The First World War Project, started in 2013 and completed in 2018, had as its main aim the building of an archive of the town’s First World War Servicemen and Women, those who died and those who survived the conflict.   Click here for a detailed description of the project set-up.

A team, led by Sandra Ransom has been working on the project using a variety of sources, both online and offline, to build up the archive. The team consisted of Jane Dale, Mary Dominey, the late Barbara Foxley, Geraldine Mason, Sandra Ransom, Judith Reed, Ann Rowlett, Jennifer Topham and David Wheeler. We are also indebted to the many families who supplied us with personal information on their relatives that was not in the public domain. We would also like to thank Biggleswade Town Council for their support of the project.

The archive comprises 778 folders, one for each service man and woman involved in the conflict, with records held in both digital and hard copy format. The criteria for inclusion is based on residence in the Biggleswade area between 1914 and 1918. Each record includes items such as birth and marriage certificates, service records, death certificates and medal information. Newspaper records, book entries and other information are also included if available.

In order to help researchers identify people in the archive we have included a table of all 778 names on the website which lists: Surname, Given names, Year of Birth and Year of Death. If anyone wants a hard copy of a folder we can organise this for a small cost to cover materials, etc.

In addition there is a table of  142 servicemen who were billeted in Biggleswade but who were not born in the town.