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Forncett : 1939 National Registration

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• Around 1938 there was considerable unrest in Europe. In the House of Commons in December 1938 it was announced that if there was a war, a Register would be taken of the personal details of every civilian in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This Register proved to be a critical tool in aiding the war effort, used to issue identity cards, organise call-up, facilitate rationing, and much more.
• On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Britain declared war on the 3rd. On September 5th, the National Registration Act received royal assent and Registrar General Sir Sylvanus Vivian announced that National Registration Day would be September 29th.
• Having issued forms to more than 41 million people, the enumerators were charged with the task of visiting every household in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to collect the names, addresses, marital statuses and other key details of every civilian in the country, issuing identity cards on the spot.
• These identity cards were essential items from the point the Register was taken until 1952 when the legal requirement to carry them ended. Until then, every member of the civilian population had to be able to present their card upon request by a police officer or other official or bring them to a police station within 48 hours. The reasons were numerous - it was essential to know who everyone was and to track their movements as they moved house, as well as to keep track when babies were born and people passed away.
• The main contents of the information was address, schedule number, sub number, surname, first name(s), role (for institutions only), gender, date of birth, marital status, and occupation. The data was ordered so that the content of households could be seen and hence some inferrence of relationships could be made.
• The 1939 Register is probably the most important documents in 20th century Britain. The information it contains not only helped toward the war effort, it was also used in the founding of the NHS. In addition, the 1931 census was destroyed in a fire and the 1941 census was never taken. It is the only surviving overview of the civil population of England and Wales spanning the period 1921 - 1951. Especially from a genealogist’s point of view it bridged a census gap that risked losing an entire generation.
• Further information:
  • Wikipedia - National_Registration_Act_1939
  • Who Do You Think You Are
  • The 1939 National Identity Card
  • Family History
  • GenGuide
  • RootsWeb
  • Hansard - National Registration Bill

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