National Registration Forms

Tuesday 17th August 1915: Under the National Registration Act passed in July all men and women aged between 15 and 65 are required to register at their place of residence on 15th August. The registration is being carried out in a similar way to a census, but instead of the head of each household completing a single form each individual is responsible for their own registration. Men are required to fill in a blue form and women a white form. Enumerators are now being sent round to collect the completed forms, with those in Luton reporting that it is proving a more difficult task than they anticipated. Many of them now realise how difficult the work of a postman can be. One says: “I should not mind a street where the houses front on to the path, but I was given one of those aristocratic quarters where I had to open a gate, walk up what seemed endless steps and winding paths, knock the door, see the servant who answered, wait until the master had been communicated with, and then go down the steps and paths again, thinking how sweet it would be to have a heart to heart talk with the ingenious architect who designed such fiendish approaches to the houses.”

Source: Luton Times, 20 August 1915