NATIONAL REGISTRATION   1939    
(Extracted from the Guide to Census reports Great Britain 1801 - 1966
ISBN 0 11 690638 3)

This enumeration was carried out in the United Kingdom and the Isle of
Man on 29th September 1939 for the purpose of compiling a register of the
population as a war-time general security measure.

Great Britain & Isle of Man
Preparations for the National Register were begun at the end of 1938 and
were completed by April 1939 except for the recruitment of enumerators,
which continued in some areas until shortly before the outbreak of war.  If
the country had stayed at peace the arrangements would have held good for
the projected 1941 Census.  The enumeration districts were certainly
smaller than usual, but this was necessary as Identity Cards had to be
issued in addition to the normal delivery and collection of schedules, and
completion of the whole operation was required as soon as possible.
Registration was compulsory for all persons present on National
Registration day except those serving in & not on leave from HM Forces.
The information to be recorded was the minimum needed for the purpose of
National Registration and comprised name and address, sex, date of birth,
marital condition and occupation.

In the enumeration process, census practice was generally followed in that
the basic unit was the household schedule, with other types of schedule
being issued for completion by managers of hostels or resident officers in
charge of institutions.  Records of more than 45 million persons in 65,000
enumeration districts were produced.