Can It Get Any Weirder

[NorthernGeezer]

I suppose in the grand scheme of things none of it really matters and just go on the things I know, or suspect I know, that the Brown family consisting of George, Eileen, William, Patricia and my mother Margaret DID live in Manchester and that Eileen's mother Margaret DID live in Gateshead, everything else is just jam on the butty eh 

[NorthernGeezer]

The perils of having a common surname eh mckha489, my surname is Davis, formerly Davies, family from Hereford near the Welsh border and that's caused me no end of problems, Thomas and James a common family name through out but finding a 4x great grandfather called Uvedale was a beacon of light in a cloudy sky 

[LizzieL]

I don't know who Cecelia Whitehead (Ward) is so some research needed there, I was hoping she may have been a sister of Kenneth Ward, Margaret's absent husband but thats not the case, and why is Kathleen on here as well as on the Gateshead one?

Cecilia Veronica Rogan married in Blackburn district in 1910, one of the possible grooms is James Ward.  I have found three Ward children with Rogan as mmn
Annie 1912 Cockermouth, Eileen M  1914 Tynemouth and Therese F 1925 Cockermouth, and a Kathleen V Ward 1918 Cockermouth mmn listed as Regan.

There seem to be some similar forenames here.
Cecilia Ward married a Harold Whiteoak in Manchester in 1941 and Annie Ward married John G Lally in 1940 in Manchester.

[LizzieL]

Cecilia and James also have an earlier child reg Q1 1911 Cecilia M born Blackburn.

[MollyC]

... I doubt that it would be unusual for duplicates to happen in that situation.  Not being alive then it is difficult to pass comment about it but I can't see that once the register was taken people would be stopped from moving around the country, it can't have been like Covid.
... We can only assume what the circumstances were.

I know of several cases where people were not where you might expect and mistakes were made.  Some remained where they needed to be for work.  My mother and sister had left a Yorkshire town to stay with her uncle in rural Lincolnshire.  Their surname was mis-spelled.  Meanwhile the aunt's mother had a stroke and arrived there from Nottingham with another daughter.  It was a bit crowded and my family went back shortly afterwards, but to my grandparents.

The town's Director of Education was not at home but apparently staying with friends nearby, while his wife was with friends in rural Wales.  A gt gt aunt left Woolwich, London, to stay with her brother in the Peak District, Derbyshire.  A recent thread on here showed mother and 3 children moving from London to Luton, while her partner remained, staying in a pub which somehow added 20 years to his age.

[LizzieL]

I think we have two families, James and Cecilia Ward and children, and Kenneth and Margaret Ward and children, some of whom have the same forenames as J and C's,

[NorthernGeezer]

I think you right LizzieL, there are instances in the family tree's on Ancestry where the Rogan name crops up but for obvious reasons I dismissed them.
I am happy that Kenneth Alderson Ward and Margaret Eleanor Baker (Ward) are my correct descendants, I'll have to do some double checking with the children to eliminate the James and Cecilia tribe.
Thanks to everyone for your help, much appreciated.

[fhtess1165]

The 1939 Register WAS taken on a fixed date - 29 Sep 1939, as per TNA's guide:

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/1939-register/#2-when-and-why-the-register-was-compiled

The Streatham News had an article on its front page on September 29, 1939, explaining that it was that evening the head of household was to record all the people who spent the night there that night. You can see the clipping here:

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/162cb9ce-c70e-4ecf-b1a0-50bdae93f2cd

Many other newspapers had similar articles.

Now, whether or not everyone followed the instructions is debatable, but the Register was meant to reflect who was in each household on September 29.

<SNIP>
Unfortunately the forms are not dated so we don't know which was completed first and they obviously did not have a 'fixed' date like a census.  We can only assume what the circumstances were.  Just think how many times we find people enumerated more than once on a census, it was not unusual.

[NorthernGeezer]

I think its clear not everyone followed these instructions fhtess1165, given i can place some relatives in 3 places and other relatives not listed at all, even allowing for families with people in them with the same name.