Australian War Records Section biographical forms, 1914-18 War

Early in 1919 the Australian War Records Section sent a standard
Biographical Details form to as many senior officers (ie those of the
rank of major and above) of the AIF as could be located after the
1914-1918 war. The information which these officers provided was to
be made available to the Official Historian. In the case of the
deceased officers information was sometimes provided by their next of
kin or a fellow officer.

In order to send these forms the AWRS had to obtain lists of
effective officers and those made non-effective by death from each
Australian unit. These lists, the correspondence leading to them,
and also correspondence with officers regarding the Biographical
Details forms are included at the end of the series.

The bulk of the series consists of the completed Biographical Details
forms. These have been aranged in alphabetical order by surname.
The information sought was under the following headings:

1. Personal Details
2. Active Service other than present war
3. Service in the Australian Military Forces
4. Service in the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force
5. Service in the Australian Imperial Force. Included in this
heading is a section titled "Period during service in AIF
considered most important or interesting" which was included
at the request of the Official Historian. Some officers
completed this section in great detail and it provides a
valuable "personal" view of Australians in the First World War.

The forms vary greatly in the amount of detail included. Many of the
officers included notes apologising for lack of detail, explaining
that they were still extremely busy with their units and/or did not
have access to personal or unit diaries which would have allowed
greater accuracy. Some of the forms include a photograph of the
officer.

• AWM183 19 - Australian War Records Section biographical forms: Maj J Edgley, Lt Col C H Elliott, Col H E Elliott, Maj W H Ellwood, Maj A A Evans, Maj R E Fanning, Lt Col A G Farr, Lt Col J Farrell, Maj T J Farrow, Maj T A Ferguson
• AWM183 33 - Australian War Records Section biographical forms: Maj C W C Marr, Lt Col J T Marsh, Lt Col E E Martin, Brig Gen E F Martin, Lt Col C C Mason, Maj R J A Massie, Lt Col H A Maunder, Lt Col L C Maygar, Lt Col S Midgley, Lt Col A Miell
• AWM183 35 - Australian War Records Section biographical forms: Maj S A Mountjoy, Maj W F Moyle, Lt Col L M Mullen, Maj E J Munro, Lt Col G F Murphy, Maj J J Murray, Maj A W Nash, Maj J A Neale, Lt Col J Newman, Col B J Newmarch
• AWM183 48 - Australian War Records Section biographical forms: Lt Col J Williams, Maj L L Williams, Maj M D Williams, Lt Col N R Williams, Lt Col A M Wilson, Col L C Wilson, Maj T C Wilson, Lt Col A R L Wiltshire, Brig Gen E A Wisdom, Lt Col A R Woolcock, Maj G F Wootten, Lt Col H D Wynter, Lt Col H A Youden