Find Ancestors

It's not a census Derek it was a register of people living in Great Britain and N Ireland for WW2 so they could be issued with identity card and ration books etc and. the nice thing is it gives actual birth dates
It was then used as a basis for the set up of NHS in the the late forties

It has been updated with the married names of females and the records are only open for those born over 100 year ago or have been proved to be deceased

It would seem the last updating was in the 1990's

"In December 1938 it was announced in the House of Commons that in the event of war, a National Register would be taken that listed the personal details of every civilian in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This Register was to be a critical tool in coordinating the war effort at home. It would be used to issue identity cards, organise rationing and more."

It was further used by the NHS until 1991. basically you will find people who were born before 1915, or after if they died before 1991 or their death after that date has been confirmed.

Here's an example of what you might see

Address.

Doris F Keating 10 Apr 1920 Female Shop Assistant Single 1 3
Daniel J Keating 20 Jan 1884 Male Bank Clerk Married 1 1
Plorence A Keating 06 Oct 1884 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 1 2

where an entry is redacted it will appear like this on transcript and crossed through with a thick black line on image.

Aubrey R Murrell 01 Feb 1926 Male At School Single 151 3
Sorry, this record is officially closed. Check if you can open a closed record.
Sorry, this record is officially closed. Check if you can open a closed record.

Thanks everyone!

The 1939 register for Scotland has not been made public. As far as I'm aware it is only the registers for England and Wales.

Re the Scottish register, if you know the person's date of death you can apply for (and pay for) a copy of that person's entry on the register.

Therefore it's not of much use to the average amateur family tree researcher.

I would add to Shirley's comment that ".......... . the nice thing is it gives actual birth dates " by adding

"if they told the truth"!!


I know for a fact that my own grandfather has the wrong birth date on the 1939 Register ........... but then he lied about it to everyone, including family. It is even wrong on his death registration because of it :-D

I've also found a number of wrong birth dates when searching for other people ...........

so do NOT trust the birth date to be correct!!!!