1915 National Registration

[Ranolki]

I had understood the records for this exercise were destroyed. However while looking at what records might relate to that period I discovered this comment on the National Archives site -

The National Registration Act came in to play in July 1915 – and it required the registration of all men and women aged 15-65 effective on the 15th of August 1915. The aim was to establish how many men were available to join the armed forces should it be required. There had been a lot of casualties in WWI and enlistments were beginning to level off by early 1915 – resulting in a fear that there would not be enough men to win the war.

Some 29 million registration forms were said to have been filled out across England, Scotland and Wales. The forms were summarised and the summary details held centrally by the Registrar General. The actual forms were held locally. These forms can potentially be found in record offices all across the country, however, survival rates are patchy.

Beyond the initial form completion, the Act enforced a ruling that people moving house must register in their new constituencies. This was to trace the movement of people accurately. The result is that we see registers in which people list their old address, alongside their new address – making for a dream genealogical source tracking the movement of families.

Does anyone know if any of these records remain for Worcestershire (or parts)?

[Guy Etchells]

Don't know about Worcestershire but some for Cirencester area of Gloucestershire approx 2000 women download here http://www.rootschat.com/links/01pl3/

I would not get too excited though as the 1915 National Registration was more like early census and did not carry much information useful to family historians.
It did not link family members but asked for.-
Surname, forename, residence, town, address if away from home, age, nationality, status, number dependant children under 15, ditto over 15, number other dependants, occupation, occupation code, employer, employed by gov., skilled in other work, willing to take other work.

In other words it could supply some additional information about the persons life but not about his her family.
Cheers
Guy

[Ranolki]

Thank you for that reply, at least that has confirmed that there are some of these around - I did see a comment on another site saying they just don't exist at all.  To be honest it's addresses etc I'm interested in and I understand it was kept up to date during WWl so would be very worthwhile if the records DO exist.

I've now written to the Hive and I will post on here when I find out so it may be useful to someone else at a later date - whichever way things turn out.

[Guy Etchells]

You may be better looking for the 1915 Memorandum Books rather than the Registration Forms.
Here are some examples of the three type of forms

http://anguline.co.uk/cert/Registration_Form_Males.png

http://anguline.co.uk/cert/Registration_Form_Females.png

http://anguline.co.uk/cert/Memorandum_Book.png

Cheers
Guy

[Ranolki]

Thanks for that, which might be something else useful to bear in mind.  The Hive reply is below.  Next time it is open I will arrange to go to look at what they have.  I'm not sure if the second parcel is for the whole of Worcestershire or just Bewdley but it will be worth checking as I have other things to look for anyway.

I looked in our indexes under the title "The National Registration Act" and found the following in a deposit made by Marcy, Hemingway Solicitors:
705:550 BA4600 parcel 93 (ii) - c.40 National Registration Act forms concerning people in Bewdley dated 1915
705:550 BA4600 parcel 556 (I) - c. 115 National Registration Act form for males dated 1915