MANCHESTER FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH:  NEWS AND UPDATES

THIS page has been created in order to supply a home for updates to this site. It will also serve the purpose of allowing me to put any content here that might not sit easily on other pages and make comments about various matters that might push some of my buttons! For the latest updates scroll down the page.

LATEST PICTURES of the refurbishment of Manchester Central Library here.

THE MANCHESTER COLLECTION was recently launched. Much of the information in the publicity packs came from this site. See The Manchester Collection at Find My Past.

The records included some:

Apprenticeship Indentures, Baptism and Birth Registers, Cemetery and Death Records, Industrial School Records, Marriage Registers, Prison Registers, School Admission Registers and Workhouse Registers.

DUTIES OF BOARD OF GUARDIANS: See here

HERTBET ROY HARRIS: Update see here

CHILDREN ADOPTED BY MANCHESTER GUARDIANS: See here Only a small collection, but could be crucial for somebody.

MANCHESTER FELONY REGISTER PART 4: New page see here.

MANCHESTER BOROUGH POLICE FORCE 1839-48

 New page added to give a history of the forming of the new Police Force after the Incorporation of the town. See here , here, here and here.

It  includes the names, (in some cases addresses), and rank of all the men who became part of the new force. It  also includes promotions, demotions, sackings, disciplinary matters and awards.  There is a complex breakdown of rates of pay, staffing and rosters. It  also highlights the work of the Chief of the Police Commissions, Sir Charles Shaw and covers the period up to 1842 when the Council Watch Committee again took control of the force. What was the difference between a Constable being on a Beat or on Patrol?  Read the Annual Criminal Statistical Reports. Discover a whole list of news tasks that were put under the remit of the Watch Committee  ranging from the Fire Department, whitewashing lodging houses and  preventing damage to, or the improper use of urinals.  Find out by reading through the information.

MANCHESTER ARCHIVES + see here

NEW CHARGES:  Owing to financial cuts MALS introduce £10 charge for postal enquiries. See here.

JOHN OWEN: Local antiquarian: See here

TREADWHEELS in Prisons; Reports for Manchester City Gaol: See here

UPDATE To: Workhouses and Manchester City Centre Churches pages concerning exhumations. See here and here.

UPDATE TO: WHAT DID HAPPEN TO THE REMAINS OF THE PRISONERS EXECUTED AT MANCHESTER?: Now includes names of those execute at Knutsford. See here.

POSTER concerning the trial of body snatcher John Eaton in May 1827. See here

UPDATE to Manchester City Centre Churches. See Here.   Here is a transcription of the St Peter's Church Agreement. Some folks are against the proposed plan to move to the Manchester War Memorial.

INDEX to MANCHESTER IQUEST WITNESS STATEMENTS. See Here. A completely new page for these unique records surviving from 1851-52

CENTRAL LIBRARY: What's been happening. See here

 COURT RECORDS: New information added to Magistrates' Court Records including Police Divisions to help locate Licensing Records. See here.

MANCHESTER BOROUGH WATCH COMMITTEE: See here

ADVANCED NOTICE REQUIRE FOR ORDERING ARCHIVE REDEUCED: See here

MANCHESTER ARCHIVES TO GO ONLINE: SEE HERE

CORONER'S COURT DETAILS

I have added a new section on the surviving reports from 1851-52. See here.

MANCHESTER POLICE STOCK ACCOUNT

Manchester Police Stock Accounts have survived from 1825 until 1835. See here.

Details of the reopening of Manchester Archives  and  the Manchester Room (Local Studies) see here

MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE CHURCHES.

This page has been updated and now includes a more comprehensive list of churches in the city centre. See here.

NATIONAL REGISTRATION ACT 1939

Following a challenge under the Freedom of Information Act, information  gathered using the above Act which has previously been withheld, may be released.

