Britain declared war on Germany 100 years ago today, on 4 August 1914 and on 9 August the British Expeditionary Force began leaving for France. Some other Wild Geese have blogged here about their ancestors who fought in the war, so I just thought I'd put up these resources for anyone else out there who might know a bit about a relative or ancestor and wanted to see what else they could find. If you know any details about the person, you can find their Service Medal card through the existing index here:

Service Medal and Award Rolls Index

Most of the military records/paperwork on British WWI soldiers was destroyed in a bombing and fire during the London Blitz, but the Rolls Index survived and has some good information. To buy a PDF of the soldiers card, I think, costs three pounds.

If the soldier died in WWI, you can often find either his memorial or his headstone through the:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The remains of so many men were never recovered that the memorials just list the names of those with no known grave.  They are placed on or near the battlefields in the cemeteries of those who did get graves. 

Once you know the cemetery, you can usually find photos of all the memorials and many of the graves (at least on the Western Front).

I hope this will help anyone out there searching.

(In memory of my grandfather William Hurley, 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers and my wifes' granduncle, Patrick John Loye, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, KIA at Ypres, April 4, 1916.)