War Department Constabulary Personnel Records.

[iainargyll]

I am trying to locate and if possible access the personnel records of War Dept. Constabulary officers.

I have just received the service papers from Glasgow for one of my men who joined the War Dept. Const. after leaving the army.No mention about the constabulary.

Any help please.

[peter monahan]

My understanding, which is admittedly slight, is that the WDC was, like the NAAFI and some other groups, is an 'ancilliary' or 'auxilliary' service of the MoD.  So, while that service might count towards medals, as it did for the NAAFI folks in Iraq/Afghanistan more recently, it is not technically 'part' of the armed forces.

Just my tuppence worth.  The WDC was phased out in 1974.

[iainargyll]

Thanks for your reply,like a lot of records I'll just have to keep looking,maybe they will surface one day.

Iain.

[peter monahan]

Good luck with the hunt.  The appeal and frustration of collecting combined!

[Dave Wilkinson]

Iain,

Firstly, to correct the information given by a previous contributor, the War Dept. Constabulary existed in that name from 1925 to 1964. In 1964 it was re-named the Army Dept. Constabulary. That said, there was no change of insignia, WDC badges continuing to be worn. In 1971, the force was amalgamated together with the other civilian service police forces to form the Ministry of Defence Police.

With regard to the records of the WDC,, your first port of call should be the National Archives at Kew. If you have no luck there you could try the MoD Police themselves. They do maintain quite a few historical records at their HQ.

Dave.