1939 Register errors - findmypast

[Glen TK]

I've always found the Scottish records far less hassle than the English, granted one surname was a little more unusual but even the more common names weren't an issue or resulted in lots of incorrect results.

I'm just amazed how many family are missing from the 1939 though, a family with 12 children, all born pre 1924, three died overseas, of the remaining 9 only one died after 1991 but not a single one appears in the results. I also have a surname with around 450-500 bmd events on freebmd but according to the 1939 there are over 2000 with the name in one county and over 4,500 throughout England and Wales.

[Olde Crone]

I was able to do the bare bones of my Scottish family with ease and speed and at relatively little cost by buying bmds online which have so much more detail on them than English certs. I also managed to find a few wills, lots of monumental inscriptions (free) and various other bits and pieces but I am uncomfortably aware that I have not much "padding". It was just the Scottish census which I found wasteful of credits.

OC

[Mary from Italy]

I think the number of mistranscriptions in the 1939 register is a bit disappointing, because FMP always had the reputation of being a lot more accurate than Ancestry.

[James18]

The good thing about the 1939 Register is that, using the free search, you can work out someone's date of birth by just going through the months, and seeing when they appear, and then through the days of that month. Yes, it's tedious, but it gets the job done.

Using this method has enabled me to find DOBs for several relatives, although in one case he seems to have put (or someone else has transcribed) an incorrect date, but the correct year. I'm not sure the reason for this as I haven't paid to unlock the household, but he is definitely appearing with a November rather than March DOB. Very odd.

It's a shame the Register isn't updated with the dates people die, as they are added on to it. I suppose I understand the reason, but that would have been great for researchers.

[Merry]

The good thing about the 1939 Register is that, using the free search, you can work out someone's date of birth by just going through the months, and seeing when they appear, and then through the days of that month.

That's if you don't need the date to find them in the first place!!

[James18]

Originally Posted by Merry

That's if you don't need the date to find them in the first place!!

Yes, obviously.

[kiterunner]

This gives a clue as to how the records on a page could get all muddled up:
https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/watch-1436591498.html
Owing to privacy reasons, rather than dealing with horizontal rows of text each transcriber worked in vertical columns so that they could never see the entire record of an individual whose record would be closed when the Register was published online.

[Merry]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

This gives a clue as to how the records on a page could get all muddled up:
https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/watch-1436591498.html
Owing to privacy reasons, rather than dealing with horizontal rows of text each transcriber worked in vertical columns so that they could never see the entire record of an individual whose record would be closed when the Register was published online.

Cripes! That's what must have gone wrong with my grandparents household.

I wonder if they did spot checks for people born before 1915 to see that their record matched up along the horizontal line?

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Merry

Cripes! That's what must have gone wrong with my grandparents household.

I wonder if they did spot checks for people born before 1915 to see that their record matched up along the horizontal line?

You would hope so, wouldn't you?

[Margaret in Burton]

How daft is that. As if after transcribing loads of records they would remember any of it.