Findmypast, in association with The National Archives, have just announced:
Today, the newly digitised records of the 1939 Register are online. Dubbed ‘The Wartime Domesday Book’, The 1939 Register is the most comprehensive survey of the population of England and Wales ever taken. In September 1939, World War 2 had just broken out. 65,000 enumerators were employed to visit every house in England and Wales to take stock of the civil population.
The information that they recorded was used to issue Identity Cards, plan mass evacuations, establish rationing and co-ordinate other war-time provisions. In the longer term, the 1939 Register would go on to play a central role in the establishment of post-war services like the NHS.
Note: The index is free, but you will need to pay to see the data. The normal Findmypast subscription does not cover this database.
Web site address is: http://www.findmypast.co.uk/1939register
