Findmypast introduces the 1939 Register

4/4/2015

Introduction

Findmypast needs no introduction. As the flagship of the Findmypast (previously DC Thomson Family History) group of companies it constantly strives to make new sources of information available to aid us in our family history research, and the release of the 1939 Register later this year will be truly ground-breaking!

It brings the ability to view records in the public domain, which following normal protocol, some of us may not have lived to see. As with all records that potentially disclose details of living people, they are governed by the strict government laws of data protection. In his introduction to the 1939 Register, Jim Shaughnessy explains how this data protection works, and how in some cases it can be overcome.

Blog

In September 1939, Britain had declared war on Germany and the government urgently needed to take stock of the civil population. They needed to capture as much information as possible in order to make provisions for the impending hostilities - everything from evacuation to rationing. The result was the National Register, a comprehensive overview of the civil population of England and Wales in 1939.

Now, for the first time, Findmypast – in partnership with The National Archives – is making the 1939 Register available to the public online. This landmark project, which will be launching later this year, is the most significant release in family history in England and Wales since the release of the 1911 Census. The Register contains names, addresses, dates of birth, marital status, occupation and whether the individual was a member of the armed services or reserves.

Not only does the 1939 Register offer a unique insight into England and Wales on the verge of global conflict, it’s also incredibly important for family historians – and anyone with an interest in modern history. Legislation, the Freedom of Information Act and government policy all impose conditions around when UK census data can be opened to the public.

At present, this means that the most recent record of the population available to use in research is the 1911 census, with the 1921 census being made available in 2022.

The 1931 census was destroyed during the war, and the 1941 census was never taken. This means that there will be a thirty-year gap between surviving censuses, an enormous missing piece for family historians. The 1939 Register will bridge this gap, offering information that these missing censuses obviously can’t provide.

Redaction and the 1939 Register

When you are able to explore the 1939 Register later this year, you’ll probably notice that a number of individuals’ information has been redacted from the records, meaning that when viewing a household, there may be one or more members whose information is unavailable to view.

Although the Register isn’t a census, and therefore isn’t subject to the rules and restrictions that censuses are, personal information about living people is protected under Data Protection Regulations. This means that some redaction has to take place before we can make the details of the Register public online.

In the case of censuses, restrictions over the release of sensitive data are enshrined in law, meaning that all of the individuals listed are unavailable to view for a set period after the census being taken. In the case of the 1939 Register, however, advances in how we redact have meant that rather than a blanket blackout on all the records, we’re able to show you the records of people born 100 years and one day ago or more.

As well as giving you access to the records of these individuals, we’ve set up a system that will scan the Register at regular intervals, opening the records of each individual as their date of birth becomes longer than 100 years ago. This means that new records will become available to explore, as more and more people pass this threshold.

If someone on the record was born within 100 years and a day but has passed away, there will be a mechanism for us to unredact the information for that individual. To do that, we’ll need proof of death, and from there we can work on opening that person’s entry to the Register. We’ll have more information on this in the near future, so stay tuned.

You can keep up to date with developments regarding the 1939 Register on the Findmypast website, Facebook & Twitter pages, and of course keep your eye on #AncestryHour where we’ll be announcing more soon, with a live Q&A, and more to come.

Links

Findmypast 1939 Register - http://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register
Findmypast - Home http://www.findmypast.co.uk/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/findmypast
Twitter - @findmypast

39 Comments

Connie

6/4/2015 09:13:41 am

It's easier to do 100 year cut off rather than trying to establish who has died. Means it's going to take until 2028 to find out where my father was since he wasn't apparently at home despite the fact he died in 1978.

Susie Douglas link

6/4/2015 10:59:51 am

Hi Connie

If you have proof that your Father died in 1978 you can apply to have his record unredacted and therefore it will be viewable on the 1939 Register.

6/4/2015 12:14:19 pm

I have his death certificate but if that's not enough, I don't know how else to prove he is. If it is, who would I apply to for his record to be unredacted?

Susie Douglas

6/4/2015 01:37:41 pm

There is more news coming very soon on this process, so stay tuned!

