What Do The Letters Mean?

[lyall]

Linking to my post of Tuesday 10th February, regarding electoral roles; Durham has kindly sent me a copy of the 1932 electoral role for the address I required. I am having difficulty understanding what the meaning/significance is of 2 columns.

Column 1 The number of people in the Ryhope area
Column 2 Either the letters R or Rw, (the majority of R’s are males & Rw’s
female but not all.
Column 3 Either the letters O or Dw or a dash (--) (again the majority of O’s
are male Dw’s female and the dashes are on both male and female.
Column 4 Name of person
Column 5 Address

Can anyone tell me what the R, Rw, O and Dw mean please?

[Mamyalynne]

Some explanations here...

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php/62308-abbreviations-in-electoral-register

[penelope2]

R= Residents qualification
B= Business premises
O = Occupation qualification
D = Qualification through spouses occupation.
Bw, Ow, Dw have the same meaning but apply to women.
Hope this helps.

[Mamyalynne]

Phew thanks for confirmation, glad I didn't send a wrong link.

[penelope2]

You make a mistake Mamyalynne? I very much doubt it, hell would freeze over first.

[lyall]

Thank you Mamyalynne and Penelope, I knew there would be a logical explanation, tried googling and didn’t come up with anything but didn’t add the word abbreviations. So would and O - occupation qualification mean that the person was qualified in some way like a carpenter, plumber or the like? or does it just mean they are employed? Apologies if the question is a tad silly iv never had cause to use electoral roles before so don’t really understand them.

[penelope2]

My understanding is that if the person in question resides at the address given and is in employment (except for HM forces), then they are qualified to vote.

[lyall]

Ah, right i get it, thanks Penelope.