In a previous Dusty Archive (AoN No.13) Paul outlined the facilities offered to the general public at the Public Records Office (PRO). I would like to expand upon Paul's introduction to the PRO by listing some of the documents that would be of use to the military historian. The objective of this is to save valuable time for those researchers with limited opportunities to visit this establishment.

The documents that are probably the most important to the individual researching the military aspects of the age of Napoleon are the War Office Papers. In order to be able to examine any document the researcher must know the PRO reference number. Below are some of the reference numbers relevant to this period:

WO 1 is the class code for the War Department In Letters and Papers. These documents are mainly the dispatches of the officers commanding British armies abroad and they cover every theatre of war from the West Indies, Africa, South America, India and Europe. Wellington's dispatches from the Peninsula, for example, can be found in WO 1/202, 203, 242-260, 416-418.

WO 3 is the class code for Out Letters from the Commander-in-Chief (at the Horse Guards). These are letters to officers of all ranks serving both at home and abroad. They run from WO 3/34 to WO 3/63. Out Letters to the War Office are found in WO 3/15240.

WO 4 is the class code for the Out Letters of the Secretary at War, and the period from 1800-1815 can be found in WO 4/177-222.

WO 6 is the class code for the Out Letters of the Secretary at State, War Office. This is, for me, the most interesting section that I have yet discovered, particularly the letters from Lord Liverpool to Wellington. WO 6/7- 28 covers the mainland Europe expeditions 1793-1815; WO 6/29-39 are to Wellington in the Peninsula; W06/40-52 are the instructions to Sir John Moore and Sir John Craddock in Portugal and Spain; WO6/54-6 cover the Mediterranean from 1794-1816 and W06/67 is the East Indies 1794-1810.

There are many other documents in the War Office papers that I have yet to inspect but I know that WO 10 concerns musters, pay lists and the artillery. WO 28 are the Headquarters Records which include returns of British prisoners of war.

For information on the Foreign Office, Admiralty and Home Office papers, the researcher should obtain the PRO's pamphlet No 128, which is one of the many leaflets available at the PRO free of charge. Admission to the Reading Room of the PRO is restricted to ticket holders only and applicants must provide proof of identity (driving licence or passport) before a ticket can be issued.

For further details of the services provided by the PRO, contact: Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. Tel. 0181 876 3444 ext. 2350 (general information).