RootsChat.Com

Thank you again - everyone. In that case, I will go ahead and try. I guess I have nothing to lose.

Assuming that I will be unsuccessful, does anyone know if there is any other way to at least pinpoint which units my great-uncle served with, and where? The only two clues that we have about his entire service are, firstly, a single photograph in which he is wearing the uniform of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Also, there is an entry in the British Army Casualty Lists that we think is him - that gives us potential service and regiment numbers and an injury (11th RSF and wounded in NW Europe 22/10/44), but I need some document that includes his address or a named relative to confirm that I have the right person. If I am sure of that, then it might be possible to work out what he *might* have done via the war diaries.  Without the service record, I suspect that's about as much as I'm going to be able to do.

Apologies to all the experts if I'm naiive in my hopes.

Related, if the TNA has a 115-years-after-death rule, do you know why they have said that all the information in the service record is exempt until 2037? My great-uncle was born in December 1910, so 115 years from then would be 2025 - not 2037. Am I missing something?

Thanks very much again for your help.

Hello. Has anyone here had trouble receiving access to service records held by the National Archives? Over the past few years, I have requested and been sent copies of both my paternal (Army) and maternal (RAF) grandfathers' Second World War service records, the former coming from the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow.

Just before Christmas, I again contacted the Army Personnel Centre to request the service record of my great-uncle, and supplied the necessary cheque, next-of-kin consent etc. They emailed to tell me that his record had been transferred to the National Archives as part of the Defence Records Management Project and that I should contact the National Archives if I still wished to apply for a copy. I did so, and yesterday received an email from them saying that "We are unable to open this record because all of the information is exempt under Section 41 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 until 2037. This means that we cannot make the record open to you or to the public in general."

Their email went on: "The FOI Act gives you the right to know whether we hold the information you want and to have it communicated to you, subject to any exemptions which may apply.
Section 41 (1) of the Act exempts information if (a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public authority), and (b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under the Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person. 
The information contained in the record relates to information that was given in confidence, the release of which could be actionable in court. Although, for the purposes of the FOI Act, Section 41 is an absolute exemption, I can confirm that we have taken into account the public interest defence test inherent within the common law duty of confidence in reaching this decision.
In this case, Section 41(1) applies to medical information documented in the record.
Please be aware that requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have to be treated as applicant blind. Therefore, being next-of-kin can have no bearing on the outcome of this request for information. Information released under FOI is released to the public at large, not just to a requester. This is why we have to review these records for sensitivities."

Can anyone out there with more experience than I help me to understand why the National Archives is refusing me access when the guys at the MoD Archives have already granted me access to two very similar documents (both my grandfathers')?

When the Army Records Centre sent through my grandfather's service record, they redacted a section about his medical history. That was fine - whilst it would have made for interesting reading and answered a few family questions, I had no issue with that. If the presence of medical information in my great-uncle's record is TNA's reason for refusing my request, then could they not just redact or omit that section, as the Army Records Centre had done? Their email did, after all, say "In this case, Section 41(1) applies to medical information documented in the record". But then, earlier in their email, they said "all of the information is exempt under Section 41 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act".

So, I'm disappointed, annoyed and confused. I sense a gargantuan, frustrating, spirit-crushing battle of wills coming with the faceless administrators of TNS that I stand no chance of winning.

Can anyone help me to understand, and to work out whether there is any way I'll be able to obtain from the National Archives such similar material as has already been supplied to me by the Army Personnel Centre?

Thanks so much in advance,
Steve

Thank you, everyone, for your kind help, and for confirming that Middlesex Court on Glenhurst Road was the Brentford Register Office back in 1936. What still puzzles me is that I can't equate what I see of that building on Google Maps with the sole photograph that we have of their wedding. I have attached it here for you to see. Admittedly, there is very, very little to go on in the background, and I may be sinking to a new low of pedantry in trying so hard to identify the building (!), but the steps, the doors, the brick walls on the right of the photo do not seem to match with the Glenhurst Road building, so it makes me wonder if that actually is the right place.

All thoughts gratefully received, with huge thanks.