England Health Records, Identity Cards, Medical Cards, Blood Groups, and DNA - International Institute

National Identity and Health Service Numbers

 * Those born prior to WWII. In 1939, as a preparation for wartime rationing and security the British government issued everyone with a National Identity Registration Number. This consisted of a four-letter code for your area and a number under 1000 indicating your household, followed by a slash or colon and then a single digit representing your place in the household. Example: AEGP125/2
 * For those born from 29 Sep 1939 a four letter area code for your birthplace was followed (without a slash or colon) by the entry number in column 1 on your birth certificate. Example: DWXC 367.
 * After WWII the same system continued but with the introduction of the National Health System in 1948 the number became your National Health Service (NHS) Number.

Some changes in area codes have been made over the years and a five-letter code was adopted for those born from 1965. The whole number is on the short-form birth certificate for those born since September 1939, but only the number and not the area code on the long- form certificate.

The examples that follow show the registrar’s number on a birth certificate during WWII, the area code and same number on the National Registration Identity Card, and the same on the later National Health Service Medical Card. During and after the war the ID card had to be produced and stamped in order to obtain a new ration book when the old one ran out.

Column 1 of Birth Certificate
(From the personal collection of Dr. Penelope Christensen)

National Registration Identity Card
Note five official stamps NR MF (probably National Registration, Ministry of Food) added when new ration books were issued.

(From the personal collection of Dr. Penelope Christensen)

Chart: National Health Service Medical Card
(From the personal collection of Dr. Penelope Christensen)

Blood Groups
Family and local historians are greatly interested in the work of geneticists on mapping blood groups. They confirm the evidence provided by surname distribution and community studies that most families remained close to their roots for many hundreds of years, at least until the Industrial Revolution. The origins of the main types have been described as:


 * Type O probably Celtic stock i.e. Irish, Cornish, Scottish, North Wales. Also Hampshire and Surrey.
 * Type A is continental i.e. Angles, Saxons, Normans. Common around the Wash (Lincolnshire, Norfolk).
 * Type B is fairly rare.
 * Type AB is the rarest group but common amongst gypsies (wrongly called Egyptians in old parish registers) and in NW India from whence they derive.

Lawrence contributed a good article on her family’s blood groups.

DNA


The relatively new science of molecular genealogy has established that each individual who has ever lived has a unique genetic makeup. There are three kinds of tests that can be done to investigate genetic markers in DNA using:

-Autosomal genes on the 22 pairs of non-sex chromosomes. These are shuffled every generation and are the ones largely responsible for the uniqueness of each individual.

-Y sex chromosome of the males in the family. The Y chromosome is passed almost without changes from father to son, and there is a good correlation with surnames, but this is not perfect—and we all know why!

-Mitochondrial DNA which is inherited by all children from their mother, but only passed on by daughters.

Michael Joyce explains about the Human Genome Project and the uses of DNA samples in family history in his article, Genes and Genealogy, such as:


 * Corroborating a family connection with a deceased person.
 * Where descent from a well-known individual is possible.
 * When illegitimacy is suspected.
 * Checking relatedness where a family connection is uncertain.
 * Tracing natural parents of adopted children or those conceived in the laboratory.

He discusses future usage of the technique, and Michael Wood makes further hypotheses on this theme.

W. J. Wall discusses how a study of the genomic and mitochondrial DNA of Anna Anderson and the Romanovs proved that they were not related, and who she really was. Chandler has the story of Queen Victoria and haemophilia (and the intriguing possibility that she may have been illegitimate), as well as the Cheddar man and his modern descendant.

Further comments on the potential of DNA testing for delving further back than written records. Rawlings relates a wonderful story about how DNA analysis sorted out the parentage of siblings in her family.

A worldwide population study, the Molecular Genealogy Research Project collects samples for DNA analysis and correlates with the donors pedigree charts—see to contribute as an individual or to arrange for them to come to a conference to give a lecture and take samples (minimum 50 people). We organized such a spit party, as one wag called it, at Abbotsford Family History Center and it was a huge success. ____________________________________________________________

Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Education,Health and Contemporary Documents offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com] We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.