1939 Register

[Gwilym'smum]

I have researched the Register using among other records Peter's brilliant special newsletter and the NA Research Guide. However despite finding the meaning of many of the letters on the right hand page such as ARP, I have come across some letters which, I can guess what they refer to, but would like to know what the letters mean. ARC was recorded on the right hand page against two German families. They were interned in the 1stWW and although at home for the Register were very soon after interned again. They were released after a tribunal. One member had anglicized his name but the letters ARC were followed by his German name. I would very much like to know what these letters mean if anyone has any idea please.

 

[Gillian]

Could it be Alien Registration Card?

 

[Gwilym'smum]

Could it be Alien Registration Card?

Thank you Gillian that could well be it.

 

[peter]

Alien Registration Card

See this guide on the TNA website.

 

[Gwilym'smum]

Thank you so much Peter that is really helpful.

 

[Gwilym'smum]

Peter have just had another look at the information on the Research Guide. It says that the aliens had to have come after 1914 and be in London. The ones I have in the Register had been in Lancashire from around 1880 so do you think that the letters ARC still mean "Alien's Registration Card"?

 

[peter]

Peter have just had another look at the information on the Research Guide. It says that the aliens had to have come after 1914 and be in London. The ones I have in the Register had been in Lancashire from around 1880 so do you think that the letters ARC still mean "Alien's Registration Card"?

The TNA guide is referring specifically to the samples in their collection. If your relatives had not become British citizens they would still have been aliens, no matter how long they'd been in Britain. Have you checked naturalisation records?

 

[Gwilym'smum]

They did not become British citizens. Another person who I think may have been related, I have his naturization papers. I have tried to find my cousin's relatives on the passenger lists but think it is not covered by the years available. They were interned in the first World War and their British wives (who became German} were subject to alien restrictions. After the Register they were interned again until they appeared before a tribunal and were eventually released. I have the cards from that and pictures of the camp in 1915. There is a fascinating story which I have yet things to uncover.

 

[peter]

I have tried to find my cousin's relatives on the passenger lists but think it is not covered by the years available.

UK passenger lists don't as a rule record travel within Europe. Only if they travelled on a ship whose voyage started or ended outside Europe would they be recorded.

Although a few incoming lists go back as far as 1878 records really begin in 1890.

 

[Gwilym'smum]

Thank you Peter I did try looking at records for how they came into the country but couldn't find any. I have booked a session with an expert at Really Useful Show next week in the hope of getting some advice as to finding more information. Many thanks for your help.

 

[peter]

I did try looking at records for how they came into the country but couldn't find any.

I wouldn't expect you to find any - travel within Europe was not routinely recorded. Remember that until 1914 you didn't even need a passport. Individual shipping companies would have had records of passengers but even if they still exist - which is very unlikely - it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If they had become naturalised then there would be more information available.

 

[Gwilym'smum]

Thank you Peter.

 

[webwiz]

If you look up Eva Canton b 11.7.1908 in the 1939 register you will see annotation in red ink (I can post the image here if it's allowed). Does anyone know how to find the page referred to in red?

 

[Helen7]

If you look up Eva Canton b 11.7.1908 in the 1939 register you will see annotation in red ink (I can post the image here if it's allowed). Does anyone know how to find the page referred to in red?

If you search the 1939 register on Ancestry for Eva Canton b 11.7.1908 (exact match), you get two hits on different pages of the register. One has annotation in red ink of 'See Book 2 page 5'. The other has annotation, also in red, of 'Re-entered from Book 1 Pa...' In the latter, her surname is amended in green ink to COPE, so she presumably subsequently married a Mr Cope.

 

[peter]

Does anyone know how to find the page referred to in red?

Generally continuation entries are at the back of the same book as the original entry and you can find them (at Findmypast) by changing the page number. In this case there were more entries than would fit in the first book - note that at the bottom of page 23 of the original book it says "continued in Second Book".

 

[webwiz]

If you search the 1939 register on Ancestry for Eva Canton b 11.7.1908 (exact match), you get two hits on different pages of the register. One has annotation in red ink of 'See Book 2 page 5'. The other has annotation, also in red, of 'Re-entered from Book 1 Pa...' In the latter, her surname is amended in green ink to COPE, so she presumably subsequently married a Mr Cope.

Thanks. She did indeed marry Sydney Cope many years later. In 1939 she was married to William George Canton who I can't find in the register but he was in the RAF in 1931 so if he still was in 1939 he might have been serving abroad.

 

[peter]

William George Canton who I can't find in the register but he was in the RAF in 1931 so if he still was in 1939 he might have been serving abroad.

It wouldn't make any difference where he was serving - unless he was living in a private household he wouldn't be recorded in the 1939 Register. Remember that the primary purpose was to issue identity cards, and members of the armed forces would already have had identity cards.