Why does the date of birth shown in the UK 1939 Register frequently differ one year from the registered DOB?

Question

Very often I find a variance of exactly one year between a proven registered date of birth and that shown in the 1939 Register. It happens too often for it to be human error, in my opinion. Intrigued to know the reason, hope you can help.

Thank you.

Comments

I have often wondered the same thing.  (Although there have been a few occasions where the year is about five off, because that person has been fibbing for decades!)

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I have not noticed this. Is the variance always in the same direction (i.e. making them a year older or younger)?

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The register was taken on 29 September 1939. Do you see that this year variance happens for people born before 29 Sep or after? I'm just wondering if the enumerator sometimes asked the persons age and tried to figure out the year of birth from that.

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Unlike the usual census return, which took the age, and from that estimated the year of birth, the 1939 register gave the actual date of birth - day, month, year.
Often, however, as noted, the year does not align with the birth registration, mostly being one year off, sometimes more.
(Example, someone's birth was registered in the 1st Quarter of 1897, and the 1939 register gives the date of birth as 12 Feb 1898.  A year difference.)

Answer 1

The 1939 Register was enumerated and that leads to errors as with census with info given incorrectly.  All of which leads to the Impotence of certificates. 

The information on the registry was to produce Identity Cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to facilitate the issuing of ration books. Information in the Register was also used to administer conscription and division of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation."

"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."

Link included is for an article from Family Search which gives great info.

https://familysearch.brightspotcdn.com/7a/0e/c8cf0edd4729b4cd56309ada9c29/1939-register-handout.docx

Comments

Thank you for that link Linda.

Answer 2

I tried googling the question and found this interesting post with a statistical breakdown for one parish:

https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/questions/11796/how-accurate-are-birth-dates-on-the-1939-register

Comments

I think everything has to be seen with some skepticism. I have seen numerous registrations of birth showing the birth after the Baptism. As someone told me, they recorded the birth as of the quarter that you went to the registration office, even if the event was in the previous year.