Discharge Book numbering from WW 2 to 1972 for British seamen

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John.
If they steal my identity they will have to go and get some grey hair for their head, and numerous glasses
My Dads No from the first war was 934682. mine from June 49 is R510868.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Des there are at least two names on this site that I know from my earlier days , they are fairly common names so could be duplicated many times but I can assure you that they are not the ones. I used to know , different. jobs for starters. But a discharge book number would assist in quicker identification if knew or not. Cheers JS

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Des
Same here mate. but they wont need any Hair at all almost, and better get all their Teeth puled as well! LOL

And just for you if you dont mind! Otherwise i can delete it ???

Search results: R510868 | The National Archives

Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Think Des knows who he is , it’s just those who live in a fantasy world who don’t, the only thing he may have fantasy’s about is his grey hair someone should tell him it’s white , Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

There is one small anomaly, the numbers do not always match dates.
That is some one may well have a higher number though from an earlier date.

Books as far as I know were allocated to various schools such as Vindi.
But the date they were issued may be well behind those of some others.

So yes put the number on your name but do not be surprised if it does not match with others who went to sea at the same time as you.

[J Gowers]

#179 I believe this was also the case in the Pools where I obtained my book, they were issued with blocks of numbers so if two guys applied on the same day in different pools they could end up with quite different numbers.

[Colin Wood]

R 594520 issued 20 July 1953

[Jon perd]

I've done some research on Discharge Books and Discharge A numbers from WW2 to 1972 to try and get an idea of the turnover of British seamen over the period.
Typical numbers issued for various years are

1940 R 217400
1943 R 230000
1945 R 310000
1956 R 658000
1965 R 816000
1972 ??? Was R prefix still used at this time.

I would be grateful for feedback on whether these numbers look reasonable and also for some information on the numbers issued around 1972.
thanks
David Snook

R820 was March 1968

[Mike Hutchins]

R820 was March 1968

R599059 was issued January 1954.
Mike.

[Doc Vernon]

Quote John
There is one small anomaly, the numbers do not always match dates.
That is some one may well have a higher number though from an earlier date.

Not that i am disputing this statement, but i am not certain if it is correct!
The only possible way that that could happen is for some to possibly have different numbers from different dates if their numbers were issued say during the War Years , which may have happened?? But if there are any that can come up with a Theory please do let me know, i would be most interested!
Cheers

Or have i read this incorrectly???