Between 1939 and 1952 the compulsory issue of Identity Cards was  brought in under some of the provisions of the National Registration Act 1939. Under the Act a register of all person in the UK was taken and Identity Cards were then issued.  People entering the country after the initial registration had to supply their details and then they too would be issued with an Identity Card. The register consisted  of the names, sex, age, occupation etc, residence, married or single and any membership of the Naval, Military or Air Force Reserves etc. The register was compiled by the Registrar General and the information was collected by enumerators much in the same way as a Census and in many ways it is just as important as a Census, especially bearing in mind that the 1931 returns were destroyed by fire and no Census was taken in 1941. The Identity Cards were issued to all civilians, with members of HM Forces and merchant sailors being exempt.

A series of fines were introduced for giving false information, impersonation, forgery of an Identity Card, and unauthorised disclosure of information. For these offences, maximum penalties on  conviction were a £50 fine and or three months in prison, and on conviction on indictment a £100 fine and or two years in prison. It was also an offence to fail to comply with any other requirement duly made under the Act, or with any regulation made under it, and the maximum penalty was a £5 fine or one month in prison or both. The Act applied to the whole of the United Kingdom and was to remain in force until a date which 'His Majesty may be Order in Council declare to be the date on which the emergency that was the occasion of the passing of this Act came to an end'.

This was the ruling given by the Information Commissioner:

FS50248664

The complainant requested information from an entry on the national register that was established under the National Registration Act 1939. Specifically he asked for information relating to a particular address, and the records of the people listed there. The public authority confirmed that it held information relevant to the request, but withheld it under sections 22, 40 and 41. During the course of the Commissioner's investigation the public authority informed him that it was no longer relying upon sections 22 and 41, and was only relying upon sections 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i). It also informed him that some of the withheld information related to deceased people. After investigating the case the Commissioner decided that the information relating to deceased people should be disclosed to the complainant. However, he also decided that the information relating to living individuals should be withheld under sections 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i). The Commissioner also found that the NHSIC failed to meet the requirements of sections 1(1)(b), 10(1) and 17(1)(b).

Copyright 2006 Information Commissioner's Office

As I understand, this now means that information about deceased people on the register can now be released. I also understand that this decision can be appealed against. Not being one to be backward in coming forward, I decided to apply for information about my late father and I sent the following email to enquiries@ic.nhs.uk on 10th November 2009

In view of the very recent Information Commissioner's decision about the 1939 Registration I would like to obtain a copy of the details registered for my late father.

His name was Charles Edward Lodge DOB 12th May 1917
Address: 46 Benchill Rd Wythenshawe (Northern Etchells) Manchester.
Employer: Manchester City Corporation Transport Dept.
Date of death: 30th April 1993
Death registration:

Name:	Charles Edward Lodge
Birth Date:	12 May 1917
Death Registration Month/Year:	May 1993
Age at death (estimated):	76
Registration district:	Manchester
Inferred County:	Lancashire
Register number:	A49B
District and Subdistrict:	0061A
Entry number:	125

Please let me know If I need to supply any more information such as a scan of his death certificate.

The following day I received this reply:

Dear Gerard  Lodge ,

I noted with interest the term [Possible Spam]!

On 25th November I received another email:

The image below was attached.

So...ok they have supplied me with some information...on the register should have been  my father's names, sex, age, occupation etc, residence, married or single and any membership of the Naval, Military or Air Force Reserves etc. They cannot supply me with the full details because they did not know his number. Perhaps I should have told them it was NJEY 145/2.

I applied once again with the added information for my father's details, but in their wisdom NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care replied "According to our records, your enquiry   has been resolved and we have now closed our enquiry log."

I find this somewhat strange as I applied for my grandmother's details, who lived at the same address, and received the information without any problem.

"I can confirm the following information is held in the 1939 register:-"

Registration No      NJEY 145/1

Name                         Mary E Lodge

Date of Birth            07 Dec 1888

Address                    46 Benchill Road, County Borough of Manchester

Marital Status          Widow

Occupation              School Caretakers Assistant

I shall not be pursuing this matter. However a couple of days later I received another email from the NHS Information Centre which included my father's full details from the 1939 Registration. I have noticed that they have introduced a charge of £42.00. Maybe it will be cheaper when it goes online?

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