CYMRAEG
 

The Regimental Archive of the
Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia)

Lists of those serving in the Regiment

Photograph of 10 members of No.7 Company Transport Group at the Beaufort Arms, 1917. All were drivers (Dr.)
No.7 Transport Group 1917
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A number of different types of records contain names of members of the Regiment. The men who served in the Regiment when it was a regiment of militia were known as militiamen. When it became a Regiment of engineers in 1877, the men were called sappers (sometimes abbreviated to spr.).

Officers on the steps of Great Castle House, 1860
Officers at Great
Castle House 1860
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Registers of Enlistment record details about men when they enlisted. Regimental rolls and muster rolls listed all the officers and militiamen or sappers at certain dates. There are also separate records which list only officers. Some of these records contain a lot of information, while others contain less, but all of them are useful for family historians trying to trace ancestors who might have served in the Regiment.


It's worth noting that most of those who served in the Regiment in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries lived in Monmouthshire, but from the 1850s'many men from outside the county joined the Regiment.


Photograph of a page from an enlistment register, showing columns recording information
Page from an
Enlistment Register
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This Enlistment Register covers the period 1786-1817, and contains fascinating information on those who joined the Regiment. It includes a physical description of each man, as well as information on age and place of birth. Similar registers exist covering the periods 1872-1887, 1889-1915 and 1914-1927. The information given in each of the registers varies slightly.
Regimental rolls give far less information, recording usually only the name and rank.

Photograph of four sappers, standing, all smoking cigarettes
Sappers
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A database is being compiled from the information in these registers and in the Regimental rolls. At the moment, only information from the first register (1786-1817) and from the Regimental Roll for 1914-1916 has been input. It is hoped that information from the other registers and rolls will be added later.

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