A Quick Guide To Understanding Service Numbers
Every soldier is issued with a service number.
A service number helps to identify an individual person and can be the link between them and their qualifications, previous postings, medical records and much more.
If your relative served in the military during WW2 and you’re not sure how to find a WW2 service number, it might be quite a task to find their service number.
Fortunately, you can search the National Archives if you know their surname and when they served.
If that doesn’t work, check certificates, documentation and their Army Book 64 if you have it.
WW2 Service Number Lookup
During World War 2, a service number was issued at a regimental level.
This helps us to use the table below to determine the regiment they served in at the time of being issued their military service number in WW2.
The data below explains which corps or regiment a person would have first joined to be issued their service number.
Please note: If a soldier transferred to a different regiment or corps, their military service number would remain the same.
This section is for WW2 service numbers, please ensure to check our British Army Service Numbers section for a complete list.
| Service Numbers | Regiment/Corps |
| 1 to 294,000 | Royal Army Service Corps |
| 294,001 to 304,000 | The Life Guards |
| 304,001 to 309,000 | Royal Horse Guards |
| 309,001 to 721,000 | Cavalry of the Line |
| 721,001 to 1,842,000 | Royal Artillery |
| 1,842,001 to 2,303,000 | Royal Engineers |
| 2,303,001 to 2,604,000 | Royal Corps of Signals |
| 2,604,001 to 1,646,000 | Grenadier Guards |
| 2,646,001 to 2,688,000 | Coldstream Guards |
| 2,688,001 to 2,714,000 | Scots Guards |
| 2,714,001 to 2,730,000 | Irish Guards |
| 2,730,001 to 2,744,000 | Welsh Guards |
| 2,744,001 to 2,809,000 | The Black Watch |
| 2,809,001 to 2,865,000 | The Seaforth Highlanders |
| 2,865,001 to 2,921,000 | The Gordon Highlanders |
| 2,921,001 to 2,966,000 | The Cameron Highlanders |
| 2,966,001 to 3,044,000 | The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders |
| 3,044,001 to 3,122,000 | The Royal Scots |
| 3,122,001 to 3,178,000 | The Royal Scot Fusiliers |
| 3,178,001 to 3,233,000 | The King’s Own Scottish Borderers |
| 3,233,001 to 3,299,000 | The Cameronians |
| 3,299,001 to 3,377,000 | The Highland Light Infantry |
| 3,377,001 to 3,433,000 | The East Lancashire Regiment |
| 3,433,001 to 3,511,000 | The Lancashire Fusiliers |
| 3,511,001 to 3,589,000 | The Manchester Regiment |
| 3,589,001 to 3,644,000 | The Border Regiment |
| 3,644,001 to 3,701,000 | The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers |
| 3,701,001 to 3,757,000 | The King’s Own Royal Regiment |
| 3,757,001 to 3,846,000 | The King’s Regiment |
| 3,846,001 to 3,902,000 | The Loyal Regiment |
| 3,902,001 to 3,947,000 | The South Wales Borderers |
| 3,947,001 to 4,025,000 | The Welch Regiments |
| 4,025,001 to 4,070,000 | The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry |
| 4,070,001 to 4,103,000 | The Monmouthshire Regiment |
| 4,103,001 to 4,114,000 | The Herefordshire Regiment |
| 4,114,001 to 4,178,000 | The Cheshire Regiment |
| 4,178,001 to 4,256,000 | The Royal Welch Fusiliers |
| 4,256,001 to 4,334,000 | The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers |
| 4,334,001 to 4,379,000 | The East Yorkshire Regiment |
| 4,379,001 to 4,435,000 | The Green Howards |
| 4,435,001 to 4,523,000 | The Durham Light Infantry |
| 4,523,001 to 4,601,000 | The West Yorkshire Regiment |
| 4,601,001 to 4,680,000 | The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment |
