Search British Armed Forces, Roman Catholic Registers

This collection comprises baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial records. The information found in each record will vary depending on the event type. With each transcript, you will also be able to view an image of the original sacramental register. Below are lists of the detail you will find in each event type.

Baptisms

• Name
• Sex
• Birth year
• Birth date
• Event year
• Baptism date
• Place
• Baptism country
• Residence county
• Father’s name
• Mother’s name
• Service branch
• Register type and year range
• Archive and reference

Confirmations

• Name
• Sex
• Year
• Confirmation year
• Confirmation date
• Place
• Confirmation country
• Residence county
• Service branch
• Register type and year range
• Archive and reference

Marriages

• Name
• Alias
• Sex
• Year
• Marriage date
• Place
• Marriage country
• Residence county
• Spouse’s name
• Service branch
• Register type and year range
• Archive and reference

Burials

• Name
• Age
• Sex
• Birth year
• Year
• Death year
• Burial year
• Place
• Burial county
• Service branch
• Register type
• Register year range
• Archive and reference

Images

The original records can often provide additional facts that were not recorded in the transcripts, such as

• Godparents or sponsors
• Confirmation name
• Priest’s name
• Witnesses’ names
• Rank or occupation
• Residence at the time of the event

The British Armed Forces, Roman Catholic Registers have been digitised from The Scottish Catholic Archives. They contain sacramental registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials between 1836 and 1975. The registers feature the names of military personnel and their families stationed both at home and abroad. You will find registers from the military towns Aldershot and Shorncliffe, as well as bases in Cairo, Cyprus, Malta, and more.

The registers were created by the Bishopric of the Forces, the religious officials of the Roman Catholic Church responsible for the pastoral care of Roman Catholics in the military. Roman Catholic registers were often recorded in Latin. Latin was the official language of the Church until the second half of the 20th century. Below is a list of common Latin words found in the records to help you decipher the detailed images.

Many of the registers will be written in Latin. Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church until the 1960s. Below are common Latin words you may find in the registers.

• Aetati - age
• Anno Domino – year of Our Lord
• Baptizandi - baptised
• Cognomen - surname
• Die mensis – day of month
• Domicilium - residence
• Filium / Filiam - son or daughter
• Matrimonium – the sacrament of Holy Matrimony or marriage
• Matrina fuit - godmother was
• Mensis - month
• Natus - birth
• Nomina parentum – the names of parents
• Nomen sacerdotis - the name of the assistant priest
• Observanda – observations or notes
• Patrinus fuit - godfather was
• Praesntibus testibus – their presence as witnesses
• Sepultum est - buried in
• Sponsoribus – sponsors