Why would the family be 'closed' in 1939 Register when the person died in 1977?
Thanks
I am assuming you are referring to an individual entry rather than the whole household, but if the whole household then the reason could be multiples of all or any of the points below.
There could be a number of reasons:
The 1939 National Register was used by the NHS until 1991 and was “normally” updated on the right hand page to show the person had died. In some cases this did not happen, FindmyPast were given a list of these notifications.
Note this list is probably not exhaustive and is listed in no particular order
1) In a number of cases the list of deceased did not align with the horizontal lines of the Register this allowed some individuals to be shown as deceased when still alive and others redacted as there was no relevant mark to show they were deceased.
2) If the individual had emigrated then the NHS & the GRO were not informed of their death
3) The individual changed their name and either did not register the change of name with their doctor or the change was not recorded. This would sometimes mean their death was not recognised as the death of an individual on the register.
4) The individual joined the armed forces and was Killed in Action (as my Uncle was) such deaths were not reconciled on the 1939 National Register.
5) FindmyPast made an error when redacting entries and redacted the individual by mistake.
6) The person was missed off the register in 1939 and was recorded on the later register (this later register is not available online).
Cheers
Guy
PS Where exact matches are found FindmyPast have also been able to check the names and dates of birth in the 1939 Register against the General Register Office indexes of deaths and opened the records.
Note also some individuals may be on the 1939 National Register but be away for the family home if they were working away or evacuees
