And straightened it will be!
Did a litle more looking last night and found a couple more points to consider.
Rims are stainless steel not alloy.
Looked at the cranks. The arms are not fluted and on the back is a small stamp SA. I assume this is Sturmey Archer (couldn't get a pic).
The chainring is not a three pin design but has the heron head motif. On the backside was an inscription. At first I was really excited thinking it confirmed a 1948 but then realized it was a 48T ring. Bah.
I don't know if the Reg. number lines up to a date.
The seat lug has a braze on for a pulley. Perhaps someone can comment? When I look online it seems the bikes do not have this position for the pulley until 1950.
and a better view of the drop out design
Hopefully tonight I'll get some time to make a spreadsheet of the models from that era and the features they had and check the boxes from what is shown. That should narrow or eliminate some models at least.