The 1939 Register was
launched online on November 2nd 2015 by Findmypast in association with The
National Archives. Dubbed ‘The Wartime Domesday Book’, it is a comprehensive
survey of the civil population of England and Wales at the onset of the Second
World War. One year on, more than five million ‘closed records’ have been
opened up and are now available to search.
November 16th 2016, one year on since the
eagerly awaited 1939
Register was launched online by Findmypast, more than five million additional records have been made available,
providing more people than ever before with the opportunity to discover details
of their family, their home and their community.
In September 1939, just days after war had been
declared, 65,000 enumerators were employed to visit every house in England and
Wales to take stock of the civil population. The information that they recorded
was used to issue Identity Cards, plan mass evacuations, establish rationing
and co-ordinate other war-time provisions. In the longer term, the 1939
Register would go on to play a central role in the establishment of post-war
services like the NHS.
The Register was updated in some cases until 1991,
meaning that many people born less than 100 years ago but who had died prior to
1991 had their record opened automatically. Owing to data protection
regulations, the personal details of people known to be born less than 100
years ago and still alive, had to be kept hidden. Records such as these were
marked as ‘officially closed’ and, of the 41 million original records that make
up the register, approximately 13 million (around 32%) were ‘closed’ at
publication.
In the year since the Register was launched,
Findmypast has matched millions of ‘closed records’ to multiple data sources to
correctly confirm the date and location of death for individuals recorded. This
process has resulted in more than three million records being opened in the
past 12 months, while an additional two million records have been opened in the
past week to mark the anniversary of the register’s launch.
The 1939 Register now contains more than 32.8 million
open records that can now be accessed as part of a 12-month British or World
subscription. Each record includes the names of inhabitants at each address,
their date of birth, marital status and occupation. A wealth of contextual
information, including period photographs never before seen online,
infographics, region-specific newspaper articles and historical and
contemporary maps, are personally tailored to each record, offering a rich and
unique user experience unrivalled by any other family history research tool to
date.
The 1939 Register is of particular significance for
family historians as it bridges an important 30-year gap. The 1931 census was
destroyed in the war and the 1941 census was never taken. The 1921 census will
not be released until 2022.
Paul Nixon, military expert at Findmypast says: “It is fitting that the 1939 Register, so
long a ‘living document’ that was continually updated by the NHS, is still very
much alive now that is has been published by Findmypast. The opening up
and release of a further five million records in the last 12 months means that
more than ever before we can reach out to our recent past and discover where
our ancestors were living, and what they were doing at the start of the Second
World War.”
Audrey Collins, family history records specialist at
The National Archives says: “The 1939 Register has been a tremendous
resource for family and local historians since it was released, and has become
even better since then. As well as five million new records, and the addition
of the 'Browse' function, there are unexpected finds: details of previous
military service and unusual 'occupations' such as 'on holiday from Australia'.
And the first two people in the whole register were called Mr and Mrs Start!”
About Findmypast
Findmypast (previously DC Thomson Family History) is a
British-owned world leader in online family history. It has an unrivalled
record of online innovation in the field and 18 million registered users across
its family of online brands, which includes Lives of the First World War, The
British Newspaper Archive and Genes Reunited, amongst others.
Its lead brand, also called Findmypast, is a searchable online archive of over four billion
family history records, ranging from parish records and censuses to migration
records, military collections, historical newspapers and lots more. For members
around the world, the site is a crucial resource for building family trees and
conducting detailed historical research.
In April 2003, Findmypast was the first online genealogy site to provide access
to the complete birth, marriage, and death indexes for England & Wales,
winning the Queen’s Award for Innovation. Since that time, the company has
digitised records from across the globe, including the 1911 Census which they
digitised in association with The National Archives.
About The
National Archives
The
National Archives is one of the world’s most valuable
resources for research. As the official archive and publisher for the UK
government, and England and Wales they are the guardians of some of the UK's
most iconic national documents, dating back over 1,000 years. Their role is to
collect and secure the future of the government record, both digital and
physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible
and available as possible. The National Archives brings together the skills and specialisms needed to
conserve some of the oldest historic documents as well as leading digital
archive practices to manage and preserve government information past, present
and future.
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