User:GavinRobinson
From Linking experiences of World War One
Historian and palaeographer. I run Different Hand Ltd, doing manuscript transcription, XML markup, research assistance and related services. My PhD thesis and published work are on horses and cavalry in the English Civil War. I got into First World War research through tracing my great-grandad, who was in 1/5th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. I was a moderator at Your Archives and used to blog at Investigations of a Dog.
To do list
- branches and services: replace 'British colonial forces' with something more specific where possible eg
- British Imperial Forces
- Regular Army [for West India Regiment, West African Regiment etc, see Manual of Military Law; could also include BWIR?]
- WAFF
- KAR
- for strictly colonial forces, try to find out what they were actually called. Try Quarterly Army List, and combine this with finding missing colonial units.
- British Imperial Forces
- fields and categories to track completeness of pages eg are names/relationships complete, with exact dates and citations?
- once the above are settled:
- Australian CMF/PF units need linking to Army List and names confirming
- AIF battalions need full names adding from Monthly Army List
- pals battalions need cat, redirects and name checks (got early official name histories from ACIs but still need source for nicknames)
- easy name checks for British infantry:
- pre-war regular infantry battalions
- Special Reserve battalions
- regular cavalry should already have correct names but will need confirming
- divisions from Becke (probably already done but will need confirming)
- name checks for Indian Army (got Indian Army List)
- British page name conventions (see Talk:Naming conventions for British units). Once this is settled:
- import British VTC/VF battalions and regiments (got name histories from AOs)
- look for and import missing British infantry brigades from Becke and James
- redirects for British Army infantry battalions that omit the word 'Battalion' (will make search suggestions easier)
- other things that don't depend on the above:
- import other American units from Order of Battle:
- AEF GHQ/army/corps troops from vol 1
- home divisions, departments and camps from vol 3.2
- all other home units from vol 3.3
- import Indian Volunteers and Defence Force
- import NZTF and see if any NZEF battalions or brigades are missing
- import Canadian militia infantry and cavalry
- check Quarterly Army List for obscure colonial units
- import other American units from Order of Battle:
Once above things are done we should have more or less all infantry and cavalry units from the British Empire and all US Army units.
Other things for the future:
- look into using APIs to extract batches of personal narratives and media from major collections
- see how many IWM Lives communities need to be added to unit pages
- decide which tasks most need to be added to How you can help (too many/too complicated could be overwhelming)
- should AIF field artillery batteries be merged with parent brigades? List of relationships at Digger History.