1921 Census release today

my paternaal grandparents adopted twin boys at birth, they are on the 1921 census as fostered age 1yr 6months.. born 1920. they were formerly adopted later when it became possible in 1926.... and grew up in the family.
I already discovered that they were born to a niece who was married with two children and had an affair with another man.......... the 100yrs Confidentiality is there for a reason........no one would fill them in if it wasn't.

Calistemon

That's rather naughty!

Surely a census should be open fr public view after 10 years.
That's how I started off, no subscriptions but researching free censuses.

Did you mean to type 100 years, not 10 years, Calistemon ? The free censuses you used were more than 100 years old. I agree that it is unfair that a document like a census should be monopolised by one site and only released for a payment, but I suppose it costs money to digitise it and construct the web pages that allow a search.

I actually bought the CDs of the 1881 census when they were released. There was a viewer , also on CD, which couild be used to see various other genealogy CDs too. That was way back in 1981 and now I can't look back on anything on my CDs because the viewer isn't compatible with later operating systems. I reckon there should have been a later version of the viewer made which was backward compatible. The set wasn't cheap!

That census was transcribed by (selected) prisoners in gaol. There were a few things inserted that didn't appear in the original, like a whole fictitious family with very odd occupations.

Did you mean to type 100 years, not 10 years, Calistemon

Yes ?

I'm sure the 1901 and 1881 censuses were free at first and I managed to do quite a lot of research years ago by using them.

So did I. It was a breeze after having to travel hundreds of miles to lift those heavy BMD index books off the shelves (one for each quarter of a year) to search for a name, and going home with nothing.

Elegran Back in the C20 I used to travel to London by train and search all day through the quarterly indexes, writing down each one as I checked it so I wouldn't forget. If you found a birth or marriage you were thrilled! Deaths were almost impossible as you rarely had any idea when they died. I didn't even attempt census returns except the 1881 which I bought on CDs. It was such hard work and so slow. When everything came online it was absolute heaven.

Chestnut Yes, these days it is so much easier - they don't know they're born. Maybe it is too easy - sites like Ancestry are full of family trees constructed by people who think they can do it all in one day, and accept the first passable matches they come across.

If one of your relations is missing on more than one census in a port town, they might be Sailors. I have a family where the wife turns up on two censuses with a growing family with no husband then on the third he is on leave and at home, my naughty mind had thought of other reasons. Also if they are in prison, asylum or the workhouse that is where they are registered.
In my county daughter in law had a different meaning as well, it often meant what we would call step daughter. I spent ages looking for a womans husband when she was living with her mother and step dad. I presume it is the same in some cases for son in law .

I too have been trawling through the census, mainly checking on where my ancestors were living in 1921. No big surprises really but I did wonder why my father was not with his family. I eventually found him on a battleship in dock. It was quite an exciting moment for me. I always knew he had been in the Navy but hadn't realised he joined at just 17! A very distant memory at the back of my mind makes me think he had wanted to get away from home. I shall now try to find out more about his Naval service.

I don't mind paying to view the records, the digitizing of all those fragile documents it must have cost an absolute fortune.

But I do think that closing the censuses for 100 years is a little excessive now. I understand the original reasons for it, but perhaps 75 years could now be considered. I would hope we are all a lot more broadminded and accepting of our ancestors mistakes and circumstances now.

Chestnut

Elegran Back in the C20 I used to travel to London by train and search all day through the quarterly indexes, writing down each one as I checked it so I wouldn't forget. If you found a birth or marriage you were thrilled! Deaths were almost impossible as you rarely had any idea when they died. I didn't even attempt census returns except the 1881 which I bought on CDs. It was such hard work and so slow. When everything came online it was absolute heaven.

Chestnut I did the same. I lived near London so it was a fairly easy journey for me. Sometimes I went 2 or 3 times a week to the FRC, the London Metropolitan Archives just around the corner, and the Society of Genealogists. I loved trawling through the old books and especially the maps at the LMA. At the FRC I sometimes got annoyed at being pushed out of the way or having indexes snatched off me by professional researchers for whom 'time is money'! Presumably that no longer happens now. And of course going boggle-eyed looking at miles of microfiche! Applications for certificates were usually dealt with there and then and ready for collection at the desk before closing time. Then returning home all excited because I'd made a breakthrough in my research and where would it lead me next. And I won't even mention the hours I've spent battling through overgrown churchyards trying to read headstones. Aah those were the days! But these days I'd far rather sit on the sofa with my laptop and a cup of tea.

