1939 register - completely wrong?

[Abbey Sclerder]

I have to ask this because I am concerned and now confused.
I was looking at the 1939 register for occupation of a house I know my family lived in and owned in 1939. It appeared to be vacant.

I couldn't find them. So I checked a few more  facts I am certain of. The 1939 register seems completely wrong

so far I have
a) a grandmother who is registered with a completely different Christian name to the one she had ( picked her up because she is living with my grandad and his details  are nominally correct ( wrong date of birth I think) - unless they were both a lot older than their birth certificates and marriage certificates suggest.
 
b) a great uncle living ( on the same day) at two different addresses neither of which are his! However, he owned both houses - but lived in a third.

c) dates of birth which are at least 10 years out - my grandmother seems to have been born in 1865 - she was in fact born in 1877. Ditto my grandfather.

The occupation data seems correct from my knowledge.

If this is so far of the mark I would well question anything else on the register.

It is worrying because if I used this as a starting point I would be looking for a grandmother with a name and date of birth which do not exist..... I tried it in fact on the 1911 census - she doesn't exist. I also tried searching for birth records with the supposed name she was given in 1939.

Of course another possibility comes to mind - were people giving false information at the time for some reason?

Any suggestions? Or indeed, anyone else found similar problems?

[groom]

Welcome to Rootschat.

Apart from the odd date of birth being slightly out, I haven't found any real mistakes and I've been using the 1939 for a few years - since Find My Past first published it. I believe that when it was transcribed it was done in columns, rather than horizontally across the page, so when put back together one or two records are in the wrong place. Are you sure that your grandmother wasn't known under a different name - I always thought my grandmother's name was Gertrude, as that is what everyone called her. It turned out that she was Alice Gertrude.

The register was used to issue identification cards and ration books, and later as a basis for the NHS.

[andrewalston]

I have come across one chap who appears twice, in both Bridlington and Harrogate.

His year of birth is out by a year on the Bridlington line, where he was working, and right at Harrogate, where his wife was.

No hint of either being cancelled. Both entries mention him being an Executive Officer for Filey ARP.

When it comes to dates of birth, some people just didn't know. It's relatively recently that people started celebrating birthdays. It was in 1909 that the state pension was first paid; before that there was no need to keep track.

[Abbey Sclerder]

Whilst I know y grandmother did have another name than that she went by all her life, I am certain it was not the one on the 1939 register.
I have never been sure of her actual name but she went by the name Nellie and that was on every census since 1891. She was even buried and her grave shows that on its headstone. I believe her name may have been Ellen or Emily - but I have yet to verify either.

The name on the 1939 register is Slorina -  that has to be a transcription error I am sure. Its a completely alien name for my family or the area we came from.

I know the 1939 register was used as the NHS one, that's why I cannot get beyond the problem there seems to be.

I have checked back through BMD registers just in case Nell was a  Slorina  but have come up blank with any name of any kind for that.

Actually, having got fed up with family history, I was looking at house history when I found these errors.  My parents bought a house  from great my dads great uncle ( he owned a number  in one area and my dads family pretty well occupied them all).  Our house ( I was born there) dates back to 1500 and been in the family almost as long I think..... but that  is what I had decided to trace.

 I just wondered who of my dads family had been there in 1939. Then I found the errors and have spent much of my weekend trying to find out if my whole family tree is wrong or if the 1939 register is skwif.

Thanks for the reply.

[Abbey Sclerder]

If my gran was born in 1865 as the 1939 register says then she must have been 57 when she had my dad. He was the last born of 9 kids). Now I know she was getting on as that is a family story. She thought she was going through the "change" and when my dad popped out at Christmas was surprised because she was " Christmas dinner indigestion" . The tale being she actually had no idea she was pregnant with him because  she was over 50.

But at 57 she would have made the Guinness book of records I suspect.

I had a baby myself rather late knowing my family has the ability to produce well into later years ( after I too thought I had missed the boat). Many aunts and uncles had late children - all healthy I might add just for the record.

I just do not know what to make of this 1939 register.

[Kiltpin]

In the early days of computers, we used to talk about G I - G O, which stood for Garbage In = Garbage Out.
Nobody was checking the information, were they.

Regards
Chas

[[Ray]]

The 1939 Register, as now published, was not a census ie not (just) a snapshot of an instant in time (1939)
It was continually updated, by the NHS.
If "you" were at an address in 1939 and moved home in, say 1946, you would appear at the address you lived, in 1946.

"Many" errors were made by not making changes correctly.
Now that more than one copy is published then there is more than one version because people do not communicate any changes/corrections/deletions to all publishers ( FindMyPast/Ancestry ) and those publishers have their own timescales/priorities.

[Guy Etchells]

I have to ask this because I am concerned and now confused.
I was looking at the 1939 register for occupation of a house I know my family lived in and owned in 1939. It appeared to be vacant.

I couldn't find them. So I checked a few more  facts I am certain of. The 1939 register seems completely wrong

so far I have
a) a grandmother who is registered with a completely different Christian name to the one she had ( picked her up because she is living with my grandad and his details  are nominally correct ( wrong date of birth I think) - unless they were both a lot older than their birth certificates and marriage certificates suggest.
 
b) a great uncle living ( on the same day) at two different addresses neither of which are his! However, he owned both houses - but lived in a third.

c) dates of birth which are at least 10 years out - my grandmother seems to have been born in 1865 - she was in fact born in 1877. Ditto my grandfather.

The occupation data seems correct from my knowledge.

If this is so far of the mark I would well question anything else on the register.

It is worrying because if I used this as a starting point I would be looking for a grandmother with a name and date of birth which do not exist..... I tried it in fact on the 1911 census - she doesn't exist. I also tried searching for birth records with the supposed name she was given in 1939.

Of course another possibility comes to mind - were people giving false information at the time for some reason?

Any suggestions? Or indeed, anyone else found similar problems?

As Groom has mentioned the Findmypast 1939 National Registration was transcribed in columns to ensure no transcribers could see full information on any person before the release date. I believe the Ancestry 1939 National Registration was transcribed normally using the redacted dataset.

If this was early in the release I would ask if you are referring to errors in the transcriptions or on the original images, but I am assuming you have viewed the images.

It is known that some criminals tried to gain more rations by making fraudulent claims, so there is always the possibility of this or perhaps confusion in older folk.
Have you checked the details on the earlier Electoral Registers (1937, 1938 & 1939) for the relevant addresses?

There are also other possibilities due to the impending war. Certain aliens were detained, in case their loyalties were against the National Interest. Is it possible your grand parents were frightened of this happening to them?
Is it possible that your grand parents were actually detained even briefly, and someone impersonated them to gain extra rations?

My first actions would be to check the Electoral Registers as I mentioned above.
Cheers
Guy

[andrewalston]

FindMyPast only comes up with a single "Slorina", in Dudley.

My transcription for that would be "Serina".