The 1939 Register is not a Census but forms an important record of people on September 29th 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War.
Initially taken due to the onset of war with the purpose of producing National Identity Cards, the register later came to be multi-functional, first as an aid in the use of ration books and later helping officials record the movement of the civilian population over the following decades and from 1948, as the basis for the National Health Service Register.
The 1939 Register is an important genealogical resource, for not only the detail and information recorded for each person (including date of birth) and household, but also in helping to bridge a thirty-year gap in census data. The census taken in 1931 was destroyed during the Second World War and no census was carried out in 1941 due to the war.
Within a lot of households there are closed records, these are people less than 100 years old and possibly still living, although some records occasionally are visible. Please note that people were already involved with the military so they may not appear on the register.
Please select below for the Registers