From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

I've often wondered, looking at the pages: why do most (all that I've
seen, I think) pages of the 1939 register have one or two pieces of
adhesive tape towards the bottom left? (Often repairing a tear.)
Something to do with how the (large) pages folded into the ledgers, maybe?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
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From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

On 22/Mar/26 21:41, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

I've often wondered, looking at the pages: why do most (all that I've
seen, I think) pages of the 1939 register have one or two pieces of
adhesive tape towards the bottom left? (Often repairing a tear.)
Something to do with how the (large) pages folded into the ledgers, maybe?

The Register got a lot of use over a long period of time. I wonder
whether they considered other uses and the continuing need when
selecting the paper?

From National Archives:
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.

Also see 38min30sec onwards in the National Archives video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25bGiXLo8Yk

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From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

On 2026/3/23 7:41:25, john wrote:

On 22/Mar/26 21:41, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

I've often wondered, looking at the pages: why do most (all that I've
seen, I think) pages of the 1939 register have one or two pieces of
adhesive tape towards the bottom left? (Often repairing a tear.)
Something to do with how the (large) pages folded into the ledgers, maybe?

The Register got a lot of use over a long period of time. I wonder
whether they considered other uses and the continuing need when
selecting the paper?

Yes, the basis of the NHS for many decades! (Often useful as it -
usually in green or purple ballpoint, or what has become green or purple
with time - gives a marriage date. Not infallible, but often a good guide.)

From National Archives:
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.

Also see 38min30sec onwards in the National Archives video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25bGiXLo8Yk

Thanks, that explains why the sellotape (basically, it kept having to be repaired!), but not why it tends to be towards the bottom left.

Incidentally - when citing a YouTube link, you can link to a specific
part of it by appending "&t=X" to it, where X is a number of seconds -
for the above it would be &t=2310 .
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes
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From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

On 23/03/2026 20:35, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

Thanks, that explains why the sellotape (basically, it kept having to be repaired!), but not why it tends to be towards the bottom left.

What we see are the left hand pages and only the first inch or so of the right. So the bottom left corner is where generations of users turned
the page, quite likely in some cases licking their finger to do so. It
is no wonder that it tends to be damaged.
--
Chris Pitt Lewis

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From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

On 24/Mar/26 09:30, Chris Pitt Lewis wrote:

On 23/03/2026 20:35, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

Thanks, that explains why the sellotape (basically, it kept having
to be repaired!), but not why it tends to be towards the bottom
left.

What we see are the left hand pages and only the first inch or so of
the right. So the bottom left corner is where generations of users
turned the page, quite likely in some cases licking their finger to
do so. It is no wonder that it tends to be damaged.

I suspect rubber thimbles were provided for page turning and finger-
licking that prohibited!

Having now looked at pages from different parts of the country, the
bottom left corner sellotape marks are very common and are probably due
to a lot of page turning using fingers but none of the sellotaped pages
I've seen had a complete tear.

What is puzzling is on pages where there are several sellotape marks.
They are usually in the general direction from the lower LH side
diagonally to higher up the page. If it was damage due to page folding
that might be expected from the bottom of the gutter to the centre left
of the page?

Looking more closely at the paper itself, all the LH pages had
indentations in that same lower point on the LH side up across the page
towards the gutter; the sellotape was usually on those indentations, so possibly causing a weak point and paper splitting? I've not found any explanation but possibly they are due to the binding?

On the parts of the right-hand pages I could see which hade sellotape
marks the covered the same raised lines corresponding to the LH side indentations.

As an aside, we have little detail on the right-hand side content. This page https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/questions/11816/whats-on-the-right- hand-page-of-the-1939-register is an interesting discussion of the
right-hand page and has a link to a poor partial image.

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From Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.britain

On 2026/3/24 11:58:47, john wrote:

On 24/Mar/26 09:30, Chris Pitt Lewis wrote:

On 23/03/2026 20:35, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

Thanks, that explains why the sellotape (basically, it kept having
to be repaired!), but not why it tends to be towards the bottom
left.

What we see are the left hand pages and only the first inch or so of
the right. So the bottom left corner is where generations of users
turned the page, quite likely in some cases licking their finger to
do so. It is no wonder that it tends to be damaged.

I suspect rubber thimbles were provided for page turning and finger-
licking that prohibited!

Agreed, but they could have been turned with vigour - they're big
sheets, and I imagine users were often in a hurry.

Having now looked at pages from different parts of the country, the
bottom left corner sellotape marks are very common and are probably due
to a lot of page turning using fingers but none of the sellotaped pages
I've seen had a complete tear.

What is puzzling is on pages where there are several sellotape marks.
They are usually in the general direction from the lower LH side
diagonally to higher up the page. If it was damage due to page folding
that might be expected from the bottom of the gutter to the centre left
of the page?

I've not noticed any common fold marks suggesting all pages were folded
in a similar way, as I'd initially thought might be the case.

Looking more closely at the paper itself, all the LH pages had
indentations in that same lower point on the LH side up across the page

That counters what I just said! I must look again.

towards the gutter; the sellotape was usually on those indentations, so possibly causing a weak point and paper splitting? I've not found any explanation but possibly they are due to the binding?

On the parts of the right-hand pages I could see which hade sellotape
marks the covered the same raised lines corresponding to the LH side indentations.

As an aside, we have little detail on the right-hand side content. This page https://genealogy.stackexchange.com/questions/11816/whats-on-the-right- hand-page-of-the-1939-register is an interesting discussion of the
right-hand page and has a link to a poor partial image.

Thanks for interesting page. I think of the few cases where I've seen
anything there, it's been ARP (air-raid patrol), or sometimes a position
in what I take to be local defence organisations or similar.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The impression is that the reporter doesn't really understand the
subject and he is mistaking the expert's slow methodical thought for a politician's prevarication or a layman's ignorance.
- Liz Tuddenham in uk.media.radio.bbc-r4, 2022-3-6
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