42.5 million new, indexed historical records from the England & Wales 1939 National Register added to FamilySearch

FamilySearch has today announced that it has added 42.5 million free to search 1939 England & Wales census records to its collections, available to search at 5,000 FamilySearch centres worldwide. There are dozens of FamilySearch centres around the UK - find your nearest one here, or search worldwide.

What is the 1939 Register?

This collection contains records from the 1939 National Register, taken in England and Wales on 29 September 1939. Details of around 40 million people were recorded in more than 65,000 transcript books, now held in record series RG 101.

The register was used to issue identity cards, organize rationing and more. While the 1939 Register is not a census, it is arranged along similar lines and includes similar information. It does, however, show exact dates of birth, while census returns simply give a person’s age. Individuals’ records remain closed for 100 years from their date of birth or until proof of death is produced.

Closed records will be blanked out in the search results The index was provided by Findmypast, and users will be directed to images on the FindMyPast website.

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