Key to Enquiry File Prefixes
The majority of the letters used in the prefixes stand for the names of places where there were Army record offices. There is no surviving contemporary key. The new key has been made by relating the range of units covered in surviving Enquiry file (E-file) series to specific Army record offices, corps and countries (the Navy and R.A.F. are also covered by CCM). Each record office served a known group of units/regiments. They were at the core of the Army’s system of maintaining service records and keeping in touch with next-of-kin. It is clear that the E-file prefix system was originally designed to match the enquiry file system of the D.G.R.E and I.W.G.C. to the Army record offices, who were of crucial importance to the work of the Commission into the 1920s.
See relevant entries for associated Army record offices, regiments and corps.
AA Artillery and Australia
CCM This prefix covers:
1) The Cavalry. During WW1 cavalry records were split between Canterbury and York. Looking in comparison at the Army medal records the abbreviation CC indicated the Cavalry Record Office Canterbury and CY the Cavalry Record Office York.
2) Canadian/Dominion/Imperial units other than Australian.
3) British Army corps, e.g. RAMC, RFC etc. (however for R.E. and Labour Corps see W.W.)
4) The RAF from April 1918.
5) The Royal Naval Division, Royal Navy and associated organisations, the Merchant Marine
6) The Chinese Labour Corps
CDEW Cork, Dublin, Exeter and Warwick
HLG Hounslow, London and Guards (Foot and Horse)
PH Perth and Hamilton
SL Shrewsbury and Lichfield
WW Warley and Winchester
YP York and Preston
AA (Artillery & Australia)
Artillery
Royal Field Artillery
Royal Horse Artillery
Royal Garrison Artillery
Australia
All Australian units
CCM Cavalry (Canterbury/York – not including Horse Guards), Canada and Commonwealth (including India, excluding Australia), Miscellaneous Corps
Cavalry
Cavalry Canterbury
1st Dragoon Guards
2nd Dragoon Guards
3rd Dragoon Guards
4th Dragoon Guards
5th Dragoon Guards
6th Dragoon Guards
7th Dragoon Guards
1st Royal Dragoons
2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys)
5th (Royal Irish) Lancers
6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons
9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers
12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers
16th (The Queen’s) Lancers
17th (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers
21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers
Bedfordshire Yeomanry
Berkshire Yeomanry
City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders)
2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons)
Derbyshire Yeomanry
Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry
East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry
Essex Yeomanry
Fife & Forfar Yeomanry
Glamorgan Yeomanry
Hampshire Yeomanry
Hertfordshire Yeomanry
King Edward’s Horse
Lanarkshire Yeomanry
Lincolnshire Yeomanry
Lothians & Border Horse
Lovat’s Scouts
Montgomeryshire Yeomanry
Norfolk Yeomanry
Northamptonshire Yeomanry
Queen’s Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry
Scottish Horse
Shropshire Yeomanry
North Somerset Yeomanry
Surrey Yeomanry
Sussex Yeomanry
Yorkshire Dragoons
Cavalry York
Ayrshire Yeomanry
Buckinghamshire Yeomanry
1st County of London Yeomanry
3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
Cheshire Yeomanry
Camel Corps
Denbighshire Yeomanry
Royals 1st Devon Yeomanry
Royal North Devon Yeomanry
Dorset Yeomanry
Gloucestershire Yeomanry (Royal Gloucester Hussars)
3rd (King’s Own) Hussars
4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars
8th (King’s Own) Hussars
10th (Prince Albert’s Own) Hussars
13th Hussars
14th (King’s) Hussars
15th (The King’s) Hussars
18th (Queen Mary’s Own) Hussars
19th (Queen Alexandra’s Own Royal) Hussars
20th Hussars
Irish Horse North.
Irish Horse South.
Royal East Kent Yeomanry
West Kent Yeomanry
Lancashire Hussars
Leicester Yeomanry
Northumberland Yeomanry
Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers)
South Nottinghamshire Hussars
Oxfordshire Yeomanry
Pembroke Yeomanry
West Somerset Yeomanry
Staffordshire Yeomanry
Suffolk Yeomanry
Warwickshire Yeomanry
Westmorland & Cumberland Yeomanry
Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
Worcestershire Yeomanry
Yorkshire Hussars
Welsh Horse – unclear whether Canterbury or York
Canada and all Commonwealth (other than Australia), Indian and Imperial units
Chinese Labour Corps
Miscellaneous British units –
Machine Gun Corps
Motor Machine Gun Service
Royal Flying Corps/RAF
Army Chaplains Department
Military Mounted Police
Military Provost Staff Corps
Military Foot Police
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service
Queen Mary Army Auxiliary Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Pay Corps, Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Veterinary Corps
Royal Guernsey Light Infantry
Royal Jersey Militia
Tanks Corps
Naval
Royal Naval Division (including the Royal Marines)
Royal Navy and associated organisations
Merchant Marine
CDEW (Cork, Dublin, Exeter & Warwick)
Cork
Royal Irish Regiment
Connaught Rangers
Royal Munster Fusiliers
Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)
Dublin
Royal Dublin Fusiliers
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers)
Royal Irish Rifles
Exeter
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire) Regiment
Hampshire Regiment
Dorset Regiment
Somerset Light Infantry
Devon Regiment
Warwick.
Gloucestershire Regiment
Worcestershire Regiment
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire) Regiment
Non-Combatant Corps
HLG Hounslow, London and Guards (Foot and Horse)
Hounslow
Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex) Regiment
East Surrey Regiment
Royal Sussex Regiment
East Kent Regiment
Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment
Cyclist Corps
The Kent Cyclist Battalion
London
London Regiments
Royal Defence Corps.
Honourable Artillery Company Infantry Section (members of the H.A.C. Artillery Section can also be found under the AA prefix)
Royal Fusiliers
Inns of Court O.T.C. (Officers’ Training Corps)
Foot Guards
Coldstream Guards
Grenadier Guards
Scots Guards
Welsh Guards
Irish Guards.
Guards Machine Gun Regiment
Horse Guards
1st Life Guards
2nd Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
PH Perth & Hamilton
Perth
Gordon Highlanders
Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s)
Highland Cyclist Battalion
Hamilton
Royal Scots
Royal Scots Fusiliers
Scottish Rifles (Cameronians)
Highland Light Infantry
Kings Own Scottish Borderers
SL Shrewsbury & Lichfield
Shrewsbury
South Wales Borderers
Kings Shropshire Light Infantry
Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire) Regiment
Welsh Regiment
Cheshire Regiment
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Herefordshire Regiment
Monmouth Regiment
Lichfield.
South Staffordshire Regiment
Leicestershire Regiment
Notts & Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters)
Prince of Wales’s (North Staffordshire) Regiment
Lincolnshire Regiment
WW Warley & Winchester
Warley
Northamptonshire Regiment
Norfolk Regiment
Suffolk Regiment
Cambridge Regiment
Hertfordshire Regiment
Essex Regiment
Bedfordshire Regiment
Huntingdon Cyclists
Non-Combatant Corps
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Winchester
King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Rifle Brigade
Miscellaneous British Units
Royal Engineers
Labour Corps
YP York & Preston
York
Yorkshire Regiment
East Yorkshire Regiment
Durham Light Infantry
Northern Cyclist Battalion
Northumberland Fusiliers
Duke of Corn Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment
Yorkshire & Lancaster Regiment
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Prince of Wales’s Own West Yorkshire Regiment
Preston
Lancashire Fusiliers
East Lancashire Regiment
Border Regiment
Manchester Regiment
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
King’s Liverpool Regiment
King’s Royal Lancashire Regiment
War Records Revealed 