Register of Marriages & Baptisms, C Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery
Records obtained from The National Archives provide images of the original records. By viewing the original record, you may discover more about your ancestor’s death. For example, in some cases, the ‘Place of Death’ field contains the precise latitude and longitude coordinates of the event. Also, many of the records will provide the cause of death.
The majority of deaths are due to drowning. A number are listed as ‘missing, presumed drowned’. Other causes include heart failure, bronchitis, inhalation of petroleum fumes, hanging, enteritis & dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, apoplexy, phthisis, oligemic shock from burns, skull fracture, boiler explosion, apparent barbiturate poisoning, excessive drinking, yellow fever, consumption, and scarlatina (an older term for scarlet fever). Many of the causes of death are uncertain, probably due to the deaths occurring far from land; there are many ‘probably’, ‘assumed’, ‘apparent’ or ‘presumed’ causes of death.
Some images include a number code to denote the cause of death. The number covers a grouping of 'causes' and can be broadly described as being as a result of military action, accident, disease, or other.
1 - Killed in action. Died of wounds or disease following wounds. Missing after action and subsequently presumed killed in action. Killed, died of wounds or exposure, died of disease following wounds or exposure, drowned, missing and subsequently presumed killed or drowned following the loss of the ship in action, by mine or torpedo.
2 - Killed, died of injuries or exposure, died of disease following injuries or exposure, drowned, missing and subsequently presumed killed or drowned, following the accidental loss of a ship (wreck, collision, internal explosion etc.) or where the actual cause of a vessel's loss is not known. Accidental deaths (killed, drowned etc.). Deaths due to injuries or disease following injuries.
3 - Deaths from disease
4 - Deaths due to suicide, murder, alcoholism, heat stroke, deaths under anaesthetic, and any cause which cannot be classified under disease or accident.
ᴓ - Body not recovered for burial
X - No information as to the location of grave
The records contain fatal incidents from both world wars as well as details of the sinking of the most famous ship in the world, the Titanic.
Saugor
On 27 August 1941, the cause of death of a number of passengers on the Saugor is recorded as ‘supposed drowned Vessel sunk by enemy action’. This cargo ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat, resulting in the loss of 59 of her 82 crew.
Lusitania
The National Archives series BT334 includes 1,196 of the 1,198 passengers and crew members who died when a German U-boat torpedoed and sunk the RMS Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland on 7 May 1915. The ‘place of death’ field for these individuals is described as ‘off Kinsale vessel sunk by German submarine’. Their causes of death are listed as ‘supposed drowned’.
Titanic
The National Archives series BT334 also includes those passengers and crew members who were killed in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Britain to the United States. It is unclear exactly how many people died as a result of the sinking, due to such factors as passengers cancelling their trip, travelling under aliases, or departing the ship at various ports and not returning, but it’s thought that between 1,490 and 1,635 people lost their lives.
Fewer than one-third of those aboard the ship survived.
In these records, the ‘place of death’ field is noted as ‘about lat 41.16N long 50.14 W'. The port of registry is listed as Liverpool, and the cause of death is noted as ‘supposed drowned’ for all victims. In the remarks category, ‘ship lost’ is written.
The records also provide details on which class the deceased were travelling. Of the approximately 1,317 passengers on the Titanic, 324 travelled first class, 284 were in second class, and the vast majority, 709, were in third class. Survival rates were comparatively low in third class, while the wealthier passengers in first class were prioritized in terms of getting into lifeboats.
Possibly the most interesting image is of a typewritten record of 19 crew members who died on the
- Titanic. The final residence of most of these people was listed as Southampton, the port from which the ship sailed. Their jobs on board are listed: steward, clerk, assistant plateman, assistant vegetable cook, assistant lounge steward, bedroom steward, assistant pantryman, lift steward, fireman, electrician, 2nd Class saloon steward, and lounge pantry steward. These job titles give an indication of both the volumes of people on board and the kind of luxury on offer. In total, there were approximately 885 crew members on board: 66 deck crew, 325 engine crew, and 494 victualling crew. Only 23 of the crew members were female.