Learning from inaccuracies on the 1939 Register
Like many others I have been using the 1939 Register. Most of my English relatives are descendants of my mother’s Aunt Janet (Mrs Swan). Aunt Janet was the surviving daughter of my great-grandfather Alexander Boyd’s first wife. She was having her family while her stepmother, Alexander’s second wife, was having hers. In the process of researching my family, I have come across inaccuracies in the register, and thought it would be useful to share three examples with fellow readers.
1. Search by street if surname fails
Aunt Janet’s daughter Agnes Leckie Wilson, a widow in 1939, was living with her eldest brother, John Swan, also widowed. Agnes Wilson died in 1946. Her administrator was her daughter Agnes Mary Bruun. Bruun is a north German and Scandinavian version of Brown.
Based on this information I located Agnes’s marriage in 1922 to Reginald Aubrey Bruun. They had one son, Reginald Anthony Bruun, the following year, born in Barnet Registration District.
Agnes Mary’s husband Reginald Aubrey Bruun died in 1941 – address 57 Richmond Road, New Barnet, Hertfordshire. Looking in the 1939 Register for Reginald Bruun born 1874 and/or Agnes Bruun born 1886 produced nothing. I therefore switched to using the address feature, but again, no Reginalds born 1874 or Agnesses born 1886. Eventually I simply tried Richmond Road and looking down the list noticed Agnes Brunen and clicked on it only to find that Agnes was listed with her husband’s birth date and born in 1923 was listed with the name of a neighbour. Clicking on the actual image showed clearly the transpositions and, to me at least, a surname of Bruun.