1921 census release

Yes of course and at one point in my drafting of the response I did draw a parallel with testing of vaccines and then decided comparing software with (as you say) 'life critical' issues was not appropriate. So 'nearly' before 'always' it shall be.

 

I see TNA have announced two regional hubs will (from 6 January 2022) be able to access the England and Wales Census free of charge, namely - Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales, in addition of course to the National Archives at Kew. This is in addition to accessing online via Findmypast on a pay to view basis of £2.50 for every record transcript and £3.50 for every original record image. (12 month Pro-subscribers will enjoy a discount of 10% on any 1921 Census purchase). Apologies if this anticipates Peter mentioning this in his next Newsletter.

Given the distance to either Manchester or Kew from the Midlands, I wonder why Birmingham Central Library was not considered for free access? I admit to being slightly prejudiced in the matter, but not on my own behalf as I have lived in Kent for many years and can't even make it to Kew these days, but on behalf of other Midland Ancestor members. Still I dare say a good many even further north than Manchester will feel the same.

 

Yes perhaps, but on the strength of it decided to contact TNA myself to suggest adding hubs for Birmingham, Newcastle and perhaps Exeter to improve free access coverage in England, as Wales is now catered for. Worth a try anyway.

 

Well at least TNA had the decency to respond reasonably quickly to my suggestion that additional regional hubs might be needed to give better coverage for free accessing the 1921 Census. They explain that whilst the two additional hubs (Manchester & Wales) plus Kew "...do not cater for everyone..."a decision to go with three regional hubs to allow coverage of 'the north and south of England and Wales' was taken.

They add their decision was based on FMP's 'highly skilled work' and 'significant investment' and 'the need for a charge to be made ...'to fund this vast project for the convenience of being able to access records 'at a touch of a button from your home'.

It is perhaps what I expected and at least I tried.

 

I came across an article online "The English Census of 1921" originating in Family Tree Magazine written by an American lady Edith Abbott and published in Journal of Political Economy by Chicago University; Dec 1922 ,Vol.30, Issue6). I was curious to discover why the interest in the 1921 English Census by an American Author and first published in 1922? I discovered the article is available for free download in pdf format and can be found here. (You will have to agree terms and conditions to allow the download)

I realised the author was comparing Census differences in questions asked of the Householder (or Enumerator) between the 1870 American Census and the English Census of 1921 -with comments for and against. But in the main it gave good insight (with inset supportive references) of the English 1921 Census comparing how the 'Great War' before it (as the American Civil War before the US Census of 1870) impacted on the results with 'de facto' input and 'de jure' correlations. In all I found the article of 15 pages quite fascinating and even surprised myself by reading it to the end - not normally my style.

The article was based on questions asked in the 1921 Census and on provisional information released at the time in a 'White Paper' (December 1922) but I am sure others will also find it of interest!

 

She makes a very good point in her last paragraph, she could however be a voice crying in the wilderness.

 

As I was up and about at 4am I had a quick look at the 1921 and actually paid for more info as it was my great grandmothers I knew she was born in Ireland and most likely. Northern Ireland as that’s where her husband had lived I had previously found her Birth , her but could never prove it and there she was with her age and Tyrone so it was a couple of pound well spent .I’ll need to win a lottery in order to see more ,very expensive even with the discount

 

I'm disappointed that the address is not on the image. I didn't appreciate that when I looked at the blank census page image before release.
I looked at the image for my father and found that he was living with his grandparents.
When I looked for his mother ( his father had died) she was on holiday in Scarborough with her sister.
I just paid for the transcription for that and it was amusing to work out the transcription errors for employment and work address.
That's all for me for now - I am not a subscriber and paid via Paypal and only had to sign in first time. After that the payment went straight through.
Looking forward to seeing what Peter thinks of it all and suggests late in the day.

 

To see the address -

At the bottom of the image "open filmstrip", then "extra materials", and click on the "cover" image.

