The 1939 Register & VE Day

How has your VE Day commemorations been in these strange lockdown days? Did you have a socially-distanced tea party in your own home? Very different today to the vast street parties that were held in May 1945! Do you have photos of your family celebrating during the original VE Day in 1945? Maybe you’ve identified people by using the 1939 Register?

It’s a very long shot. Comparing a photograph to the text and words of the official 1939 Register. Especially as 5½ wars of a long war had been fought between the Register of September 1939 and VE Day May 1945.

If you haven’t already used it before, maybe a new resource for you? Ideal to meander over the Register in these strange lockdown times…

How was the 1939 Register’s data collected?

It was a mammoth task to collect the country’s information in those dark days of September 1939. This is how it was achieved…

On the evening of 29 September 1939, ‘National Registration Day’, heads of household completed the details of every individual who spent the night on their premises, ‘whether as members, visitors, boarders or servants’. Collected by one of 65,000 enumerators, each registration form was transcribed into one of the Register’s 7000 volumes.[1]


When each registration form was transcribed into one of the 7,000 volumes, the enumerator worked from a map of each district.  Thus, the entries for a particular place was compiled as if the enumerator was physically walking through that place. As if he was completing his register as he walked.

Unfortunately, these maps either have not survived or are not available. I’ve tried finding them – let me know if I’m wrong and you’ve found these maps somewhere.

After the war…

The Register became an important system for government. It was used right up until the 1990s for National Insurance purposes. Then with computerisation, the Register became redundant.

The 1939 Register was digitally released only a few years ago. It instantly became an important resource for family historians and house-historians alike. 

Understanding the 1939 Register

Online, there are informative guides and videos about the 1939 Register.  I can recommend the following resources for reading and watching:

As it gives a snippet of life at the start of the Second World War, the 1939 Register is an important historic document

Why were changes made to individual entries on the Register?

As the 1939 Register was used was a “working document” by the National Health Service up to the 1990s, a woman’s married name was often written above her maiden name long after 1939. 

In my own mother’s case (she was 5 in 1939), her married name was written above her entry on the 1939 Register. This would have happened sometime after her 1956 marriage to my father. So at least 23 years after the original Register was compiled, a governmental admin person had to locate her on the original 1939 Register. Then he had to update the Register with by crossing out her maiden name and writing her married name.

This was even though she lived at the house only for a few weeks in September 1939. She was one of the original early evacuees and went from London to her aunt in Twickenham, Surrey for a few weeks during the phoney war.

Why are some records still closed?

Many records are still closed because it is assumed that person is still alive.  This is the black redacted line through entries stating, “This record is officially closed”. 

However, the redaction can be hit and miss. Some entries (for people sadly long dead) have been redacted. But others still alive today have their 1939 entry wrongly open to public view.

You can ask for redacted entries of people who have died to be opened. See this post from FindMyPast for more details.

Using the 1939 Register for house-histories

The register is a great resource for genealogists and family historians. It is also an amazing resource for tracing the history of your house. Or the history of a house a twentieth century ancestor once lived in.

I use the 1939 Register for researching the 20th century history of my clients’ houses.

Have you used the 1939 Register for house-histories? There are so many skills that cross-over from family history to house-histories.

Every house has a story

My free online mini-course “Every house has a story shows how familiar genealogical resources – such as the 1939 Register – can be used to research the history of your house. Or the history of a 20th century ancestor’s house.

Come join my free mini-course Every house has a story by clicking the picture. It’s totally free and you may discover some new family history resources to try out!

Put your genealogical skills to further use!

Every house has a story free online mini course

You may also be interested in these posts from my blog


[1]          Holland, D. (2016) ‘The 1939 Register’ in Twentieth Century British History http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/116036/

School Trip Friday – Imperial War Museum Duxford

Today’s school trip Friday was to the remarkable Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire – home to hundreds of aircraft from both the First and Second World Wars, along with other military vehicles such as tanks, ambulances, and anti-aircraft guns.

