The 1939 Register is the most recent major record set for English and Welsh family history. Following the start of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, the British government needed to conduct an accurate count of Britain’s civilian population to enable issuing of ration books and ID cards, the direction of labour and conscription into the armed forces. The 1939 Register is therefore the most complete snapshot available of the English and Welsh population on the eve of war. It lists the names, addresses and other details of over 45 million people. The original 7000 volumes of the 1939 Register are held at The National Archives.
The 1939 Register is available on subscription genealogy websites Ancestry, Findmypast, TheGenealogist and MyHeritage. Both TheGenealogist and MyHeritage only offer the transcription at present, with no images. The transcription they use is the same as the one used by Findmypast. Ancestry uses its own transcription along with images.
What will the 1939 Register tell you?
1939 Register records are very similar to census records. The records list each resident of each household in England and Wales and give each individual’s full name; address; date of birth; marital status; occupation; and whether the individual was a member of the armed services or reserves.
However, there are some differences from census records. Unlike the census, the 1939 Register does not give the person’s place of birth. However, it does give their exact date of birth, rather than their age, which can make it easier to find your ancestor’s civil birth record. Unlike the census, the 1939 Register also includes the full name and details of people in prison or other institutions.
The 1939 Register was continually updated while National Registration was in force, and continued to be used by the National Health Service after the war. The records were regularly updated until 1991. If a woman in the 1939 Register married or remarried after the records were taken, the records have been amended to include her married name. Some other 1939 Register records have also been amended in a similar way - for example, Winston Churchill's record lists his occupation as '1st Lord of the Admiralty', but this was changed to 'Prime Minister' when he took office the following year.
Note that although the 1939 Register says whether an individual was a member of the armed forces or reserves, those on active duty in the military were not included in the headcount, even if they were billeted in the household and were there on the night of the headcount.
As well as family history, you can search the 1939 Register by a street name on Findmypast and TheGenealogist and use it to help compile a house history.
Why is the 1939 Register important?
The 1939 Register is particularly important for family historians because the 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed in the Blitz, and there was no census taken in 1941. The 1939 Register is therefore the closest thing to a national census available between the 1921 census and the 1951 census.
Why are some records closed on the 1939 Register?
You will see some records covered by a black line in the 1939 Register. These are the records of individuals who were born less than 100 years ago and whose death has not been registered. This is to protect their privacy if they are still alive. TheGenealogist, Findmypast and Ancestry regularly update their 1939 Register collections to include more individuals as they become eligible.
If a family member who is deceased is wrongly redacted from the 1939 Register, you can ask Findmypast to change it, although this will require submitting proof of death. Alternatively, you can request their record by submitting a Freedom of Information request to The National Archives. This will cost £24.35.
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How can you access the 1939 Register for Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The 1939 Register records for Scotland and Northern Ireland are not available online. For a Scottish 1939 Register record, you will need to apply via post to the National Records of Scotland. This will cost £15 although this is reduced to £5 if an entry cannot be found. For 1939 Register records from Northern Ireland, you will need to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
When and why the Register was compiled. The 1939 Register was taken on 29 September 1939. The information was used to produce identity cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration books.
Why are some records closed on the 1939 Register? You will see some records covered by a black line in the 1939 Register. These are the records of individuals who were born less than 100 years ago and whose death has not been registered. This is to protect their privacy if they are still alive.
Update us. While searching you'll notice that some records are marked as 'officially closed'. This is down to privacy regulations preventing us from publishing records of anyone born less than 100 years ago and still alive.
Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war.
Major News Stories include World War II Begins, Albert Einstein and president Roosevelt begin the Americas A-Bomb programme, Spanish Civil war ends with Franco Victorious, LaGuardia Airport Opens in New York, Thailand Changes it's Name From Siam, Hewlitt Packard is formed.
The returns are arranged by townland for rural areas and by street in cities, and it is necessary to know the townland or street where a person lived and its corresponding District Electoral Division (DED) in order to find the record of a particular person of interest.
In 2015, The National Archives entered into an agreement under which the original 29 September 1939 registers—as updated by the NHS until 1991—have been scanned, digitised, and made available subject to privacy restrictions on the subscription-based Findmypast and Ancestry.com websites.
You can access census records many different ways: View digitized Census Records online through one of our partners, ancestry.com or familysearch.org. (Familysearch.org is free-of-charge.
Thank you for inquiring about the little red dot you see next to the leaf icon at the top of your Ancestry screen. It just means that you have a new hint. If you click on the red dot and then click on the first person listed in the drop down, the red dot will disappear.
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January 28, 1939. German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman find a way to bombard uranium atoms with neutrons until the atoms split, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process. Hahn calls the discovery “nuclear fission”.
Germany and Italy signed a ten-year military and political alliance known as the Pact of Steel. The King and Queen of England met the Dionne quintuplets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The U.S. Supreme Court decided Lane v. Wilson.
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital.
In 1939, the American economy was struggling. Unemployment was high, while prices and wages were low. By 1940, with Europe at war, everything had changed. European countries were desperate for goods to use in the war effort.
Isolationists believed that World War II was ultimately a dispute between foreign nations and that the United States had no good reason to get involved. The best policy, they claimed, was for the United States to build up its own defenses and avoid antagonizing either side.
