In the 1946 London Electoral Register on Ancestry I have 2 entries which slightly puzzle me. The names are followed by an alpha/numeric number. The 2 men are at the same address and have the same name and I'm pretty certain they are father & son. I've changed the names because one of them is probably still alive. They are: John Smith AZIE/96/1 John Smith AZA/4196785 (or4198785) The younger John Smith would have been old enough to have served in WW2 as he was born in 1919 but the older John Smith married in 1916 and so would have been pretty old to have served in that war. Has anyone got any ideas as to what these 'numbers' represent please?
By browsing around in the registers, quite a lot of similar codes can be found but with many different permutations of letters and numbers. From one reply to this query on Genes Reunited it appears that the codes may be National Identity Card numbers: http://www. genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/general_chat/thread/1313457 which gives a link to this page about the 1939 identity card: http://www. 1911census.org.uk/1939.htm which says among other things that the 'card number consisted of a four letter enumeration district code plus the line number of the schedule that was completed by the enumerator, e.g. for area ABCD, schedule line 24, 3rd person in the household the card number would have been "ABCD 24/3" '
Oh yes. That certainly makes sense. I thought I still had my National Registration Card but it turns out I haven't. However I still have a clothing coupon book and it has my Registration Number on it - MIDM/356/ (nothing else but then I was only '0' at the time !!).. Thank you Huncamunca .
After more reading I am beginning to doubt the explanation given above. Some of the codes in the 1946 register begin with Y and that doesn't seem to be a prefix used on the identity cards. Will keep searching! P.S. oh maybe I am confusing 'class code' of the card (which can be A, B, C, N, or V according to Wikipedia) with the four-letter code.
After a bit more digging I have found a collection of 'Documents relating to National Registration, 1939' on HistPop, including an 'alphabetical list of administrative districts giving area letter codes'. The list begins here. They are only three-letter codes, so don't fully explain the four-letter codes used on the identity cards. Codes beginning with A do seem to relate to London though (ABA for Battersea Met. B. and ADA for Bethnal Green Met. B., for example), so perhaps we are getting warmer. . . . and from the very last page(!), AZA corresponds to Woolwich Met. B., so perhaps you can conclude that 'John Smith' junior was in that area in September 1939? Don't know what 'AZIE' means though
Many thanks for this further information Huncamunca. I think that I'm content with knowing it was obviously a bureaucratic essential for the compilation of the electoral register, but nothing very meaningful!
Thank you Flook for having made this post. It has more or less answered my question of today which arose from trawling Bermondsey Electoral Registers & checking against 1939 register. 1945 found my Family with two 'Adas' living with 'Edward' at 71 Albion st. Mother & Dtr which I know them to be shared a set of initials with differing numbers:-ACCH .../2 & .../3. Same page two columns over similar story but with different letters & numbers- two Ellens -ACPF & lower down two Margarets.ACOK AC must be for Bermondsey & the other letters for the 'part of' or Street area. I'm satisfied that they may well have been to do with war years. These letters & numbers continued into 1950 but not for my folks as the daughter married in 1945 & lived elsewhere. Always another question--let's hope there's always another answer .
If you search images on Google by putting in WW2 uk identity card you can look at many different codes and the address on the cards to try and get some correlation.
In viewing other Family from 1930s + 1945 to 1961, I saw 3 columns of persons in 1946 & 1947 which had two females with different initials & numbers : Mother AEXR 22/2 & dtr AEA 3007516. none for Father who was a returned soldier. Two other male persons in another family same street also had Numbers :AEA/1249738 + DUDS/118/2. No one else in those 6 columns so listed.[2 pages of 3 columns] Can't help wondering why those very few have an identity card number if that is what it is. Also the daughter mentioned b. 1921 can't be found in 1945 when she should be listed. Not hidden anywhere in 1939 either that I can see. Why are there always questions to drive us gently nuts with our rellies?
