1911 Census

[Ashes]

1911 Census is out now but not for our eyes yet.
We have to wait until 2011, I think its only out for professional companies etc. Ashes

[Sage]

Its available here http://www.1911census.co.uk/
but is only for England and Wales, I havent heard if the Scottish ones are due for early release or not.

From what researchers on my professional lists are saying its expensive to look at a census page, between about £2-40 and £3-60 depending on which package you have. (edit: I've just had a look on the Payment and Prices bit of the site and its between £2-50 and £3-48, which is extortionate! If I charged that to look at the census for someone I'd never get any work)

You'll have to research carefully before paying for your images I think or it may be a very expensive way to access information. Always remembering to look for surname variations will help so you dont miss out your family and go for someone elses instead (Remember the indexes arent always 100% accurate)

Oh, and despite the big launch if you look at the areas available only certain counties are online at the moment.

[Bruce_H]

yes, had someone email me that it was available when I awoke this AM (did I mention it was 32 C yesterday here in San Diego?), and rushed across the web to find it was England and Wales only.

It's bit of a downer about the 100 year lag for someone from a segment of the family that has become disconnected with a good portion of the folks still in Scotland, it would be great to be able to identify living relatives. Ah well.

Bruce H

PS, everyone feel free to come visit and soak up the sun, another bright and warm one today!

[robynaus]

yes, had someone email me that it was available when I awoke this AM (did I mention it was 32 C yesterday here in San Diego?), and rushed across the web to find it was England and Wales only.

It's bit of a downer about the 100 year lag for someone from a segment of the family that has become disconnected with a good portion of the folks still in Scotland, it would be great to be able to identify living relatives. Ah well.

Bruce H

PS, everyone feel free to come visit and soak up the sun, another bright and warm one today!

It was 42 C here in Adelaide and higher especially where the bush fire is in Port Lincoln in our west Bruce H Today will be 34C

And we don't even get to see our census papers as we have only just started to save
them on an opt-in basis. Never really thought about it untill I started doing research into the family.

regards robyn

[Pompeygirl]

I dipped into the 1911 census last night. It is extremely expensive per original image. In it's favour, I would say the Advanced search facility is very good, so there is less risk of spending a fortune on the wrong people. However, I used the cheaper transcript option (just over £1), and was disappointed to find the promise of a complete transcription wasn't always the case - in one instance both the occupation and place of birth were missing, which given the location was Wandsworth Prison, I'd no idea if my ancestors were inmates or staff :-/
There is a facility to report errors, and I guess there'll be teething problems for a wee while yet.
Re the Scottish 1911 census, this is what Scotlandspeople says:


"The position in Scotland regarding access to the 1911 Census differs from that in England and Wales. The Census in Scotland is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and Administration. Scottish legislation (Section 38 and 58 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002) exempts personal Census records from disclosure until after a 100 year closure period.

So, while 1911 Census information for England and Wales is being made available, the same does not apply to information in the Scottish 1911 Census.

The Registrar General for Scotland believes that this strikes a balance between the interest of the records to family historians and the privacy of the people recorded by the Census, some of whom will still be alive. People who completed the 1911 Census were promised confidentiality. Although that is a long time ago, it is important not to call into question the validity of the equivalent promise on modern Census forms. That could deter people from filling in the Census form, reducing the response rate and making the Census results (which are so important for many aspects of Scottish life) less accurate.

The Registrar General for Scotland plans to release the Scottish 1911 Census information just after the date of the 2011 Census (27 March 2011), by which time the 100 year closure period will have ended."

[Sage]

Thanks for that

With regard to transcripts - if you can, ALWAYS get the original image. It costs more but there is less chance of transcription errors (unless of course you can't read the handwriting...but if you can't there's a chance the transcriber couldnt!)

Shame about the Scottish census, but then again the country was promised 100 years privacy, so thats what they should get.

Doesnt help us though

[kristy_mac8]

Thanks for the heads-up, Pompeygirl. I was going to just go with buying the transcriptions, but now you've got me thinking that I should get the original images. Hopefully it will shed some light on the father of my illegitimate grandfather. I know he lived with them for many years, and fathered several children, but don't know if they were together in 1911 or after. If I have to wait until the 1921 census is released, it will drive me nuts!

It's a shame about the Scottish census, though, I was hoping that they'd release the census early too

Kristy