Jan Murphy

7/4/2015 04:19:49 pm

Susie -- Connie's problem is a challenge for the 1939Register team. If she doesn't know her father's whereabouts on 'Register night' then how can the team in charge of the Register know if they are redacting information about the correct person?

Pierre

25/6/2015 01:55:41 am

Hi Connie,
Date of birth should not be the only criteria to redact a record. There is a coded information, for each record, which may indicate if the person died. I do not know until when the 1939 register has been updated. It also depends on the ability to decypher this information before publishing the record.

25/6/2015 03:55:31 am

Thank you :) This makes it even more puzzling why my father wasn't included in my original request if his death was linked to his birth.

Andrew

7/4/2015 04:25:31 am

If a living person wishes to see their own records do you have the facility to unredact

7/4/2015 11:01:33 pm

Hi Jan,
I stand to be corrected but as I understand it the normal period of redaction is 100 years and 1 day from date of birth. Hence new name information will be periodically be added (or unredacted) to the Register each year going forward.

In Connie's case the proof of death combined with birth information, rather than where he was living on 29th September 1939 will surely be the contributory factor?

There is more info coming soon from the 1939 Register Findmypast team on the unredaction appeal process. It may be a good idea to wait for this info rather than trying to second guess what it may contain.

8/4/2015 04:41:18 am

I have been checking the application method as it stands with HSCIC (Fee of £42 payable in England) regarding acquiring the transcript for an individual from the 1939 Register. It is possible to run a search based on Surname, Full Forenames and Date of Birth only. Please see the application form:- http://www.hscic.gov.uk/media/1297/1939-Register-Service-Application-Form---May-2013/pdf/1939_Register_Service_Application_Form.pdf

15/7/2015 05:47:13 pm

Thanks for your reply. The 1939 Register Team seems to be having great fun teasing us -- did you see FMP's blog post about the 1939 Tour de France? I'll be glad when the collection is released and we can see some data (redacted or not). Waiting is hard.

EverydayArchivist

8/4/2015 11:35:55 am

Yes Susie, under current Data Protection laws records have to be closed for 100 years and 1 day from date of birth. I believe the 1939 team are dating it from 2015. So say they pick 1 Apr 2015 as the cut off date then anyone with a date of birth 31 Mar 1915 or before will be unredacted (so this may include a few living people.). Then I suspect update periodically with a new cut off date.

They haven't announced how they are going to deal with unredacting people that have died but I suspect a death certificate is enough proof as I think that is all you need to see it at the moment through the Hscic (link above)

8/4/2015 01:02:25 pm

Shortly after the 1939 National Registration was made available and before they started charging, there were people reporting death certificates were NOT being accepted as proof which then raised the question as to what DID constitute proof.

8/4/2015 02:41:57 pm

Connie, I didn't know that and yes indeed what would they accept! We will just have to wait and see.

Chris Halliday link

8/4/2015 03:20:34 pm

Does the above apply to Scotland as well ? Only England & Wales mentioned in the article. I have my mothers original ID card from 1939

9/4/2015 02:20:03 am

I believe this release as it is in partnership with the National Archives only applies to the 1939 Register for England & Wales. The process of applying for a record from the NRS remains unchanged for the time being. Upside is that it is a) cheaper at £15 and b) more straightforward as the records have been digitised for some time. The downside is, please correct me if I am wrong here, you only receive the information on the individual rather than the household. Link to NRS 1939 Register application:-
http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/nhs-central-register/about-the-register/1939-national-identity-register-and-how-to-order-an-official-extract

Sandra Lightfoot

8/7/2015 09:14:23 am

I will be seeking my grandfather who deserted his family, including my father, in early 1939. I do not know his date of birth but I estimate it will have been before 1900. Will I need to know an exact date of birth to search for an individual or will First, Middle & Surname be enough? Also, is there any update available about the release date yet? Thank you!

8/7/2015 10:53:35 am

If you know your grandfather's name you should be able to find his birth registration on FreeBMD. That will give you the quarter, year and registration district. You may be able to find his death registration which may give his DoB depending when it was and if he died in England or Wales.

