Author Topic: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)  (Read 908 times)

Offline Gan Yam

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #36 on: Yesterday at 19:28 »
When I search for occupation "W. S. Inspection" in Bradford in the 1939 Register on Ancestry another chap comes up - John S Brown, DOB 1917 - can someone with a subscription have a look?

The entry for John S Brown, gives occupation as W.O. Inspection Engineer Cll.  The "Cll" part is not clear.
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Offline mazi

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #37 on: Yesterday at 19:54 »
When I search for occupation "W. S. Inspection" in Bradford in the 1939 Register on Ancestry another chap comes up - John S Brown, DOB 1917 - can someone with a subscription have a look?

The entry for John S Brown, gives occupation as W.O. Inspection Engineer Cll.  The "Cll" part is not clear.

Could  the W.O. be war office, and the Cll be short for civilian.
In which case I hazard a guess that the “A.”  is admiralty or air

Offline JenB

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #38 on: Yesterday at 20:12 »
When I search for occupation "W. S. Inspection" in Bradford in the 1939 Register on Ancestry another chap comes up - John S Brown, DOB 1917 - can someone with a subscription have a look?

The entry for John S Brown, gives occupation as W.O. Inspection Engineer Cll.  The "Cll" part is not clear.

Could  the W.O. be war office, and the Cll be short for civilian.
In which case I hazard a guess that the “A.”  is admiralty or air

Forgive me, but I’m losing the plot a bit.

The John Brown entry (reply #36) doesn’t contain the letter ‘A’. The only similarity it has to Ernest Thompson’s occupation is the letter W and the word ‘Inspection’.

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Offline mazi

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #39 on: Yesterday at 20:38 »
Perhaps I’m jumping the gun a bit but to me the phrase ‘inspection eng(ineer) is a dead giveaway,
I have a wartime ships compass in its box and it is covered with admiralty inspection certificates.




Offline Gan Yam

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #40 on: Yesterday at 20:39 »
It may not be relevant but W.A.S appears often under civil defence (not occupation), sometimes with ARP or First Aid after it. 
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Offline gc1

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #41 on: Yesterday at 20:45 »
Just to add to all the ideas Goggle search has this to say ??? ???

"In the 1939 Register, "W. A. S" likely refers to Women's Auxiliary Service, which was a part of the civil defence services during World War II. The register includes various abbreviations to denote different roles within institutions, with "W. A. S" being one of them."  ;D ;D

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Offline Gan Yam

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #42 on: Yesterday at 20:54 »
Just to add to all the ideas Goggle search has this to say ??? ???

"In the 1939 Register, "W. A. S" likely refers to Women's Auxiliary Service, which was a part of the civil defence services during World War II. The register includes various abbreviations to denote different roles within institutions, with "W. A. S" being one of them."  ;D ;D

That makes sense, especially now when I look at the names.  ::)
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Offline Nick_Ips

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #43 on: Yesterday at 21:03 »
Just to add to all the ideas Goggle search has this to say ??? ???

"In the 1939 Register, "W. A. S" likely refers to Women's Auxiliary Service, which was a part of the civil defence services during World War II. The register includes various abbreviations to denote different roles within institutions, with "W. A. S" being one of them."  ;D ;D

It's possible that is a Google AI hallucination.  There was a pre-war "Women's Auxiliary Service" which was a renamed Women's Police Service.  But it isn't clear what was left of it in 1939.

In June 1940 Parliament was told "It is extremely doubtful whether this so-called organisation has any corporate existence at the present time"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Police_Service#Decline

And why would a man living in Bradford be 'inspecting' it?

Online Zaphod99

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Re: What is a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng)? (1939 REGISTER)
« Reply #44 on: Yesterday at 22:53 »
Would a man be a W. A. S. Inspection (Eng) if W. A. S. was Women's Auxiliary Service?

Zaph