From: chris@cjpl.co.uk   
      
   On 19/04/2019 16:52, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:   
   > In message , Jenny M Benson   
   >  writes:   
   >> On 19-Apr-19 03:22 PM, Tim Powys-Lybbe wrote:   
   >>>  And the 1939 Register has exact birth dates so is very useful   
   >>> confirming  info if you can find your cousins on it.  Electoral rolls   
   >>> also help to  confirm a family if the children stay at home once they   
   >>> have reached  voting age.   
   >>   
   >> Exact, but not always totally accurate!  On several occasions I have   
   >> found the year to be a little out, though the day and month are   
   >> usually right and the correct year can be verified from the GRO Index.   
   >   
   > +1! I can only assume the questionnaire asked for age rather than date,   
   > or something like that; it's often out by 1 year (with, as you say, day   
   > and month being correct).   
   >   
   I expect the question asked for "date of birth", but people will have   
   been asked for it far less often than they are nowadays, so the thought   
   process may have gone something like: "Well, my birthday is 22 December   
   but what year? I'm 52 now so it must be..." followed by a failure of   
   mental arithmetic.   
      
   And there are always some people who, deliberately or not, are rather   
   vague about their age.   
      
   It is also important to check the original image of the 1939 register,   
   not just the transcription, which is not always correct.   
      
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   Chris Pitt Lewis   
      
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