Using the 1939 Register: recording the UK population before the war

Audrey Collins

8 December 2015

Using the 1939 Register: recording the UK population before the war

Looks like a census…

RG 28/257

GRO Circular NR 1 (1938)

RG 28/210

5

Area codes – England and Wales

RG 26/6

6

Household schedule

RG 28/227

6

Household schedule

RG 28/227

6

Household schedule

CRIM 1/1695

www.histpop.org

Smedley Hydro, Southport

Basement and air-raid shelter

• All civilians who were in England and Wales on 29 September 1939• …regardless of age or nationality

• Foreign visitors, embassy and consular staff

• Inmates of institutions

• Civilians on military bases

• People who were away from their normal home addresses• Evacuees• Seasonal workers and travellers

Who is in the 1939 Register?

6

Nottingham Evening Post 29 September 1939

British Newspaper Archive Image © Local World Ltd. Courtesy of the British Library Board

Who is NOT in the 1939 Register?

• Anyone who was outside England and Wales on 29 September 1939, even temporarily

• Members of the armed forces• …unless they were home on leave

• Merchant navy personnel

• Anyone born after 29 September 1939

• Anyone who was registered late, for any reason

• People who actively evaded registration, or refused to register

Closed records•Anyone born less than 100 years ago•…and who is still alive

Open records•Anyone born over 100 years ago•Anyone born less than 100 years ago who has died, and whose death was recorded in the Register (up to 1991)

…BUT not all deaths were notified during that timeDeaths which occurred outside the United Kingdom are unlikely to have been notified

Closed and open records

Area Codes

• 3-letter codes represent:•County Borough•Municipal Borough•Urban District•Rural District

• Except London, which has:•Metropolitan Boroughs•Cities of London and Westminster

• Arranged by county – with some exceptions

Enumeration Districts

• Area code + another letter• in a very few cases, 2 extra letters

• RG 101 in Discovery. Each enumeration district is one or two pieces

• Descriptions of enumeration districts do not survive

Area Codes

• No area codes start with I, M, P, S, U, V or Y• M for Merchant Navy• P for new arrivals• S for Scotland• U for Northern Ireland• V for vagrants• Y for replacement cards

• CIG and CIJ for the Channel Islands• FOA for overseas diplomats• HZ for Isle of Man

Identity cards