BMDs during WW2

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I was discussing deaths during WW2 with a contact and she said that some BMD registers were lost when the record office moved to Wales. She also said that some of the registration districts during this time were incorrect.

Can anyone confirm whether she's right or wrong please as I have no idea?

[Merry]

Any particular area that moved to Wales? Does she mean Somerset House sent it's old records to Wales for safety? (I have no idea if that did happen!)

As for the accuracy of reg districts, I would think it would be hard to determine how many registrations were recorded under the wrong district (if that's what your contact meant?) without examining every registration for accuracy. I would imagine there's a chance there were more errors made in the war years due to registrars joining up and their work being done by less experienced people, or maybe in some cases due to bombings and other upheavals which might cause disruption.

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I did have some doubts as to the accuracy of her statements because she's brand new to family history and had been speaking to a friend of hers who told her this. I couldn't find the death of a shared ancestor, but it's more likely to be because a relative got the year/s wrong from memory, and because she had a common name!

This is what she actually said in her email "...one of my friends who has been researching her family history for years said that registrations in the war years can be a bit of a problem as the records office moved to Wales, so the registration areas may not be correct and there is a bit of an issue about finding records in that time slot anyway."

[Merry]

I would keep an open mind on that!

Did you realise the deaths are transcribed on Ancestry now, supposedly making it a bit easier to find people?

Did you want to say who you are looking for, or isn't that relevant at the mo??!!!

[Merry]

and because she had a common name!


Ooops, missed that bit! lol

[Uncle John]

I was born in WWII in east London (it came under Essex then) and there's no problem finding the registration. I'm the last entry on a page so my name comes up in an Ancestry search.

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

Many thanks for your help, Merry and Uncle John.

I did check the new Ancestry deaths, but the ancestor is called Elizabeth Hudson (loads of them!) and a relative thinks she died during WW2 in Tooting Bec hospital :rolleyes: It's OH's great-grandmother and it's not really important to find her death at the moment, I was just filling in a few blanks.

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I was born in WWII in east London (it came under Essex then) and there's no problem finding the registration. I'm the last entry on a page so my name comes up in an Ancestry search.

Most of this line were born, married or died in East London - mainly Walthamstow, which was West Ham registration district and came under Essex. Are you related to me? :d:d

[maggie_4_7]

My OH was born in November 1944 in Northamptonshire because his mother was evacuated there, his Birth Reg is pretty easy to find, found it straight away although if he weren't around to tell anyone maybe we'd be looking in West Ham because that's where they lived!

[Olde Crone]

My ex was born in WW2, in Buckinghamshire and registered there. His mother was in a hospital for Officers' wives when she gave birth. They normally lived in London.

I have never heard that the war affected registrations in any way, other than that people may have been born/married/died somewhere unexpected, nor have I ever heard of any clumps of missing records in WW2.

Remember that every event is recorded TWICE - once at the local Register Office, who then pass on their quarterly returns to the GRO. Very unlikely that all the local ROs moved to Wales during the war, and also very unlikely that both records of one event would be lost.

OC

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

My ex was born in WW2, in Buckinghamshire and registered there. His mother was in a hospital for Officers' wives when she gave birth. They normally lived in London.

I have never heard that the war affected registrations in any way, other than that people may have been born/married/died somewhere unexpected, nor have I ever heard of any clumps of missing records in WW2.

Remember that every event is recorded TWICE - once at the local Register Office, who then pass on their quarterly returns to the GRO. Very unlikely that all the local ROs moved to Wales during the war, and also very unlikely that both records of one event would be lost.

OC

Thanks, OC, you've confirmed what I was thinking. I wanted to check with others because I'd never heard of this, although I'm nowhere near as experienced as many of you :)

[Uncle John]

Most of this line were born, married or died in East London - mainly Walthamstow, which was West Ham registration district and came under Essex. Are you related to me? :d:d

Oh dear me no. Far more refeened - Epping registration district, which sounds much more rural than Waltham Forest!

