At last, it appears the 1939 collection will be going live next month at findmypast according to this BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34570120
Sorry to be a wet blanket but seeing "expected to be released next month", w/o citing by whom nor its source, I'm inclined to take this with a pinch of salt even though the end of the promised release year inexorably approaches - I can't, for instance, yet see any mention of it on any of these topical Beeb pages ... * BBC History - Family History * BBC One - Who Do You Think You Are? * BBC Radio 4 - Tracing Your Roots * History Extra | Historical facts, features, quizzes and podcasts ... let alone at 1939 Register | findmypast.co.uk ! Nice write-up though ... for which thanks in drawing it to our attention
Completely share you scepticism Steve. Like you, I'm not holding my breath either, just living in hope. Would really like to help somebody out with their mothers adoption case. I have a Scottish contender for the father, but need to rule out any English/Welsh possibilities before she starts spending her money seeking the Scottish 1939 entry and death certificate which will set her back £27.
Just received response from findmypast via Facebook. They do not have a release date set yet. Disappointed by the BBC's article which indicated otherwise.
And there was I secretly hoping to be proven wrong ! I've incidentally now been waiting 6 weeks for FMP to fix a WO 97/1747 (Victorian service record) image delivery bug and, due to their customer (dis)service folk forever feebly apologising w/o ever being able to estimate how long their IT folk could be expected to take (they being classically disadvantaged by being treated like mushrooms), 4 days ago dug around for some insight to help form my own estimate - sadly nothing concrete but I earmarked a couple of interesting pages I may as well now share ... * Findmypast Reviews | Glassdoor.co.uk (evidence of internal strife - don't be fooled by HR's +ves) * How to Fix a Poor Web Design | Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (not only FMP of course)
Extract from TNA's October e-newsletter ...(The Cambridge Spies file release | Agincourt | Suffragettes | Explore Your Archive) ... links to ...Webinar - Using the 1939 Register: Recording the UK population before the war Tickets | Eventbrite
FMP have 'helpfully' changed their RSS feed URL (formerly) - naturally w/o warning ... and they're beginning to repeat themselves: Caught on camera: Watch the action behind the scenes at the 1939 Register! - findmypast What does the 1939 Register mean for family historians? - findmypast You're probably wondering what you'll get. You'll see a household, as you do with a census. So, if I search for my Grandad I should find him with my Grandma, my Dad and my uncle living in Lincolnshire at the time the Register was taken. In the 1939 Register the enumerator took down everyone's date of birth, so this is one of the great things about the record set. Usually, to get a date of birth you'd have to search the England and Wales birth index, take down the volume and page number and then contact the General Register Office and order a copy at a cost of £9.25. So the 1939 Register is going to give you the dates of birth of everyone in the house saving you a lot of time! The 1939 Register is going to give you the dates of birth of everyone in the house 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 1996, so the other names could be names the people in the house were known as prior to 1939 and also up until 1996. For example, I'd expect to see my auntie who was 4 when the Register was taken, then I'd expect to see the name she took when she married in 1960. Again, usually you'd find this information out by ordering copies of birth and marriage certificates. For family historians this record set is really going to help to bridge the gap between 1939 and the present day. It's going to give us some context around life for our parents and grandparents in 1939. For anyone new to family history it's going to be a great place to start. When I started building my family tree back in 1995 I had to go to the General Register Office at St Catherine's House in London, leaf through the massive birth indexes to find my grandparents, then order birth certificates to find out their dates of births and the names and occupations of their parents. With the 1939 Register you'll be able to do this within just a few clicks from the comfort of your own home. Family History doesn't get any easier than this! This record set is really going to help bridge the gap between 1939 and the present day To sign up for updates on the 1939 Register and its release, visit the site.
Hallelujah, its about time. I was fair convinced they were going to hold out to Christmas. Thanks for the update.
Bad news is the £6.95 it will cost to view each household's image - on top of the regular subscription http://www.findmypast.com/frequently-asked-questions/answer/how-can-i-access-the--register--how-much-does-it-cost
I've just read the costs involved, somewhat disgusted. If its not name searchable, its utterly useless to most. How many out there are going to know the addresses from 1939? Really disappointed if that is the case. Edit: There's a huge back lash on their Facebook page. People cancelling subscriptions left right and centre. No more than they deserve.
Official announcement here ... Announcing the release of the 1939 Register - Findmypast - Genealogy, Ancestry, History blog from Findmypast... with (currently 95) comments from others understandably as peeved as yourselves ! FTR: I also had an e-mail from sister-site Genes Reunited about it ... loads of hot air just to screw us at the end of the day - moral is probably to wait out the early access exploitation and hope the likes of Ancestry get a distribution licence before too long (as they did with the 1911 census).
To be fair to them, their setup costs will have been considerable. Having said that, in my case I can't search by household as that is what I'm trying to find out! I really do need to be able to do a name or string search and that will take me across several households. That makes the cost prohibitive. I will 'qualify out and move on' for at least the time being.
Whether or not it's fair for FMP to recoup their costs in this way, one main thrust of the criticisms I mentioned in my last post are of their despicably having knowingly kept it under their hat until today - thus conning folk into taking out subscriptions expected to be all-inclusive and, as at least one lady put it, probably contravening the Trades Descriptions Act in callously so doing. Taken in context with my post 65 link ["Findmypast Reviews | Glassdoor.co.uk (evidence of internal strife - don't be fooled by HR's +ves)"] this seems to me to be just an extension of the way their top management abuses their own staff. But what I find most disgusting is that TNA apparently have no control over their new waywardly-aggressive 'partner from hell' - maybe a case of "give them enough rope ..." ?
Red Goblin I totally agree with you. I am not a paid subscriber to FMP but nearly signed up a few weeks ago on the back of their 'free weekend' (which I actually found very useful) on the basis of their pending release of the 1939 information. I'm obviously pleased that I didn't sign up at that time. They have now lost me as a potential customer and it will need to be an exceptionally good offer to make me change my mind.
Yes I have to admit their apparently biannual free weekends are a saving grace - from what I seem to recall Marie say about not being able to access already-paid-for records after one of her FMP subscriptions expired, I'm pleasantly surprised to still have access to the non-subscriber Victorian service record I started downloading as a freebie (I know from having to keep going back to see if they can finally serve up images 16-21+ of the set !). Reflecting on all the -ve reaction I mentioned, BTW, I thought it wise to snapshot them lest FMP whitewash them out at some point - View attachment 2015-10-27 - Announcing the release of the 1939 Register (FMP blog) 1st 104 comments.pdf
Hi Steve, its the britishnewspaper archives that deny you access to previously viewed records once subscription expires. Thankfully FMP don't follow this practice. Had a response from FMP on Facebook who have stated that it will be name searchable apparently. I'm just grateful I have unusual surname searches ahead of me and not family members with common surnames.
As if in direct response ... How to search the 1939 Register - Findmypast - Genealogy, Ancestry, History blog from Findmypast ... but see full article for users' clarification Q&A comments
Findmypast - Genealogy, Ancestry, History blog from Findmypast - Eve of War(rum blog entry - just an index to WW2-related contributed stories ...)
Not impressed so far. Can't find either individual on the register I was looking for even using their date of birth. Appears to be a lot of guess work in the transcription, including many question marks thrown in when they can't decipher the names. Good luck if you have many entries to look up.