Kate's great grandmother was a 'food packer' in 1939 record of the UK: Document dubbed 'The Wartime Domesday Book' set to be published online 

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It is a remarkable snapshot of a nation plunged into war.

Dubbed The Wartime Domesday Book, the record of Britain in 1939 will go online for the first time this week. 

It lists the entire population of England and Wales, from King George VI to ‘general labourers’ and ‘coal hewers’, two common occupations of the day.

The Wartime Domesday Book will go online for the first time this week and shows the Duchess of Cambridge’s  maternal great-grandma Eliza Chandler, Carole Middleton's grandmother, was a widow and ‘food packer’

Revealed: The Duchess of Cambridge’s maternal great-grandma Eliza Chandler was a widow and ‘food packer’ in Middlesex according to her entry

The newly-digitised records will allow the public to search their family records and those of the nation’s most famous faces.

As the Second World War broke out Victoria Beckham’s maternal grandfather, George Cannon, was not so posh, working on the London Docks and living in Tottenham, north London, while her paternal grandfather was living just a short hop away in Edmonton earning his keep as a French polisher. 

Her husband, former England footballer David‘s great-grandfather, Edward Charles, was meanwhile living in Wood Green, north London, and serving in the navy. 

The Duchess of Cambridge’s maternal great-grandma Eliza Chandler was a widow and ‘food packer’ in Middlesex.   

Another set of great-grandparents, Thomas Harrison and his wife, Elizabeth, were also living in the area. Mr Harrison was an aircraft fitter while his wife was undertaking ‘unpaid domestic duties’.

As the Second World War broke out Victoria Beckham’s maternal grandfather, George Cannon, was working on the London Docks and living in Tottenham, north London, while her husband David‘s great-grandfather, was living in Wood Green, north London, and serving in the navy

By contrast, Eton-educated actor Eddie Redmayne’s great-grandfather, Sir Richard Augustine Studdert Redmayne, was a civil engineer and a leading light in improving working practices and the safety of miners.

And James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, stated his main occupation a ‘stockbroker’, despite his alternative career in naval intelligence, where he would gain much of the inspiration for his novels. 

The register, launched online today by Find My Past and the National Archives, was compiled after the Second World War broke out in September 1939.

It is significant as it is the only full population record taken during the 30 years from 1921 to 1951.

The 1939 Register was compiled by some 65,000 enumerators sent out the length and breadth of the country after war broke out in September of that year to take stock of the civil population.

The information that they recorded was used to issue identity cards and rationing books as well as plan mass evacuations. 

Eton-educated actor Eddie Redmayne’s great-grandfather, Sir Richard Augustine Redmayne, was a civil engineer and a leading light in improving working practices and the safety of miners

Comprising 1.2 million pages in 7,000 volumes, it documents the lives of 41 million people on the brink of often cataclysmic change.

Each record includes the names of the inhabitants at each address, their date of birth, marital status and occupation.

The typical 1939 woman was Mary Smith, a 35-year-old housewife – or ‘unpaid domestic worker’, as it was amusingly listed then.

The average man was called William or John and was 33. He was either a ‘general labourer or coal hewer’, although the most popular profession was ‘retired’.

Many of the jobs listed have disappeared today – in 1939 the 7th most popular occupation for women was typist. 

Paid domestic duties was 4th, housekeeper was 10th (in fact almost half the 22 million women were performing domestic work of one sort or another) and shop worker was 2nd.

Most of the country’s 19 million male population had jobs involving physical labour such as construction, mining, farming and engineering, although the second most popular individual profession was a clerk (covering everything from the railways to the civil service) - and 595 people were registered as butlers.

Fascinatingly, the number of divorced people living in the country was just 41,000.

In fact, in 1939 the divorce rate was just 0.1 per cent (two years after the Matrimonial Causes Act which extended divorce for reasons of cruelty, desertion and insanity as well as adultery).

This compares to 46.2 per cent of the population being married. 45.6 per cent single and 6.5 per cent widowed.

No residence in the land – whether it be a stately home or a humble shack - was exempt from the register, including Buckingham Palace.

As well as King George VI and the then Queen Elizabeth (the present Queen’s parents) and their staff, several foreign royals who had, presumably, escaped the fighting on the Continent are also listed.

Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands – who, according to historians, didn’t officially flee the country until the following year – is listed as residing at the sovereign’s official London residence, along with her family and staff, the most notable of which is a man named Van’t Sant Francoise who describes himself as her ‘Chief of Secret Police’. 

James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, (pictured) stated his main occupation a ‘stockbroker’, despite his alternative career in naval intelligence, where he would gain much of the inspiration for his novels

Broadcaster and historian Andrew Marr described the 1939 Register as ‘one of the most important documents in recent British history’.

He said: ‘A comprehensive record of the civil population on the outbreak of war, it captures a people whose lives were about to change forever. It records streets that within months, under the assault of the Luftwaffe, were to disappear; families that would be separated by the events of war: evacuation, conscription and sometimes worse. This fascinating resource allows us to discover our past and that of our families in ways never before possible.’