1911 census

[Chris Scott]

Hi Chris
Where on the site did you find this?
The charge seems high per page but I am sure this will come down when it is available onload via approved genealogy sites.
The 1911 site is powered by Find My Past and any member of that, I assume, will be able to access the pages as they become available online
I also trust and hope that the same will be true of the site to which I subscribe, Ancestry.com
Regards
Chris

[Chris]

And now the bad news ...

The site has been offering a preview to those who had signed up for email updates (London and Middlesex are already complete).

While the quality of the images is certainly superior to that for the earlier censuses, the bad news is that they are (currently, at least) much more expensive. A single page, which covers one household, costs at least £2.50 (and to get that rate you have to sign up for £50 worth). That is ten times more than for images of earlier census returns provided by the same company.

Perhaps the price will drop in the future, but at the moment it seems pretty exorbitant.

[Robert]

"and most useful of all, for all married women, the number of years married, the number of children born to the marriage and the numbers of children living and dead."

I would hope it will be useful, Chris. Emmeline {Pankhurst forgot one of hers in her book.

[Mike Covell]

Thanks for the heads up, I have registered with the website.

[Chris]

One interesting note from the website is on the different format of the 1911 records:
"The 1911 census holds more information than the 1901 census. It is also the first census where the householder's schedule has remained the master entry, rather than the enumerator's notes, so researchers are actually able, in most cases, to view their actual ancestors' handwriting when looking at 1911 census entries. This will be an invaluable resource for anyone who is working hard to trace their family's history."

There's also more detailed information about occupations and nationality, and most useful of all, for all married women, the number of years married, the number of children born to the marriage and the numbers of children living and dead.

I believe the information that will be withheld is the final column (Deaf/dumb/blind/lunatic/imbecile etc). And I think people who are still living will be able to block their details from being released.

[Chris Scott]

UK census records are customarily subject to the 100 year rule but my sister, who is currently obsessed with the family history, told me recently that the 1911 UK census records will be released starting 2009.
I have done a bit of digging and it appears that this is the case - at present the first release of records, for the "major conurbations," will start in 2009 but certain "sensitive information" will be held back until the full release in Jan 2012
A website has already been set up at
http://www.1911census.co.uk/
with background info and it is possible to register to get regular updates

One interesting note from the website is on the different format of the 1911 records:
"The 1911 census holds more information than the 1901 census. It is also the first census where the householder's schedule has remained the master entry, rather than the enumerator's notes, so researchers are actually able, in most cases, to view their actual ancestors' handwriting when looking at 1911 census entries. This will be an invaluable resource for anyone who is working hard to trace their family's history."