Air Ministry messengers? who are they?

[squatt]

My Grandfather was record on his death certificate as being one of these, I read somewhere they tended to recruit Old trust worthy military personnel.

So i was trying to find if there was any information worth gathering however i do not know if this position was classed as military or Civilian (i Assume it to be civilian however you are Working for the Air Ministry)

Is the Air ministry a Governmental department or part of the RAF.

If civilian and Governmental what sort of information would they record about you, just a normal sort of job info or like a military type file?

Then finally if this information would be accessible?

if anyone can shed some light on this it would be most useful

Thanks for looking

[MaxD]

The Air Ministry was** the political government department responsible for the high level direction of the RAF.  Staffed by civil servants and service personnel.  In such departments, messengers were the men and women who, in the pre email days, moved files and records about from one office to another.

He would have had a civil service record but I am uncertain as to whether they were retained and are accessible.

MaxD

** Was because with the War Office and the Admiralty, there is now just the one Ministry of Defence.

[MaxD]

Added - see the National Archives guidance here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/civil-or-crown-servants/

Unlikely.

MaxD

[squatt]

thanks both.

the last link did shed some hope where it said the army kept records of civilians for upto a 100 years, it would be nice to know what sort of records

regards

[MaxD]

Answering your mis placed post!

Wherever in the UK a man worked, if he was in the civil service in a RAF related outfit he would be described as an Air Ministry civil servant.

I fear that you will get the same sort of result (or even less) as you did with the seaman's pouch.  Without being rude to the chap, a messenger was fairly near the bottom rung of the civil service ladder, they weren't sending messages, just running between offices with bundles of files  - important background but not in the bracket that would mean their records would be carefully preserved.  If you wanted to do it, it would be the Civil Service Commission to whom you should apply in the first instance
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/freedom-of-information/


MaxD