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The 1939 Register

peter said:
That might be how you use it, but I know of people (not on this forum) who taken a lot of information without paying a penny.
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The information was there for the taking. Can you honestly blame them? Do you know these people personally? How can you prove it?
 
I love the occupation of two of my married aunts plus all the other married ladies on the same page: "Unpaid domestic duties".
 
This was the mandated description for housewives (in the instructions on the front of the form).
 
peter said:
This was the mandated description for housewives (in the instructions on the front of the form).
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Thanks, Peter. Presumably widows didn't count, as my grandmother (avatar) has "None (Independent)" as her occupation. In fact more correct would have been "Retired" as she was in fact a trained nurse and had been employed as such.
 
Gillian said:
Thanks, Peter. Presumably widows didn't count, as my grandmother (avatar) has "None (Independent)" as her occupation. In fact more correct would have been "Retired" as she was in fact a trained nurse and had been employed as such.
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There's a link to the instructions from this article.
 
peter said:
There's a link to the instructions from this article.
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Once again, thank you so much, Peter. Of course I'd read the Newsletter but, for some reason (I hope it was a good one!), didn't follow the links at the time. Now I did, starting with the "re-creation of this broadcast here." I'm sure it wasn't meant to be funny but I couldn't help thinking of a school teacher lecturing young children.
 
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Gillian said:
I'm sure it wasn't meant to be funny but I couldn't help thinking of a school teacher lecturing young children.
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It reminded me of the 1990s adverts featuring Mr Cholmondley-Warner, which were in the style of public information films from the 1930s and 1940s. For example:

Life in 1990
The Working Class

In case anyone from overseas is wondering, or there's someone from the UK who didn't have commercial television in those days, they were advertising Mercury - which was the first company to compete against British Telecom.
 
It's been repeated several times, most recently in the last newsletter, but you don't need a 12 month subscription for FMP to open a closed record. I only have a monthly subscription and I've so far had two records opened for my grandparents.
 
PaulC said:
It's been repeated several times, most recently in the last newsletter, but you don't need a 12 month subscription for FMP to open a closed record. I only have a monthly subscription and I've so far had two records opened for my grandparents.
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That's news to me - I thought you had to go through TNA and pay £25.
 
While we're on the subject, does anyone know if you can access the 1939 register without a subscription? I have another week before my subscription lapses and enough credits to unlock two more households, not sure if I should use them now or hold onto them...
 
PaulC said:
does anyone know if you can access the 1939 register without a subscription?
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Hi PaulC,
You do not need a subscription to access the 1939 register.
You can see the preview without a subscription or credits, and you can access the actual images if you only have credits.
K
 
I must admit after spending this last week searching the 1939 Register and accessing (and paying of course) to open those where I think I might discover something new, my conclusion to date is the Register is a useful tool and good at resolving curiosities. The redacted 'officially closed' items are an irritation, but have found none so far to cause me to provide proof of death to get them opened, even if I could. By far the most helpful were full birth dates and addresses; some I knew of course but by no means all, and occupations the same.

One surprise was to discover my parents (and baby yours truly as a closed account) were living with my maternal Grandparents. I expected to find them living in the house from which they were 'bombed out' about a year later during the 1940 blitz bombing of Birmingham. I guessed the other closed account was my mother's youngest brother (who would have been 16 at the time and who lived on to 88 dying in 2011).

I thought the Register might help finding two young children (my mother's nieces) whose mother died in 1932 causing the father to bring up one by re-marrying and moving to Suffolk, leaving the other to be adopted into the family by my mother's Aunt and remaining in Birmingham. I knew the final outcome through family knowledge and research and have had contact over time with each's family, but even so I was surprised to find the separations must have taken place later -likely after the war - rather than earlier, even with both shown in closed accounts (assuming I have guessed correctly of course).

Checking the register on my wife's side also uncovered a few curiosities, including two closed accounts, one of which has us beaten, and may of course be a Lodger. But top of tree is discovering proper birth dates, addresses and occupations. Bottom of the Tree is incorrect transcriptions - particularly second name initials - remembering sooner or later one has to 'pay up and look big' or abandon! Luckily experience teaches to try again with another family member and corroborating information by that means. So far that has proved successful.

I have a few more credits to use but having researched most of the main members and not finding too many surprises, I will keep these in reserve for now.
 
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My dad's record was opened up yesterday - I knew he'd been in the ARP before signing up, but I don't think I knew he was a stretcher bearer.

I asked for it to be opened up on the first day, so it has taken a little more than the 2 weeks they indicated.
 
Just about to go offline and did a final email check. I see in my Inbox there is an email from the ONS re the 2021 Census Response Consultation many of us completed. It offers a download a Summary of the Results so I suggest others check their emails and see what the Summary reveals.
 
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