CEB Control Centres in the 1939 Register

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1939 Register

In December 1938 it was announced in the House of Commons that in the event of war, a National Register would be taken that listed the personal details of every civilian in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This Register would be used to issue identity cards, organise rationing and more. On September 1st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, andr Britain declared war on the 3rd. On September 5th, the National Registration Act received royal assent and the Registrar General announced that National Registration Day would be Friday 29 September 1939. Having issued forms to more than 41 million people, the enumerators were charged with the task of visiting every household in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to collect the names, addresses, marital statuses and other key details of every civilian in the country, issuing identity cards on the spot. The 1939 Register represents one of the most important documents in 20th century Britain. The information it contains not only helped toward the war effort, it was also used in the founding of the NHS.


We thought it would be interesting to look at each CEB Control Centre to see who was there on "Registration Day". However, it doesn't seem to have worked as expected! It seems that for all locations except London only the caretakers were listed and presumably staff registered at their home address. This would make sense from the point of view of rationing and ID Card addresses. In London at 95-103 Park St 2 engineers are registered.




1939 Register
95-103 Park St
Southwark

In this register we find two people at 95-103 Park St. One is Charles Allan, 28, Assistant Section Engineer, CEB. The other is Robert Taylor, 29, Sch(eduling?) Assistant, CEB. This is different to all the other Control Centre locations where just the caretakers were registered and presumably other staff registered at their home address. What address was enetered on the ID Card of these Park St staff (home or work) we can only guess. The enumerator would have called on either the Sunday or Monday after the Friday on which the form should have been completed.




1939 Register
26 Oaklands Road
Bristol

In this register we are looking at the entry for "Grid House" Oakfield Road, Bristol. Two people are shown at this address, Francis Jones, 29 years of age whose occupation is declared as Caretaker. At the same address is his wife Irene Dorothy, 28, whose occupation is declared as Waitress. Could she possibly be a waitress at Grid House or is it at another establishment?




1939 Register
53 Wake Green Road
Birmingham

Look in this register at the entry for 53a Wake Green Road. Between 1936 and 1939 the property at 55 Wake Green Road was incorporated in the CEB property. So 53a must be part of the Control Centre property. Two people are shown at this address, Barry and Emma James. They both indicate their occupation as Caretaker.




1939 Register
St Marys Road
Leeds

In this register we are again looking at an entry for "Grid House", this time in St Marys Road. Three people are shown at this address, Fred and Lucy Wilkinson together with their 8 year old daughter June Margaret. Fred is the Chauffeur/Caretaker, Lucy is a paid office cleaner, perhaps in Grid House, and June is "at school".




1939 Register
Carliol House
Newcastle

Look for Carliol House, Market Street. Two people are registered at this address, Herbert and Lucie Keily. They both declare they are caretakers. In all probability they are employed by NeSCo since the CEB Control Room was located in the NeSCo building.




1939 Register
825 Wilmslow Road
Manchester

The entry of interest here is the one for "Grid House Cottage". Alfred and Grace Warner are registered as having occupations of Caretaker (Central Elec Board) and Joint Caretaker. The address of Grid House has previously been recorded as The Cedars, 825 Wilmslow Road and is what can currently be seen on the Gateposts. However, in the Register, Grid House Cottage is sandwiched inbetween 355 Wilmslow Road and Didsbury Lodge Cottage (a listed building which still stands next door to The Cedars gateposts) with Didsbury Lodge and 401 Wilmslow Road the next entries. Having searched the Register there doesn't seem to be an odd house number higher than 413. Is it possible that Wilmslow Road was renumbered at some time?