As I'll be reporting in the next newsletter, the 1939 Register is FREE at Findmypast until 9th May. However that isn't the reason for this post - if you look at the Special Edition newsletter, Inside the 1939 Register, which was updated and republished last November the search form at Findmypast looked like this:
I'm only showing the part of interest. Here's what it looks like today:
The Civilian role box has moved near to the bottom of the form and you can no longer browse the Civilian roles
Now, that might seem like a minor difference but it in practice it's a real pain, because the roles aren't recorded as shown in the register. In fact, if you put 'ARP' in the Civilian role box you won't get any search results at all - you have to type 'Air Raid Precautions' even though those words don't appear in any of the entries I've looked at.
Type 'First aid' into the box and again you won't get any results - even though that's a key role.
I'm only showing the part of interest. Here's what it looks like today:
The Civilian role box has moved near to the bottom of the form and you can no longer browse the Civilian roles
Now, that might seem like a minor difference but it in practice it's a real pain, because the roles aren't recorded as shown in the register. In fact, if you put 'ARP' in the Civilian role box you won't get any search results at all - you have to type 'Air Raid Precautions' even though those words don't appear in any of the entries I've looked at.
Type 'First aid' into the box and again you won't get any results - even though that's a key role.