Below are planes from the Battle of Britain now kept at Duxford.

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Below are planes from the American Air Museum at Duxford

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Duxford – Imperial War Museum

Along with considering the aircraft on display, today’s visit sparked a great deal of conversation from my child about the Second World War.  In particular, our discussions centred around life in Britain on the home front during the Second World War.  To support some of our discussions about life in Britain, we looked at cigarette cards in my collection – Churchman’s Air-Raid Precautions.  The date of these cards is 1938 – a year before the outbreak of war in September 1939.

Churchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsChurchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsA garden dug-out

 

Churchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsChurchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsA chain of buckets

 

Churchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsChurchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsIncendiary bomb cooling down

 

Churchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsChurchman’s Air Raid PrecautionsA first aid party

 

We also considered Second World War propaganda posters – particularly those by the cartoonist Fougasse and his series Careless talk costs lives.

Careless Talk Costs Lives

 

You may also be interested in
– School Trip Friday – Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
– School Trip Friday – Chapel of St Peter’s on the Wall, Bradwell

Wordless Wednesday – Second World War Pill Boxes

The B184 is the busy main road north out of Great Dunmow which leads onto the pretty town of Thaxted.  Clearly visible from this road, in the fields surrounding the River Chelmer, is a series of Second World War Pill Boxes.

All photos below were taken on Good Friday 2012 by The Narrator. © Essex Voices Past.
Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Second World War Pill-boxes by the River Chelmer in Great Dunmow, Great Dunmow 2012

Further reading
Second World War – GHQ Line
Great Dunmow in the Second World War
Military Pill boxes
– Pill Box Study Group

Follow Friday: My Top 10 websites for Essex Ancestors

Genealogist Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers runs a great website for genealogists. He suggests ‘Daily Blogging Prompts’ to help inspire bloggers to write genealogical posts.  In the spirit of one of his Prompts, Follow Friday, my post today contains my top 10 Essex related websites  for genealogical and local history research.

1. For archives, Essex Record Office’s online catalogue:  http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/

2. Ancestor owned or ran a pub in Essex?  Try Pub History

Royal Oak, Great DunmowRoyal Oak, Great Dunmow

 

 

 

 

Royal Oak pub in Great Dunmow. Left picture has the figure of the landlord, James Nelson Kemp (my grandfather’s uncle), and the right picture is of his son, Gordon Parnall Kemp (my grandfather’s cousin), killed in the Great War and commemorated on the town’s War Memorial along with his brother, Harold.

3. The history of various towns and villages in Essex:  http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/

4. The early-modern witches of Essex:  http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/ (This site also contains an essay by me which I wrote when I first started my research into witchcraft in early-modern Essex – see if you can spot it!)

5. Essex churches: http://www.essexchurches.info/

6. Roll of Honour for the war dead of Essex:  http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Essex//

7. Francis Firth for images of Essex past: http://www.francisfrith.com/essex/

8. For postcards of Essex towns and villages: http://www.ebay.co.uk

9. The Recorders of Uttlesford’s history: http://www.recordinguttlesfordhistory.org.uk/

10. Website with links to early-modern and modern Essex: Genmaps – Essex

And, of course, if your ancestor lived in early-modern Great Dunmow, then this website, Essex Voice Past!

Another one to add to my list!
Update 9 March 2012 at 19:30: I’ve realised I’ve made a glaring admission in my Top 10.  This one is definitely up there amongst my favourite sites.

Was you ancestor in a workhouse? This is an amazing site, be prepared to lose a few hours pouring over it!: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/

Have I missed any of your favourites? Let me know…

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You may also be interested in the following
– The craft of being a historian: Research Techniques
– The craft of being a historian: Analysing primary sources
– The craft of being a historian: Using maps for local history
– The craft of being a historian: Online resources

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.