1939 National Register??

[Torwoodlee]

I will contact FindMyPast again and ask about this as I am sure there are many people who would have the same circumstances.  In my case I have a death certificate as proof so I will let you know what they say.

[Blue70]

This information relates to 29 September 1939.


Blue

[Torwoodlee]

I see, well at least I'll be able to see my grandparents.  However, I have asked as those people who have relatives who were born prior to that date who have passed away may be interested in the response from FindMyPast.

[carol80]

My Mum and her parent's were born England. They came to NZ in the 1950's and all are now deceased but my Mum was born end 1935 so not yet 100. Will i have to prove deaths before i can get any info?
I am sure there will be others like me.
                              Carol

[LizzieW]

Before FindMyPast had the 1939 registers it was possible to get info by paying around £45 (from memory).  I got the full details of my aunt and uncle and although he died in 1955 he was only 50 at the time, she didn't die until 1993 when she was 93.  At the time I had to know their names and their address.  Obviously I knew their names, but only the city they had lived in at the time.  I didn't know the address.  I was still able to get the information.  I guess it was because both of them had died by the time I requested the info.

As my aunt and uncle weren't married, I just needed to know my uncle's date of birth which was on the information.  My mother had let slip his real surname, not the one the couple were using, so I was able to trace him (and his first family).  Not that I did anything with the information only put it on my private tree.

[Mean_genie]

BordersLass, everyone born in the UK up to 1952 will have been issued with an Identity Card. Identity Card numbers eventually became National Health Service numbers. I know more about the way the system worked in England and Wales, but the same principles applied in Scotland, although the details may differ; anyone born after the Register was taken was added to a separate register, called the Birth Register (surprise). Each local birth register was allocated a 4-letter code, and Identity Card numbers were made up of this code, plus the number of the birth entry.

The Register being released is for England and Wales only, but for Scotland you can submit a Freedom of Information request. But I believe it still only applies to people included in the original 1939 Register, not those born later. http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/nhs-central-register/about-the-register/1939-national-identity-register-and-how-to-order-an-official-extract
But you may be able to get Register information on her parents.

For someone who was a young child in 1939, but has since died, deaths up to the 1990s were noted on the NHS Register. For more recent deaths, or deaths overseas, a death certificate will be required for a record to be opened.

[Torwoodlee]

Thanks for that information Mean_genie.  Am I the only one or do others find it perplexing that they are releasing this information (the 1939 register) but the government refuses to release the 1921 census and won't until 2022.  From what I understand, similar information is on the 1939 register.    A few years back the government can be quoted as saying 'Where do you draw the line?' to justify not releasing the 1921 census early.  In my opinion, 'draw the line' with the 1921 census?  It just doesn't make any sense.

[nanny jan]

From the internet:

Accessing the 1921 Census .... when will the 1921 Census be released?

The ruling by the Information Commissioner that resulted in the 1911 Census for England and Wales being opened early does not apply to the 1921 Census because, unlike the 1911 Census, the 1921 Census was conducted under the 1920 Census Act, which is still in force and which contains a statutory prohibition on disclosure.

The stated government position from the ONS is "its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 Census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory '100 year rule' which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality".

Despite numerous protestations and challenges, the Government seems to be firmly sticking to the 100 year rule. One reason could of course be that if a census does go ahead in 2021 then there would have to be strong promises of confidentiality and that would not sit easily alongside the government suddenly releasing the 1921 census early when the promise was made at the time that the information on individuals would never be made public.

[Mean_genie]

There is less information in the 1939 Register than in the 1911 census; no birthplaces, or relationships within a household, naturalisation or nationality status, or fertility. Only name, date of birth, marital status and occupation were recorded, at the address where each person was on 29 September 1939.

Records are not opened or retained according to a single set of rules, and there are plenty of inconsistencies and anomalies. Legally, any census from 1921 onwards is covered by the 1920 Census Act. Prior to that, each census had its own Act, as did the 1939 Register. The 1841 and 1851 censuses were released in the 1920s, the 1891 census for Scotland was released some years before the 1891 census for England and Wales, and for a few years you could see the 1911 census for Northern Ireland in Dublin, but not in Belfast. The 1911 census for England and Wales was released early, with restrictions, as the 1939 Register for England and Wales will be, following successful challenges under FoI but the 1911 census for Scotland remained closed for the full 100 years, although it was actually opened exactly 100 years after it was taken, in April, and not in January of the following year, as is customary. The 1939 Registers for Scotland and Northern Ireland remain closed, but FoI requests can be submitted for individual records. Personal records of people who served in the armed forces after about 1923 are still held by the Ministry of Defence, but Merchant Navy records (where they survive) are open. That is what I can remember without looking anything up - goodness knows what else I'd find if I really looked hard! And I haven't even mentioned BMD records...