Defence Service personnel files transferred to Archives New Zealand (South African War and World War I)

The military personnel files of those who served in our Defence Services during the South African War and the First World War have been transferred to Archives New Zealand from the New Zealand Defence Force, Personnel Archives.

In recognition of the enduring historical value of these records, an agreement was signed in 2005 by the Chief of Defence Force and the Chief Archivist of Archives New Zealand to transfer these files into the permanent care of Archives New Zealand. In so doing both parties acknowledged the significance of these records to our national and family histories.

The records transferred are for personnel whose service ended prior to 31 December 1920.

South African (Boer) War (1899-1902)

Archives New Zealand now holds 6425 personnel files for New Zealanders who served in the South African (Boer) War.

Note that the personnel files of ninety two (92) Boer War servicemen who were still serving in New Zealand’s military forces after 31 December 1920 have been retained at NZDF Personnel Archives at Trentham. These will not be transferred to Archives New Zealand until further notice.

World War I (1914-1918)

Archives New Zealand now holds 122,357 files for people who served in the First World War.

Note that approximately 6000 personnel files of servicemen and women who were still serving in New Zealand’s military forces after 31 December 1920 have in most cases been retained by NZDF Personnel Archives at Trentham. The exceptions to this are files that have been split into multiple parts. In this instance the earlier file parts, that pre-date 1920, have been transferred to Archives New Zealand, but later file parts for the same individual will be retained by NZDF Personnel Archives until further notice.

Access

These records are some of our most frequently consulted records but unfortunately because of their format we are not able to provide access to the originals. Copies are therefore produced for researchers. The nature of the original records, the large number of orders and the relatively poor quality of the copies has prompted us to look at alternative copying methods and we will now be providing digital copies which can be printed out or received in electronic form.

Copies will be provided within 15 days of request.

To find out if we have a record for the person you are researching, you can do a simple search on our online finding aid, Archway. Alternatively you can ask us to do a search for you. To access the records, please either:

Submit an online request, or write to Access Services, Archives New Zealand, PO Box 12 050, Wellington. Please note that all records accessed this way will be subject to a charge of $25 per item for research and photocopying, which must be pre-paid. For more details (including methods of payment) please go to Wellington online request.
Alternatively you may wish to visit our Wellington office and place an order.
In order to maximise your research time you may wish to pre-order files before you visit. To do this, send us the full archives reference/s of the files by email, fax or post. You can pre-order up to five Defence Force Personnel files and obtain the references by searching Archway. Also provide your Reader Card number if you are already a registered reader, or supply us with your name and contact details and bring one form of identification when you visit. Please note that due to the nature of this material we do require fifteen working days notice to fulfil these pre-order requests.

We recommend that first time users checkout the information on doing research at Archives New Zealand on our website.