Ancestry releases First World War Women's Royal Navy Service records

Now on Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

UK, Women’s Royal Naval Officers' Service Records, 1917-1919
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62354/

About UK, Women’s Royal Naval Officers' Service Records, 1917-1919

This collection contains records for those who served in the Women's Royal Navy Service (WRNS) from 1917-1920. Most records are handwritten in English on pre-printed forms. Types of records in this collection may include:
Application forms
Enrollment forms
Certificates of identification
Officer's forms

Using this collection

Records in the collection may include the following information:
Name, including maiden name if married
Rank
Birthplace
Birth date
Age
Date and place of enlistment
Date and place of discharge
Nationality
Residence
Marital status
Physical description
Regiment
Unit
Names of family members
Relationships to next of kin
Addresses of next of kin

There's also a bit on the set-up of the WRNS:

The Women's Royal Navy Service was created in 1917 in order to reserve men for seafaring roles. Members of the WRNS (affectionately called "the Wrens") were instead employed in a variety of non-combat roles to aid the war effort. Initial support roles available to the WRNS were primarily domestic (such as cooking and cleaning), but WRNS also served as clerks, telegraphists, mechanics, electricians, weapons analysts, and radar plotters.

The Wrens were disbanded in 1919 after the end of the First World War. Over 5,000 women were Wrens during the course of the war, which was particularly remarkable as the initial recruitment goal was only 3,000 women. The WRNS was reformed in 1939 to aid the British effort during the Second World War. The WRNS would fully disband in 1993 when women were integrated into the Royal Navy.

Chris 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.