Registration of the members of the armed forces was dealt with by the military authorities, so the 1939 Register does not include service personnel in military, navy and air force establishments. Nor does it include members of the armed forces billeted in private homes, including their own homes. However, since conscription did not begin in earnest until January 1940, most people who subsequently served in the armed force during the Second World War were still civilians in September 1939.
By 29 September 1939 there had already been mass evacuations of the population so many people may be listed in an entirely different location to the rest of their family. Many seasonal workers, such as hop-pickers, were still in the countryside when the Register was taken, and not at their normal home addresses in urban areas.
Some entries show the married names of women who did not marry until long after 1939. Square brackets [] name changed.
The Register was continually updated while National Registration was in force, when it was a legal requirement to notify the registration authorities of any change of name or address. This ended in 1952, but since 1948 the Register had also been used by the National Health Service, who continued updating the records until 1991, when paper-based record keeping was discontinued.
Changes of name for any reason were recorded; in practice this was mostly when women changed their surnames on marriage or re-marriage, but also includes changes of name for any other reason, such as by deed poll.
Some online search results of the Register will have a number of blanked out lines, indicating that the record is closed because the individual may still be alive.
Note: column 5 is missing as nothing was recorded here for Castlethorpe
1939 Registration for Little Linford
E.D. Letter Code DWLG……… Borough, U.D. or R.D. Newport Pagnell………. Registration and Sub-District 147/2