I think I had to give the DoBs of my grandparents together with the address where they lived. I don't know what information FMP will ask for. We'll only know that when it's released.

I haven't heard any more about a release date but anticipate it being sometime next year. It may well be a phased release as they did for the 1911 census. IIRC, they did that by IP address range but they could do it alphabetically.

8/7/2015 11:42:11 am

Thank you Connie.
I cannot search for a birth as I have no knowledge of how old my Grandfather was at any point in my fathers life, none of the 'official' documents I have give his age. I also have no idea where he was from as he was in different towns for different events. I suspect he was from Lancashire or Cumbria area but this is only being presumptuous because of where my Dad was born and subsequently lived (Lancaster & Kendal). He also had a very common name, only made less common by the fact that I know his middle name. He was George Alfred Davies. I estimate he was born before 1900 because I do know roughly how old my grandmother was, although because she died young, aged 39 in 1937 I cannot look for her on the register and I also do not know her origins, slightly less common name but three possible first names! Emily/Helen/Nellie Cunningham. I only have a small amount of information from my Dad's Care home records and I cannot find a marriage for the elusive pair! It is a real brickwall!
That is why I'm hoping to pin him down on this new register as I have a rough paper trail for 1939 when he was being sought by the authorities!
One day I will find him!
Many thanks again :-)

LWortley

15/7/2015 04:28:32 pm

Hi Sandra Lightfoot,

I just saw this post by accident, as soon as I saw the Cunningham name I thought I would get in touch. We may or may not be related through this surname I am not sure because I do have Cunningham, however when I tried searching your grandparents other surnames that mean something to me popped up. I would love to hear back from you, I may be able to help you further, I don't wan't to post information on here. Please get in touch.

15/7/2015 06:40:43 pm

Actually you can look for your grandparents because FreeBMD allows you to give a date range for index searches. Start with either your grandmother's death or your father's birth. Both will give you some clues. Nellie can be a name in its own right but it can also be short for Ellen of which Helen can be a variant.

The GRO is an index only to BMD registrations in England and Wales. If the marriage took place in Scotland, you'd need Scotland's People. Channel Islands is separate as well.

16/7/2015 01:39:01 pm

Hi LWortley!
This sounds intriguing. I'm not sure how to let you know how to communicate with me off here but I am on Ancestry and my user name is Sandra_Lightfoot, is it a possibility that you could message me on there?

15/7/2015 04:12:55 pm

I hope this is not going to be a £40 + charge to get each member of my family unredacted that falls within the 100 years, as that is ridiculous. There should not be any charge, especially if you are paying to view the records also.

15/7/2015 06:30:26 pm

That is the current charge. We'll have to wait and see what will happen regarding those who have died within the 100 year restriction and also for those still living. I wouldn't think those still living would have a problem seeing their own record.

Sandra

15/7/2015 04:19:02 pm

16/7/2015 01:47:15 pm

Connie, thank you once again for your help. I have been working through a long list of possibilities for years. I started with the names closest to the location they were last known. I am attempting to identify what happened to each and every one of them. It is a very long, slow process. If you were to see my Ancestry profile, you will see I have approx. 40-50 trees, most of them connected to one George Davies or another! One of them could be mine but nothing definite yet! I'll get there one day!

Bill Hodgson

29/8/2015 04:25:56 am

Why do you use the euphemism "if someone on the record was born within 100 years and a day but has passed away". Why cannot you simply say that they are now dead!

29/8/2015 06:53:37 am

The author of this blog, like any good writer, uses several different ways of saying the same thing in the article to prevent it getting boring. Why criticise just one way? :)

29/8/2015 06:42:56 am

If you want to say "dead", that's fine. If someone else wants to say "passed away", "passed over", "crossed over", "crossed the Rainbow Bridge", that's fine too. Oh, sorry, the last is for much loved pets who are now deceased, are no more, etc, etc.

It doesn't really matter what term you use for those who are no longer living.