All the extras are included in the price.

 

I've been able to work out a bit about my folk for free simply by doing a search in the index and then hovering over the links to see others in the household. It only lists the first 3 names, but for me it's been enough to confirm I have the right household and who was living with whom.

I have a newspaper report from later in 1921 about one of my ancestors, which said he was living in Croydon with a woman who was not his wife, and I was hoping the census might fill in the gaps about the woman. However, it seems this ancestor wasn't in Croydon for the census, and hovering over the links shows only his name. The woman who I thought it might be is living elsewhere.

 

Thanks very much.

If you go back to the image using 'my records' it only shows the image and not the extras.
I searched again and found the address, only the writing was so faint I could hardly read it!

 

Yes, having not actually looked at any of the forms yet, I guess I don’t know where on the forms the 3 people appear. Nevertheless, the names that did show up confirmed I was looking at the right family.

The one person I’m having problems with is my grandfather - there are two entries that could be him, and no other names are shown with either when hovering. One entry is an army one, and I’m not sure exactly when my grandfather was demobbed.

 

I also found stevejm's advice helpful (about how to find the Cover Page with address) but, as Katie Bee says, the entries on mine were so ridiculously faint as to be scarcely legible - and the 'lowest' entry seems to be just the parish name, not an actual street address, even though it was in an urban area. Keeping fingers crossed that Peter will be able to give guidance later. I hope I'm not right in my suspicion that one might have to buy both the census image and the transcript to get the address and the census reference to go with the household entries, thus approximately doubling the cost.

 

I just paid for and downloaded my grandparents households. Worth a few £££, although did not learn much I did not already know, apart from finding out which mill my grandad worked in. But as others have said you can hover on entries to see who is in what household for less direct family members. I managed to compile quite a number of households by keep inputting different names and finding things like a spinster great aunt in the household of her married sister, rather than with her other siblings still living with their widowed father. Plus my 4 times married Great G/F, who had seen off 4 wives by 1916 was a single household in 1921 (I always wondered if he had ever moved on to a number 5!)
Along with the census sheet, household address sheet and cover I also got the sheet with the enumeration district description of the area covered. Plus maps. So all interesting.

 

Have had quite a successful venture into the 1921 Census and bought no less than 6 images which have given me some interesting insights, not least finding my Irish born Great Grandmother missing form the 1911 Census and living with an unexpected relative. Four were from my own Tree and two from my wife's, and one of those confirmed information regarding her father's illegitimate birth mother. No details to record in the Forum, but dotted the t's and crossed the i's nicely. I actually paid for a 7th image which was abortive and caused because I misinterpreted 'others' present. My mistake and one I do NOT intend to repeat if at all possible..

My own particular fascination was find out occupations and where employed, including my mother aged 14 (note age) 'packing pins' and the name of her employer, plus her elder brother an assistant cinema operator (aged 16) at the wonderfully titled cinema 'The Model Picture House'. Nothing surprising about discovering my wife's umpteen relatives employed in the Northampton Boot and Shoe Industry, but I now found out their job titles which was interesting. Quite a few sundry relatives particularly in Birmingham (including the assistant cinema operator) were 'out of work' and I came across this more than once. I know the country went into a depression after the First World War ended and did not fully recover until after the end of the 'Great Depression' 1929-1932.

I was not so much concerned with actual street addresses as I knew most of them, which was as well because despite the advice to click on the 'cover' tab to find this out I found only a list of the district and street names involved. The actual address is likely only gifted with paying for the Transcript, which is not something I currently need to do. I found the 'where born' tab most interesting particularly in my wife's Tree as they seem to have materialised from sundry Northamptonshire villages, rather than the town of Northampton where they end up.

I have other ancestors lined up but they will have to wait until I have fully absorbed the information so far discovered and transferred into my Tribal Pages. They will also have to await until my purse strings permit further ventures. But so far so good and it has even supressed my normal desire not to pay to view...but its only money.