Happysexagenarian Yes, I've done battle in a few graveyards but I never spent much time on microfiches as I thought these were too difficult and I didn't have the patience. Luckily, this was the 1990s and things started to go online so I got out of doing them! I think today's researchers have no idea how slow this all was. It was exciting to find just one thing. Today they can go online and do someone's whole life, birth, marriage, death and all their censuses in an afternoon. That then links up with their spouse and children straight away, it's all so fast.
Mind you, I still think it's essential to buy birth and marriage certificates, they often verify parents etc. I don't think many people seem to get them now which probably explains all the errors.

Happysexegenarian I think bringing the release dates down from 100 to 75 would not be advisable. When this rule was introduced, if you made it to adulthood, life expectancy was in the 60s. Now more and more people are living into their 90s and may well have secrets about their birth or early childhood that they would prefer were not revealed until after they died.

We only discovered my grandfather was born illegitimate, long after his death. The story of his early life that he told was essentially the one he had written for himself on his army recruitment form when he signed up, aged 17.

He had a successful career, including being commissioned as an army oficer, from the ranks and receiving the OBE and other honours. Much of this may not have happened had his illegitimacy been known, at a time when such things mattered, and to have this suddenly published in the last decade of his life and for his children to know in his lifetime, could be humiliating and distressing.

M0nica On the other side of the coin, my father was also illegitimate but we all knew that. He would have loved to see the 1921 Census to find out where he was aged 3. So releasing it earlier would be wonderful for people who wish to know about their early years.

I have already posted in this thread that the Census Act 1920 forbids by law the release of census information before 100 years, and that will never change. This was promised to the people at the time and if that promise were broken then this would affect the census information we give today. People now are giving their details on the promise of 100 year closure.

Chestnut

M0nica On the other side of the coin, my father was also illegitimate but we all knew that. He would have loved to see the 1921 Census to find out where he was aged 3. So releasing it earlier would be wonderful for people who wish to know about their early years.

I have already posted in this thread that the Census Act 1920 forbids by law the release of census information before 100 years, and that will never change. This was promised to the people at the time and if that promise were broken then this would affect the census information we give today. People now are giving their details on the promise of 100 year closure.

Exactly! It doesn't matter how useful/desirable it would be to people now. I'd love the 1951 census to be published, but it won't happen in my lifetime unless I live to nearly 100.

People need to know that promises will be kept, so that they are confident about providing accurate details.

There’s a fascinating account in this genealogy newsletter of how they digitised the latest census. That’s why it isn’t free - it takes a lot of (wo)manpower to make it available! There are 28,000 volumes to go through.

www.lostcousins.com/newsletters2/midjan22news.htm

I agree that a huge amount of work was involved but as far as I remember when Ancestry released the 1911 census access was free if you had an Ancestry subscription. If you have a FMP subscription you just get 10% off.

I thought I'd posted this but I hadn't. Here is the official video showing you how they did the transcribing:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdkpePDervc

David Olusoga! :swoon: That’s an incredible video, Chestnut. How complicated it is and the sheer quantity of matter to process.

I didn’t know the 1911 one has been FOC on Ancestry, GSM. Istr paying for information from it but I’ve always had a FMP subscription as it’s been more useful to me.

Yes if you have an Ancestry sub all the info is free to view. I had both until recently when I decided they weren’t much use to me now I’ve got further back in time. I was going to reinstate the FMP sub for the 1921 census until I found out that would only get me 10% off.

Calistemon, given the questions asked on the last census we completed, would you really want all and sundry to have access to it in 10 years?

Just seen this GSM and it was a typo!

It should be 100 (One Hundred) years ?

Elegran did understand (perhaps she's used to my typos!) ?

I’m a complete numpty Calistemon!?

(As you have probably already realised.)

I am a fanatical record keeper! I just checked and found the following:
The 1911 Census was released early in Jan 2009 because it was before the Census Act 1920 and a loophole allowed it to be issued before 100 years. Although not personal information about whether they were lunatics etc. so that column was blocked out at first.

On 16 Jan 2009 I purchased 600 credits on Find My Past costing £49.95 to see 20 households and it cost 30 credits per household. So it was £2.49 per household in 2009. That would be the original image not a transcription.

So it was not available through subscription, you had to pay per household, as you do now. And it was also Find My Past who issued the 1911 Census.

Just to add to previous post, later on the 1911 Census fees were abolished and it became available on subscription on both Ancestry and Find My Past as it does to this day.

Ah, I was only with Ancestry back then.
I’m bracing myself for the release of the Scottish census on Scotlandspeople. They have excellent records but you have to buy credits for everything.