Genealogy Chat

Just had an email saying Findmypast will release the 1939 Register next Monday, 2nd November.

Kath. x

Hi Kath,
Does this include Scotland do you know ?

regards
jean

It looks as if it's only England and Wales I'm afraid.

Kath. x

It seems it will cost £6.95 per household or £24.95 for a bundle of 5 households.

O.K.
Thank you Kath,

regards
jean

I'm very disappointed. I had assumed (and I know you should never assume anything) that these records would be included in the subscription.

Even though they are offering a code for subscribers for 25% off the price for a bundle of 5 households I don't think I will be bothering. I think it is a bit expensive and I think they would get more money in if they lowered the cost so more people could afford it. (Genes are offering a 10% discount for subscribers)

Kath. x

It's extra? Oh, that's a shame. Wait a year and it'll probably be included in a sub.

I feel the same Joan. I know where my family were in 1939 so I don't think it would be worth spending that amount of money just to see the documents.

I still feel disappointed though as I had been looking forward to just seeing the documents.

Kath. x

There are a lot of very unhappy people posting on the FMP site this morning about the cost, customer services will be busy !!

I'd missed the bit about prices - it is sooo far down the email. :-|

Well, look at it another way.
Christmas is coming. Would family pay for a few records or bundles?

My immediate family will be shown in the same home as 1911. Their DOB is already know. The Register would be helpful for details of the aunts and uncles.
One downside with a common surname is if credits would be wasted identifying the correct families.

Once the initial excitement has died down, may be FMP will introduce an additional annual access fee for the record set?

FMP "exclusive" right is limited so they will be trying to get as much money as possible !!

https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/what-does-the-1939-register-mean-for-family-historians-1406538193.html

it's not very limited if this post on FB is correct ? "According to tender document the contract is for 10 years from 2014, with option to extend for 5 years.".

It wouldn't be of any help to me personally, except for curiosity value, but there are a lot of disappointed people, and I think there will be more when it comes out and people have to spend money on death certs to prove the redacted person has died.

and how in any case are they going to match a death cert for someone with a common name to the entry in 1939? It presumes the birth date on the death cert will match (I assume)...but we know that is often not the case. :-S

I too had assumed 1939 register would be included in the subscription on FindMyPast. It's the first time an additional fee has been mentioned, yet I have been receiving regular blogs from them about it.

Here are the prices for those who didn't notice them right at the end of the email.

"Records will be available to purchase for £6.95 per household or £24.95 for our 5 household bundle (£4.99 per household).
As an early 1939 signup, we will send you an exclusive code soon which will entitle you to 10% off our 5 household bundle."

(I've not had my exclusive code yet. I wonder how long it will last?)

At the discounted rate offered to me, it is over 3 times the cost of looking at census page on Scotlandspeople and provides less information! I don't know how they have decided on the fees. Half my family is Scottish, so I have to use Scotlandspeople and thought their fees were high until now.

Here are Scotlandspeople fees:

"Access to statutory, OPR, Catholic parish register and census indexes costs 7GBP. For this fee, you will receive 30 "page credits" which are valid for 1 full year. Viewing a page of index results costs 1 credit and each page will contain up to 25 search results. Viewing an image costs 5 credits (equivalent to 1.17GBP)."

As a lot of researchers are in our 60's we will know where our close relatives were living in 1939, as others have said, so it is of little interest anyway. Do I need to know where more distant relatives were living? There might be an odd person who you have lost that might turn up in some distant place in the country I suppose.

FindMyPast has recently released Electoral Rolls 1823 - 1932 included in the subscription, which is practically the same information (excluding occupation), so seems strange to price it so high.

Also on Ancestry, within the subscription, there are the phone directories to 1984. I know not many people were on the telephone in 1939, but it is similar information - address and sometimes occupation.

I spend a lot of time doing genealogy and would use 1939 extensively if it was within the subscription, just to add a little more detail to a person. Maybe they could have a new subscription level in the future that includes 1939 register.

I hope it doesn't mean the site is extra busy and so the access fails and we get endless "busy" message from them, which is what happens usually when they introduce new features.

Re the Scottish 1939 register - info here:

http://tinyurl.com/pvj5avd

You can't search or browse.
You can only apply for an extract for a specific person, and you have to know their date of death.
A successful application costs £30; an unsuccessful one (if they can't trace the required record) costs £5.

It's disappointing that even searching isn't possible.

My "lost" Edith Butler is perhaps the only person I might consider using it for.
(But I don't know when she died, so that's a non-starter.)

I've been reading the comments on the FMP website and found this quote from FMP :"Just to let you know, unlocking a record doesn't just grant you access to the record, it also provides a bank of fascinating content, including data, maps, articles, photographs and more"

I wonder what that means - I don't need the history of WW11, I can use an atlas/streetmap myself and unless the articles and photographs include the relative I'm looking for then I don't need it.

On another website forum I found out that the Isle of man & the Channel Islands are not included.

I've just found this on FindMyPast blog:

"Also you will find out what names the people in the household have also been known by. This could include maiden names or changes by deed poll. The register itself was maintained up until 1991, so the other names could be names the people in the house were known as prior to 1939 and also up until 1991."

I wonder how this register was being maintained? Who knew this was happening?
You have to wonder how accurate the updates to names are.

I'm maybe a bit more interested now. Maybe we may be able to solve some mysteries now by discovering a relative has changed their name by deed poll.

How to search the 1939 Register
https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/how-to-search-the-1939-register-1426317472.html

With the 1939 Register, you have the opportunity to carry out a free search using a wide range of fields that can help you to identify the correct record prior to unlocking it, whether you're looking for an individual, a household or an institution.

The 1939 Register advanced search screen allows you to search by name, precise date of birth (you can also be more vague, searching only by year), sex, occupation, marital status, street, district and more.

What's also useful is the option to search by other household member. This means that if the person for whom you're searching has a common name, but was living with someone with a more distinct name in 1939 then you can add them to the search to refine your results.
............

Needs practising with!