1939 Register

[r642611]

I know some of you have managed to open records so you might be able to answer this one for me.

I recently purchased 240 credits from FMP to check out family members on the above register. They are valid until 17 Feb 2016. When I click on 'update the record' so that I can ask them to open a closed record I don't get the option to request FMP, only to ask TNA. I still have credits available but do I have to have a proper 'subscription'? I did e-mail FMP but their response was not very clear.

I also asked them if the Register included people in the forces as I have not been able to find him (my father joined the RAF in May 1939 and survived the war for many years). Their response did not answer this query but gave me a link to those who died in the Boer War etc!

Any help would be appreciated
Bev

[Elaine ..Spain]

If you want to open a record via FMP (free) then you do need a current subscription. Initially they said that it should be an annual subscription, but I think that has now changed to any subscription, so a monthly one would be OK.

Re Military - taken from TNA information

Armed forces personnel
The Register was not meant to record members of the armed forces and the records do not feature:

• British Army barracks
• Royal Navy stations
• Royal Air Force stations
• members of the armed forces billeted in homes, including their own homes

However, the records do include:

• members of the armed forces on leave
• civilians on military bases

[Elaine ..Spain]

From FMP FAQs

We provide a free Evidence of Death checking service for all Findmypast subscribers (World and Britain) via an online form. Subscription information can be found here. Subscribers must be signed in before completing a form to request an officially closed record to be opened.

... so it looks as if any type of subscription will suffice.

[Chrissie Smiff]

Do they count buying credits as a subscription though Elaine? I didn't think they did.

[Elaine ..Spain]

No, I think you need to be a monthly or yearly subscriber.

[r642611]

Hi Elaine & Chrissie

Thanks for responding so quickly. Re your advice about subscriptions I have just looked at the FMP website and a subscription includes access to censuses and bmd records but not the 1939 Register. I shall get back to them again to clarify as I have now used up all my credits on other records!

Re the RAF, very interesting and answers my query.

[Elaine ..Spain]

You need credits to view the 1939 Register (60 credits per household) - but you don't necessarily need a subscription.

If you want to request that an officially closed record be opened (free of charge) then you need to be a FMP subscriber (yearly or monthly) plus a copy of the death certificate.
If you are not a FMP subscriber then you can make the request via TNA - costs £25.

[James18]

It just seems so expensive and error-laden, especially when you have to buy a sub, then a death certificate, and that's just for one person. You basically need to pay £9.25 every time you want to do something that you can't help feeling should already have been done.

I hope people who are shelling out money every time they unlock a household and open a closed record feel they are getting their money's worth. If it is genuinely aiding your research and you feel it's value for money then that's great, but so far my personal experience has been disappointment and just how many of my long-dead relatives appear to have closed files, so I am loathed to pay anything to FMP -- and particularly since they stopped letting you (free) search by street.

[Elaine ..Spain]

It just seems so expensive and error-laden, especially when you have to buy a sub, then a death certificate, and that's just for one person. You basically need to pay £9.25 every time you want to do something that you can't help feeling should already have been done.

Not sure why you feel "it should have already been done".

Findmypast have acquired a set of records with strict guidelines as to how they should be transcribed. If there has been no date of death entered on the records and the person was born after 1915 then they have no alternative other than to officially close that record. That record can be opened on presentation of the relevant death certificate. Unfortunately I don't think FMP can be expected to purchase all the death certificates and cross match against the entries.

[Caroline]

... so I am loathed to pay anything to FMP -- and particularly since they stopped letting you (free) search by street.

You can search by street - it is the references to the individual household records which have been removed.

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/searc.../1939-register - you can access this by using Advanced search and then selecting the Tab for Address.

[James18]

Yeah, I meant the references. Sorry. I couldn't think how to word it, as I had been using the number to search by street I think.

[Janet]

I am not sure that I find the redaction of known people to myself to be a problem on the 1939 Record. My brother, who died in 1966, has been redacted, but as he is a close family member I already had his birth/marriage and death certificates, so no problem to upload details to FMP. Surely if they are close relatives you will already have the BMD for these people.

However, what I have found intriguing, but cannot do anything about, are the three people staying with my grandmother who are all redacted! I am left wondering who they are, and I would love to know. They may be adult boarders, evacuees or family members. Now that is frustrating!!

I have also received from FMP Ireland this morning the fact that the 1939 Irish record is also available, and I have to admit that I did not know that Ireland would have been part of this exercise, but they were still within the Commonwealth until around 1946/9, although not actually part of the UK after 1922.

Janet

[James18]

It's a huge shame Scotland isn't available as part of this record, as Scotland was part of the original 'census'. It's good that Ireland is available as well, though. That could prove handy.

[Janet]

Hm James I have a Wylie family from Tulliallan going back from 1827!

Janet

[r642611]

This is part of the reply to my e-mail from FMP:

Access to the 1939 Register works on a credits payment system and you are able to purchase credits by signing in or registering for a free account. You can then buy credits to unlock your 1939 Register household. You will need enough credits in your account before you can unlock a household. The 1939 Register is not included within a subscription.

If a person is younger than 100 and still alive or died after 1991, their record in the Register will be closed. This is beyond our control, but we will open it upon receipt of evidence of death.

If everyone in a house has their records closed, the house won't show up in search, this is for privacy reasons. We can't open a record because someone is too old to be alive, we have to receive proof of death. Again, this is for privacy reasons beyond our control and is partly why the 100 year restriction exists.

I used my credits to unlock the relevant households and downloaded the original records at 60 credits per household. I am pretty sure who the closed records are and already have the death certs. As previously mentioned, when I still had credits the only option available was for TNA to open the records (I am not going to pay £25 a time!). Having paid for credits once to search and unlock the households, can I only get FMP to open a closed record if I pay for yet more credits, thus paying twice, in which case it is not done 'free of charge'.

I hope you understand what I am trying to say or maybe I am tying myself up in knots!

Bev

[Anne in Carlisle]

No, as I understand it you need an actual subscription (membership) of FMP. They will not unlock just because you have bought credits in the past or currently. Seems to me it would very soon be worth a monthly sub if it would otherwise cost £25 at TNA!!

Hmmmm.... here's a thought. Could you actually visit TNA with the death certificate and ask for unlocking? Many items which one pays for online (quite rightly) are free if you can visit TNA. (Obviously from Carlisle that would add up to more than I would spend online!!!!)

Anne

[Elaine ..Spain]

.... can I only get FMP to open a closed record if I pay for yet more credits, thus paying twice, in which case it is not done 'free of charge'.

It is done free of charge providing you have a Findmypast subscription.

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/answer/what-if-i-notice-an-officially-closed-record-in-the--register-that-i-believe-should-be-open

[James18]

Hm James I have a Wylie family from Tulliallan going back from 1827!

Janet

Interesting, perhaps we could compare notes and see if there's any overlap? As far as I know, my Wylies are from Ballymena, Co. Antrim and the surrounding areas -- Ahoghill, Ballymoney, Clough, etc. Many of them did move to Scotland around the turn of the century, though.

[Guest]

that's my problem Janet I have a couple of unlocked ones with my nan but have no idea who they are its very frustrating, I am going to ask them if its possible to tell me anything like if they are family members with the same surname at least then I can send them the death certs.

[Guest]

oops meant locked ones