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Any and all information that you provide in answer to a Census Bureau survey or census is strictly confidential. We do not share your information with anyone, including other federal agencies, and do not publish any information about individual households or businesses.
The answers have been sealed for 72 years by law, based on expected life span, as a means to protect privacy. In some other countries, the wait is 100 years.
' In other words, the Statistician must collect 'statistical information' for 'the purposes of taking the Census. ' Regulations promulgated pursuant to this section prescribe 'name' as 'statistical information' for this purpose.
CR283 is a form that is used when there is a Change of Surname, Forename, or Date of Birth (most changes will be surname changes, of course). So either this date is when the event happened, or it is the date that the change was document. Eitherway, her divorce must have been around this date.
As the 1939 Register was a living record until the 1990s, surnames were updated as people got married. The primary name on the Register is their most recent name, with their maiden name appearing in brackets, but you can search for either name and they will appear in the search results.
Because of a 72-year restriction on access to the Census, the most recent year available is 1950. The 1950 Census was released on April 1, 2022. The National Archives has the census schedules available from 1790 to 1950, and most have now been digitized by our digitization partners.
Ancestry does not voluntarily provide data of any kind to governmental or judicial bodies or to law enforcement agencies. To provide our Users with the greatest protection under the law, we require all government agencies seeking access to Ancestry customers' data to follow valid legal process.
AncestryDNA tests use autosomal DNA, which determines your ethnicity. Therefore, the AncestryDNA test will go back about 6 to 8 generations or around 150-200 years.
Of the pre-Independence censuses only the 1901 and 1911 census returns remain intact today. The 1901 and 1911 censuses were taken under legislation which made no provision for the confidentiality of the information recorded on them.
Why 72? The most common explanation is that 72 years was the average lifespan at the time, although documentation corroborating this is sparse. The 1940 Census counted 132.2 million Americans, 89.8% of whom were white. At the time there was no census category for Hispanics (it was not added to census forms until 1980).
Individuals may request their own records (before they are publicly available) via the U.S. Census Bureau's Age Search service. This service provides individual information from censuses that are still protected by the 72-year rule, but only to the named person, his or her heirs, or legal representatives.
Only carefully selected and approved staff can see your personal census information. Approved staff use the information for statistical purposes only. Your personal census information cannot be seen or used by anyone: who makes decisions about you or any services that you get.
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DNA found in Greenland has broken the record for the oldest yet discovered. The fragments of animal and plant DNA are around 800,000 years older than the mammoth DNA that previously held the record, with older sequences perhaps still to be found.
The oldest surname known to have been recorded anywhere in Europe, though, was in County Galway, Ireland, in the year 916. It was the name “O Cleirigh” (O'Clery). In England, the Normans introduced surnames after 1066.
Above your list of DNA matches, select a filter. Unviewed: matches that have blue dot beside them, which means you haven't viewed them. Common ancestors: matches who have an ancestor listed in your tree that you have listed in yours. Your tree must be linked to your DNA test in order to see your common ancestors.
You should start to see leaf icons, also known as Ancestry Hints. Hover over one of these icons with your mouse. This will present an abbreviated list of possible record matches for a given ancestor, as well as a link to a page devoted to your hints.
Your DNA sample is securely stored — After testing is complete, any remaining DNA from your test is archived and stored in a temperature-controlled, secure facility with 24-hour monitoring and limited access.
DNA science is always evolving, and so are we. DNA ethnicity estimates are updated from time to time based on advances in DNA science and an increasing number of samples in our reference panel. With each update, we continue to add new regions, making your results even more precise.
What won't be available. Viewing most records: You'll still be able to search the site and see which records match your searches, but unless the records are free (or already downloaded), you won't be able to view record images or transcriptions (including record images or transcriptions already connected to your trees) ...
The 1921 census cannot be released until 2021, while the 1931 records were destroyed during the war and no 1941 census was taken owing to the ongoing conflict. As such, the 1939 Register is the only complete online record of the population of Britain after 1911.
The 1939 Register can often reveal to you important additional information about your ancestors that will help build your family's story. Individuals, for example, are listed with their full dates of birth. This is a huge benefit that the 1939 Register has over the census, which simply lists the age of a person.
What is the 1939 Register? The 1939 Register attempted to list the details of every civilian on a specific date. Military personnel were not recorded. The Register contains details of around 40 million people.
If you are a Findmypast subscriber, please submit your request to open a record via their website. If you are not a Findmypast subscriber, use the form on this page. If you want to request a search of closed records for information about someone who is living, you will need to use our other 1939 Register form.
Why is the 1921 census not on Ancestry? The 1921 census will be exclusively available on Findmypast for up to three years (until 2025), after which The National Archives (TNA) will be able to set up deals with other partners such as Ancestry, TheGenealogist or MyHeritage.
Address – To search by address, simply click on the Address tab at the top of the page. You don't have to give a house number. The street name alone will bring back all the houses on that street. Please note that there are some places that are missing from the original manuscript of the 1939 Register.
Check the National Archives for information about your property's history; Check historical stamp duty records (this tax was first levied at the end of the 17th century). Most libraries have maps and other archives of your local area through the years.
Census returns can give a wealth of information on the occupants of a house at a particular time, including names, ages, sex, marital status, birth locations, relationship to the head of the household, and occupation.
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