The 'Wartime Domesday' book has just been made publicly available online.
According to The Independent, the book was previously kept in a government building in Lancashire for 76 years, is now out in the open containing information of about 41 million people during World War II era. It was made available online on Nov. 2. From then, the public now has access to information about their parents, grandparents or great grandparents and other family members who were alive and living anywhere in England or Wales on Sept. 29, 1939.
The said book is really interesting as it reveals that, Eliza Chandler, the maternal great-grandmother of Duchess Kate Middleton was a widow and food packer in 1939 in Middlesex, according to The Daily Mail. On the other hand, another set of great grandparents can be found in the book. Thomas Harrison was an aircraft fitter while his wife, Elizabeth was tasked with 'unpaid domestic duties' while living in the same area.
But Kate Middleton's old folks aren't the only ones who can be found in the newly digitized book. It was also reported that the book has documented that Victoria Beckham's maternal grandfather, George Cannon, was working on the docks in the wake of the Second World War. On the other hand, Posh Spice's paternal grandfather was trying to make the most out of his earnings as a French polisher.
Moreover, with 1.2 million pages in 7,000 volumes, and with 41 million people in the book it would be impossible that it would not have anything about the David Beckham's grandparents. David's great-grandfather, Edward Charles, was serving in the navy.
"The 1939 material is important because it gives us a detailed snapshot of the people of England and Wales, both as individuals and communities, at the beginning of the Second World War," The Independent quotes what Audrey Collins, a family historian at The National Archives, said.