| 4,680,001 to 4,736,000 | The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry |
| 4,736,001 to 4,792,000 | The York and Lancaster Regiment |
| 4,736,001 to 4,792,000 | The Lincolnshire Regiment |
| 4,848,001 to 4,904,000 | The Leicestershire Regiment |
| 4,904,001 to 4,960,000 | The South Staffordshire Regiment |
| 4,960,001 to 5,038,000 | The Sherwood Foresters |
| 5,038,001 to 5,094,000 | The North Staffordshire Regiment |
| 5,094,001 to 5,172,000 | The Royal Warwickshire Regiment |
| 5,172,001 to 5,239,000 | The Gloucestershire Regiment |
| 5,172,001 to 5,239,000 | The Worcestershire Regiment |
| 5,328,001 to 5,373,000 | The Royal Berkshire Regiment. |
| 5,373,001 to 5,429,000 | The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry |
| 5,429,001 to 5,485,000 | The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry |
| 5,485,001 to 5,562,000 | The Hampshire Regiment |
| 5,562,001 to 5,608,000 | The Wiltshire Regiment |
| 5,608,001 to 5,662,000 | The Devonshire Regiment |
| 5,662,001 to 5,718,000 | The Somerset Light Infantry |
| 5,718,001 to 5,763,000 | The Dorsetshire Regiment |
| 5,763,001 to 5,819,000 | The Royal Norfolk Regiment |
| 5,819,001 to 5,875,000 | The Suffolk Regiment |
| 5,875,001 to 5,931,000 | The Northamptonshire Regiment |
| 5,931,001 to 5,942,000 | The Cambridgeshire Regiment |
| 5,942,001 to 5,998,000 | The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment |
| 5,998,001 to 6,076,000 | The Essex Regiment |
| 6,076,001 to 6,132,000 | The Queen’s Royal Regiment |
| 6,132,001 to 6,188,000 | The East Surrey Regiment |
| 6,188,001 to 6,278,000 | The Middlesex Regiment |
| 6,278,001 to 6,334,000 | The Buffs |
| 6,334,001 to 6,390,000 | The Royal West Kent Regiment |
| 6,390,001 to 6,446,000 | The Royal Sussex Regiment |
| 6,446,001 to 6,515,000 | The Royal Fusiliers |
| 6,802,501 to 6,814,000 | The Inns of Court Regiment |
| 6,825,001 to 6,837,000 | Honourable Artillery Company (Infantry) |
| 6,837,001 to 6,905,000 | The King’s Royal Rifle Corps |
| 6,905,001 to 6,972,000 | The Rifle Brigade |
| 6,972,001 to 7,006,000 | The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers |
| 7,006,001 to 7,040,000 | The Royal Ulster Rifles |
| 7,040,001 to 7,075,000 | The Royal Irish Fusiliers |
| 7,075,001 to 7,109,000 | Royal Dublin Fusiliers |
| 7,109,001 to 7,143,000 | Royal Irish Regiment |
| 7,143,001 to 7,177,000 | Connaught Rangers |
| 7,177,001 to 7,211,000 | Leinster Regiment |
| 7,211,001 to 7,245,000 | Royal Munster Fusiliers |
| 7,245,001 to 7,536,000 | Royal Army Medical Corps |
| 7,536,001 to 7,539,000 | The Army Dental Corps |
| 7,539,001 to 7,560,000 | Royal Guernsey Militia and Royal Alderney Artillery Militia |
| 7,560,001 to 7,574,000 | Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey |
| 7,574,001 to 7,657,000 | Royal Army Ordnance Corps |
| 7,657,001 to 7,681,000 | Royal Army Pay Corps |
| 7,681,001 to 7,717,000 | Corps of Military Police |
| 7,717,001 to 7,718,800 | Military Provost Staff Corps |
| 7,718,801 to 7,720,400 | Small Arms School Corps |
| 7,720,401 to 7,732,400 | Army Educational Corps |
| 7,732,401 to 7,733,000 | Band of the Royal Military College |
| 7,733,001 to 7,757,000 | Corps of Military Accountants |
| 7,757,001 to 7,807,000 | Royal Army Veterinary Corps |
| 7,807,001 to 7,868,000 | Machine Gun Corps |
| 7,868,001 to 7,891,868 | Royal Tank Regiment |
| 7,891,869 to 8,230,000 | Royal Armoured Corps |
| 10,000,001 to 10,350,000 | Militia |
| 14,000,000 + | General Service Corps |
| W/1 – W/500,000 | The Auxiliary Territorial Service |
Resources
- WW2 Service Numbers
- British Army Service Numbers
- British Military Records Search
Author: Dean Michael