General Chat

Thanks for the drop box link Barry

I've read through it all and cannot find an answer to a question I have

Does anyone know if I can open a record of a man that died in WW11 as you can't get a death certificate from the GRO?

Edit: I've emailed FMP and asked

"This is down to the fact that not every death was added to the Register by the NHS. "
That's interesting to learn, Joy.
It is a monumental task to update it ... not to mention thousands of deceased folk who emigrated will never have their entry opened.
I have to confess I didn't even know about this 1939 Register until recently when I received word about it from FMP.

(Since I have been using it, FMP have bombarded me with e-mails!
I learned the hard way surveys that will take 'a couple of minutes' last at least 10 or more!)

The added bonus of the register certainly is the person's date of birth - hopefully it IS the truth!
The register has also set me back years with one person whose family - all dead! - gave me wrong birth information!
I feel like saying much more than "Doh!"
Good Game! Good Game!

Von, I quickly had a peek at the link which is a repeat of Wednesday's. (Natch!)

I got a link yesterday Barry. Haven't watched it yet but intend to do so.
I read the transcript though. :-D

A response received from find my past to another query from me:

"You will occasionally find that some people who died prior to 1991 have closed records.

This is down to the fact that not every death was added to the Register by the NHS.

Unfortunately this is out of our control, however if you submit evidence of death we or The National Archives will open the record for you."

A few hours ago I received the link from FMP to watch Estelle's presentation.
This also includes the Q & A I posted yesterday.
Perhaps this link has been received by those who watched the presentation?
Jus' askin'.

:-D

Thanks Sylvia - never thought of that.

Chris .........

you wouldn't be showing anywhere because you are still alive.

I've not ploughed through all the pages Berry kindly posted. But at least twice Estelle said that only civilians are listed not service personnel.

Well my Mum was in the ATS and IS listed, in Hounslow barracks, in the 1939 Register

Det - In Liverpool I checked my aunt's home - only child there was a cousin aged 7 months - I knew his elder brother was evacuated now it looks as if his sister was also. By Christmas 1942 she was back home - can recall sharing a bed with her.

However, what happens to the mystery of me?? 2 persons resident - only one shown (my mother who died in 2003) file is closed. Dad must have been at sea but I was never evacuated. Must be human error. We have all found plenty in government documents.

ChrisofWessex - are the 'children' closed or missing? If they are closed then possibly either they are still alive or they haven't yet been matched up to a death record.

Missing ones might have been evacuated - 2 of my extended family with known dob turned up in deepest Berkshire in a Stately Home. Their mother and youngest (closed) sibling was at home in Poplar, East End of London. The Stately Home is now owned by the NT :-D

Dolling out columns for transcribing has made some errors worse than they could be. That particular mother had the wrong subsequent name added where as in fact it was the closed child who married the man. Widowed in the 1950's, mum married someone else. It was plain as plain could be, Mum was also assigned to an address and household in the next street!!

I read a post where it said that transcribers had transcribed columns, not lines. Different transcribers could be transcribing adjacent columns.

Then they were all put together, and it seems that some lines "slipped" and this is the reason why there might be people at the wrong address or with the wrong birth date, etc :-(

I know they have sorted out marriages Sylvia. 1951 was still in rationing time in UK but my cousin born in 1933 married in 1957, she died in the 80s and her entry is open so I knew they were working hard to bring it up to date,

I was surprised to see my FIL there with an open file. Looked at my old neighbourhood. Many people I knew in the 50s/60s were in the same houses in 1939. Had to do several corrections though, some names and 1 long street. The start of the street is under one miss transcribed name and the second part of the street miss transcribed with another miss spelled name. I had to take out letters and use ??? for part of the name to find the street.

Pat ............ I found my great aunt under her "new" name ............... she re-married in 1951.

I've also found married names for marriages that occurred as late as 1991 ........... as well as my brother and uncle dying in 1990 and 1991, as I said above. My dad's record is open, he died in 1970

My father-i-l died in 1984 and m-i-l in 1993, both records are open.

The Register was kept well up to date until 1991, more sporadically after that, and now FMP is updating using the GRO records that they have.

It has been updated to 2004. My FIL is there 1920 - 2004 but my mother's is still closed 1921 - 2005. They will have her married name as my parents married whilst rationing was still on.

Strange I went into this register only this afternoon and could not find my mother nor myself aged 2.

I then entered our address and I know it is correct it is on my silver ID disc.

Mum's second name was the initial F when it should have been J for Jane and our surname was wrong - the first letter had been changed to H. States 2 persons in house (Mum and self, Dad must have been at sea), but although it shows Mum's details quite clearly, they have been transcribed wrongly - it states file is closed and death cert. should be sent. Why? If it is Mum - all her details are there - as for me apart from a close shave or two I am still here......................I think

I checked all the houses in the road as I remembered Anita she was my friend until we were bombed out but apart from one 3yr old (a lad) no children under working age were shown.

You are all very welcome!
I am happy the PDF has been useful.
It's frustrating FMP demand a copy of the death certificate to prove a death to release a record.
They have confirmation records if the sender provided the information!
I responded on the image quality - it was all I could find to reply - so I'll have to wait and see if any family records are 'opened / released'.
Isn't finding family stuff such fun!!

Barry
Thank you for posting this :-D

Thank you, Barry, for taking the trouble to do that.


Quite a lot of the questions can be answered in http://www.findmypast.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions


In response to a query from me, I was advised by find my past:

"we are in the process of matching entries on the 1939 Register to the Death Indexes we hold. Records will only be opened when we are entirely confident that the record is that of someone who is deceased.

Effectively, this means that there are 4 ways of opening a record;

1. The original Register entry has been updated in the years running up to 1991.

2. The Person has passed the 100 year mark without our believing them to still be alive.

3. We have been able to make that match between the Register and the Death Indexes.

4. A customer has provided a death certificate that offers conclusive proof of the person's passing.

The only way a customer can make a request is with the provision of a death certificate. Again, this is to to ensure that we are 100% certain that we're opening the correct record."


Re 3. We have been able to make that match between the Register and the Death Indexes.
- it would be interesting to know how that is being done.

I provided evidence of death for an uncle who had died since 1991, then found I didn't have to do so for my other relatives 1920 - 1997 and 1927 - 205 as their records are visible.

Frustratingly, some people's records have been incorrectly blocked off - they were born at the beginning of the last century and even mid-1800s - and it is taking a long time for their officially closed records to be opened.

yep ............ it was updated until at least 1991.

That's why I can see my brother (b.1929) and my mother's youngest brother (b. 1925) .............. uncle died 1990 and brother 1991.

On the other hand, I cannot see any of a paternal uncle's family ............ 2 parents and 6 children. Parents and 5 daughters emigrated to Australia in the late 1950s/60s, parents and 2 children have since died down there. The one who remained in the UK died in 2001.

I looked at the address that I visited in the 1950s, and there is a block of 8 closed records ............. that has to be them :-)

FMP is now continually updating as they go through the GRO records, so maybe I will sometime see my cousin "exposed" and be certain the record is them.

I've also already seen some updates for events as late as about 2002.

I always have to think though when looking at the Transcript .......... the later name is the one that is first and the name that the lady had in 1939 is in brackets!