[maggie_4_7]

My ex was born in WW2, in Buckinghamshire and registered there. His mother was in a hospital for Officers' wives when she gave birth. They normally lived in London.

I have never heard that the war affected registrations in any way, other than that people may have been born/married/died somewhere unexpected, nor have I ever heard of any clumps of missing records in WW2.

Remember that every event is recorded TWICE - once at the local Register Office, who then pass on their quarterly returns to the GRO. Very unlikely that all the local ROs moved to Wales during the war, and also very unlikely that both records of one event would be lost.

OC

I think that's the worry its not if the records survived I'm sure they did but what if they weren't where they normally lived when mother gave birth because they were somewhere else because of WWII.

[Olde Crone]

Yes, it's a ****** if the name is a common one - how do you know where they were during the war?

Mind you, there didn't have to be a war on....took me nearly 20 years to track down the death cert of my 2 x GGF, very common name and he died 60 miles from home in 1898.

The man had never been further than the pub at the end of his road before that!!!!

OC

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

OH's great-grandmother on another line also lived in Walthamstow during WW2 but died in St Alban's which was the first surprise. We looked up the hospital and it was a mental institution, which was the second surprise, as there'd never been any indication of this.

It turned out that she'd actually been admitted to Bart's but a lot of their patients were evacuated out to this mental hospital in St Alban's during WW2.

[Merry]

Many thanks for your help, Merry and Uncle John.

I did check the new Ancestry deaths, but the ancestor is called Elizabeth Hudson (loads of them!) and a relative thinks she died during WW2 in Tooting Bec hospital :rolleyes: It's OH's great-grandmother and it's not really important to find her death at the moment, I was just filling in a few blanks.

I think Tooting Bec Hospital was in Wandsworth District. If not then it would be Croydon (but I'm thinking Wandsworth). However, that limits the results to nil! lol Did she have a middle name? (and when was she born?)

[Nell]

Well she may have died during WW2 or it could have been before or after. And it might have been another hospital altogether. Or her name might be misindexed.

[Phoenix]

I've heard the story before, Mandy - but only, I think, on message boards & not within the wider range of lecturers, professionals etc.

There must have been one or two entries that went up in smoke before they could reach Somerset House. If the Somerset House volumes were farmed out to Wales, it may be that not every registrar knew the correct address to send the stuff to. But any errors would, I have thought, have been on a fairly small scale.

I have a friend whose birth registration wasn't anywhere near where she was actually born, which again wasn't near where she grew up, due to the upheaval of the period, which would make finding the details challenging for a stranger.

Deaths are even more challenging - some people killed in air-raids were never properly identified.

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I think Tooting Bec Hospital was in Wandsworth District. If not then it would be Croydon (but I'm thinking Wandsworth). However, that limits the results to nil! lol Did she have a middle name? (and when was she born?)

Yes, I was thinking Wandsworth District. I don't think there was a middle name and she was born around 1880 (haven't sent for her birth cert yet, this is based on censuses). Her maiden name was Jones ..... :d:d

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

Well she may have died during WW2 or it could have been before or after. And it might have been another hospital altogether. Or her name might be misindexed.

I think you could be right on any, or all, of those points, Nell :d

[Mandy in Wiltshire]

I've heard the story before, Mandy - but only, I think, on message boards & not within the wider range of lecturers, professionals etc.

There must have been one or two entries that went up in smoke before they could reach Somerset House. If the Somerset House volumes were farmed out to Wales, it may be that not every registrar knew the correct address to send the stuff to. But any errors would, I have thought, have been on a fairly small scale.

I have a friend whose birth registration wasn't anywhere near where she was actually born, which again wasn't near where she grew up, due to the upheaval of the period, which would make finding the details challenging for a stranger.

Deaths are even more challenging - some people killed in air-raids were never properly identified.

Thanks, Brenda, it's good to have input from people like yourself who've been at this game a lot longer than me!

[Uncle John]

My OH's mum was evacuated from Glasgow to Peebles to have her. Not the most obvious place if you didn't know. Soon after I was born I went on a tour of southern England and ended up in Northumberland for a couple of years.