Searching the 1911 Census. Or Not.

The website for the the 1911 Census website has gone online, detailing 8 million returns on 36 million people listed. If you're surprised about the date, expecting the content to be released in 2011 it's understandable. However, the ruling about keeping data closed for 100 years came into play in the Census Act of 1920, and a challenge was made under the Freedom of Information Act to allow access. Consequently the majority of the data has now been made available with the exception of some medical information.

The last time a census return went online, in 2002, the site crashed for seven months, getting 1.2 million requests an hour. This site is supposed to be able to handle three times the amount of traffic the 1901 site got at its peak. I certainly found that it was very fast and responsive when I looked at it this morning, though these could always turn out to be famous last words I suppose!

The site is free to search, simply asking for first and last names, place of residence and year of birth if you're running an individual search, and the only compulsory field is surname, though that's not going to be very helpful unless you have a fairly unusual name!

[20 minutes of trying later]
OK, I spoke too soon. I've not been able to access anything other than the front page - not run a search or check any factual details at all. According to the site this may be because of technical difficulties.

[20 minutes more]
Hurrah! Seems to have sorted itself out. So we continue; a search on a person reveals basic details - schedule type (ie. household), last and first names, sex, birth year, age in 1911, district and county. If you wish to view the transcript that costs 10 credits and to view the original page will set you back 30 credits - somewhere in the region of £3. There are a number of launch restrictions that will be listed later, such as wildcard searching, results limited to 500 people and margin of error for Date of birth will be +/- 2 years. Moreover, not all counties are immediately available for search 5 English counties, most if not all of Wales, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, naval ships and military establishments abroad.

Place searching, aka 'who lived in your house then?'  is based on a street or road name, rather than individual house numbers. Very little information is available for free - a listing of the houses in the street, the district and county. If you want to know anymore it's time to pay up again.

Original pages
Within original pages there is a wealth of information on individual household pages - which are completed by the householder, rather than an enumerator, so it's possible to see a persons handwriting - possibly the first real 'connection' with an ancestor. They are also in colour - the first time that census returns have been scanned this way.

Transcripts
Transcripted pages are simply typed versions of the same pages - useful if the handwriting is poor or difficult to read.

Once you have viewed a page it's possible to go onto the next household to check out the neighbours, but be warned, since this will cost another set of credits.

In summary, this is an addictive site, offering a wealth of interesting information; A mother of five children whose occupation is listed as 'slave to family', A number of doodles on census returns, including a sketch of a figure in a bowler hat, and a man in a high-buttoned military style jacket.

If you're interested in family history, or your users are, I suspect that this is a site that you'll become all too familiar with!

Comments

[Christopher Pipe]

Transcripts: Another way of putting it is that transcribed pages are ONLY useful if the handwriting is NOT poor or difficult to read - because the quality of the transcription is suspect. Where a transcription is accurate, it does of course enable an automatic search to find records which would be undiscoverable in any other way.

[Chris Atkins]

Findmypast.com sent a letter to public libraries last year to advertise the forthcoming 1911 Census. In it they referred to the availability of a "subscription rate for libraries, enabling them to offer ... access to the public. The cost of a subscription is based on the number of computer terminals simultaneously providing access to the findmypast website". HOWEVER, I understand this does NOT include access to the 1911 Census - disappointing, and quite sneaky!