Circumstances of Death Registers, First World War

• About the records
• Circumstances of Deaths Registers
• How the Records Are Arranged in the Volumes
• Content List

About the records

[a]

Library and Archives Canada holds records related to the death of service personnel from both the First and Second World War grouped into one series: Accession RG 150, 1992-93/314.

• Volumes 1 to 38 hold applications for the burial of ex-CEF personnel to be buried in Canada or the United States with a military marker supplied by the Government of Canada.
• Volumes 39 to 144 are known as the “Black Binders” and serve as a register of death and location of the body or memorial, serving primarily as a death certificate and register of burial for those serving in Belgium, France or the United Kingdom. These volumes have also been digitized and are available online.
• Volumes 145 to 238 are known as the “Brown Binders” which focuses on the circumstances of death (if available) with particulars of the initial grave site, if known.
• Volumes 239 to 274 are about the death and burial of military service personnel in Canada and the United States during the First World War and afterwards.
• Volumes 275 to 278 are for groups killed in the First World War not described in any of the above mentioned records. These include those lost at sea, members of the Siberian Expeditionary Force, enemy aliens interned by Canada and miscellaneous personnel of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the Royal Canadian Navy.
• Volumes 279 to 302 are for Second World War Service personnel killed in Canada, including personnel involved in the British Commonwealth Air Training Program.

Circumstances of Deaths Registers

[b]

This series (volumes 145 to 238) consists of registers known as the “Brown Binders” that include information on the circumstances of death with particulars of the initial grave site. The registers are arranged in alphabetic order and provide for each Canadian Expeditionary Force member a two page document that contains the following information:

• Service number
• Rank
• Name (Surname and Christian Names)
• Unit or Ship
• Date of Casualty
• Headquarter File Number
• Religion
• Circumstances of casualty
• Name, Relationship and Address of Next of Kin
• Location of Unit at Time of casualty
• Cemetery
• Location of Cemetery
• Grave Location and Information

The registers were maintained by Records Office of the Overseas Ministry, with the burial information contained forward to Militia and Defence Headquarters. It should be noted that these registers do not indicate the final place of burial if there was a change in the location of the grave. For this information the researcher should refer to the Commonwealth War Graves registers that have also been digitized and are available online.

When the Public Archives of Canada (PAC), now Library and Archives Canada, took over responsibility for historical military service records in 1971, these records were transferred to Library and Archives Canada.

How the Records Are Arranged in the Volumes

[c]

Content List

[d]

Important Note: Volumes containing names beginning by Sip to Z have not survived.