Those who have recently gone to meet their Maker and who I did, or may have, known, I prefer to use a gentler term. I may refer to those who passed longer ago as "dead" or "playng on a pink fluffy clouds, shuffled off, or similar.

I know someone who refers to genealogy and/or family history as "deed [sic] folk digging".

We are all individuals, thankfully, so each to their own :)

Hank link

14/10/2015 12:59:51 am

I prefer my grandmothers term 'kicked the bucket'!

2/11/2015 07:45:09 pm

In the comments on the blog post 'How to Search the 1939 Register' https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/how-to-search-the-1939-register-1426317472.html after repeated requests for clarification, someone from 1939 Register finally said that they must have a death certificate as proof of death, and a scan of a death certificate is acceptable (it need not be a hard copy).

2/11/2015 10:27:38 pm

I'm looking at entries for Liverpool and have noticed something strange. In green biro on the original paper various people have made notes that appear to be married names in at least one case for someone who was 3 years old. The exact note says "Ashcroft" (the married name) CR282 WAA 1239.61. I'm reading this as a note made in 1961 by someone with initials WAA (?). In addition I know this person to be deceased yet they have not been censored but were born in 1936.

To obvious questions
- who (if my interpretation is correct) was making notes on the 1939 register in 1962 and why?
- how did the team deciding who to censor know that this individual was deceased (they'd be 80 now do less than 100)? Have they looked up every data of birth against the GRO index?

2/11/2015 10:32:33 pm

*Two* obvious questions - typo

John

2/3/2016 09:46:59 am

I have also found "CR282 WAA" in records for what I believe to be two Birkenhead schoolgirls (aged 9-10) in Connah's Quay in Flintshire, at the household of a Welsh relative of mine. Both of them have been annotated with their married names.
I think they may have been evacuees; the family did take in evacuees during the war, and evacuations did start in early September that year.
One of them has CR282 WAA 30 9 53 by her entry (the other girl has ECIA or EC1A DO 24 6 63).
I think the number may related to when the register was updated, as she married in the Sep quarter of 1952 in Birkenhead.
Birkenhead had the abbreviation "LAA" in the register, but the annotation definitely looks like "WAA".

2/11/2015 11:23:19 pm

See http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/1939-register-census-census/#comment-504211 where Audrey Collins says: "Where a change of name is recorded in the Register the person is indexed under both names, and the search result will show all of their names. It will also show their identity card number, which later became their National Health number."

John Pursebearer

20/11/2015 06:27:45 pm

The 1951 census indicates that 18 million people then alive were born 1915-39 so would be less that 100 years old at 1939. The 1991 census indicates that about 9.5 million people born during those years were then still alive. Obviously there will be immigration and emigration to account for but I assume about half had died during the period that the 1939 Register was still being updated. The tender document for digitising the register estimates that 27 percent of the total 41 million records would be redacted (ie. 11 million). The figure for the number actually redacted is not published but I suspect is somewhat less as some deceased individuals seem to be still redacted.

2/3/2016 05:46:15 pm

The latest Lost Cousins newsletter has some information about markings on the Register. Peter Calver shows a partial image of his own entry from the 'current register' (which he ordered from the NHS Central Register) and talks about the codes in the columns that we aren't getting to see. Peter speculates that these are codes showing when he changed doctors. Could the codes that John saw be the same kind of codes, the ones usually written in the columns we aren't seeing? John, take a look at the newsletter and tell us what you think.

http://lostcousins.com/newsletters2/mar16news.htm

2/3/2016 05:57:22 pm

At least one of the partial images from the 1939 Register that Peter Calvert posted on his Lost Cousins newsletter has the code "CR282" next to DX and what may be a date.
It seems to have been a relatively common annotation if Andrew (above), Peter and I have seen it on the few pages we've looked at so far.

PS: There's also a "CR283" on another clip he shows.

Samuel Leggett

28/5/2017 07:31:52 pm

I found my grandparents and it listed "2 others". I am assuming that the "2 others" are redacted persons, being my mother and her sister whom are still living? This is a wonderful boom for genealogists, both professional and amateur. It has already opened the door to information which I have been eagerly awaiting.