Newsletter
- 24th August 2015
We
can't change the past - but we can change
the future!
Time
to submit your 2021 Census comments ENDS THURSDAY
Ancestry listen to subscriber feedback
Placeholder
images annoy researchers
Where
there's a will there's another way
Search
the world for a dollar, a pound, or a euro EXCLUSIVE
Bad
news about the 1939 Register
Good
news about the 1939 Register
Why
haven't we had to wait 100 years?
Hampshire
Genealogical Society Open Day FREE
Society of
Genealogists Open Day FREE
Welsh
records attacked by mould
Certificate
of Irish Heritage to end
Property
developer "decorated wall with children's gravestones"
The LostCousins newsletter is usually published
fortnightly. To access the previous newsletter (dated 12th August) click here, for an index to articles from 2009-10
click here, for a list of articles from 2011
click here and for a list of articles from
2012-14 click here. Or do what I do, and use the customised
Google search below (it only searches these newsletters, so you won't get
spurious results):
Whenever possible
links are included to the websites or articles mentioned in the newsletter
(they are highlighted in blue or purple and underlined, so you can't miss
them). If one of the links doesn't work this normally indicates that you're
using adblocking software - you need to make the
LostCousins site an exception (or else use a different browser, such as
Chrome).
To go to the main LostCousins website click the
logo at the top of this newsletter. If you're not already a member, do join -
it's FREE, and you'll get an email to alert you whenever there's a new edition
of this newsletter available!
We can't change the past
- but we can change the future!
Historic censuses are incredibly useful
documents. Anyone who has tried to research their 19th century Irish ancestry
knows how the destruction of the 1841-1891 censuses has impacted on their
research - so don't allow petty-fogging bureaucrats to screw things up for the
family historians of the 22nd century!
All users of the England & Wales
censuses should express their views before it is too late - you don't need to
live in the UK - and so that you're not discouraged by the size of the
consultation questionnaire I describe in the next article which parts you do
need to fill in, and which can be ignored (thankfully, most of them).
Feel free to share this important
newsletter with other family historians. You'll find it easiest to send this
short and very memorable link which I've created specially:
Time to submit your
2021 Census comments ENDS
THURSDAY
The Office for National Statistics
public consultation
which is considering the questions to be asked in the 2021 England & Wales
Census is nearing completion - now is the time to submit
your comments. If you follow my step-by-step advice it shouldn't take you
more than 15 or 20 minutes - which is no time at all considering the importance
of past censuses to family historians. You don't have to complete it in a
single session, but don't forget the consultation closes at midnight (London
time) on Thursday 27th August.
Here's what I would recommend:
- Focus on
the questions that are of most importance to family historians - ignore
questions which are clearly aimed at users of census statistics. Note that
similar questions appear for each topic - make sure you are responding to
the correct topic! Always click the Save
and Return to Contents button at the bottom of the page - don't use
the back button in your browser.
- You must answer the initial questions
on the page headed About you - only provide the name of
your organisation if you are submitting your response on behalf of that
organisation. I recommend you allow your name to be published - this will
underline your commitment and enable the family historians of the future
to honour you.
- You must confirm on the second page
that you have read and understood the information there.
- On the page
headed Basic demographics and
household composition I would suggest answering "No" to
question 1a, then answering questions 2a (you'll probably tick Agree), 2b (High),
and 2c (BMD certificates are expensive and a poor substitute because of the
limited information).
- Unless you
have a particular interest in any of the other topics I'd suggest skipping
to Your additional topic suggestion
1 and proposing that birthplaces are collected, rather than birth
countries. It's important to recognise that some people won't know
precisely where they were born, so respondents should be invited to give
whatever detail is available. In some cases this will be a precise address
or hospital, others may only know the town or village.
- Please bear
in mind that for family historians a key aim is to be able to identify the
correct birth certificate, especially where the surname is a common one. I
would suggest answering all parts of questions 1 and 2, omitting 3 and 4, and
answering "Not important" to 5a. Skip other questions until you
get to 8a - my response to this will be "No", and I'll then
describe in 8b the risks of relying only on BMD certificates, and point
out that many other sources that might be used by statisticians
immediately after the census (ie what they
describe as 'administrative data') probably won't be available in 2122
when the census is published since many holders of personal data will be
obliged to delete it under the Data Protection Act, and others will delete
it once it is no longer of value to them.
- I will
conclude my comments in 8b by pointing out that birthplace information has
not been collected since 1951, and that since the 2021 Census will
probably be the last conventional census the heritage value of the
information is enormous. As family historians we all know from personal
experience how frustrating the limited birthplace information in the 1841
Census is - just imagine if we didn't have later censuses to guide us!
It's very important that the views
expressed, and the wording you use, are your own - my suggestions are intended
to guide you quickly through the document. Remember too that this consultation
is for 2021 alone - the question of what happens after 2021 is unlikely to be
decided for some years.
We won't benefit directly from the 2021
Census - this is all about leaving a legacy for the family historians of the
future.
Note:
I'm not aware of any current consultation regarding the Scotland and Northern
Ireland censuses.
In the July 2015 issue of The Local Historian Keith Lawrence puts
forward an ingenious but very convincing argument that many women shown in 19th
century censuses as having no occupation were in fact gainfully employed. As he
points out:
"censuses
were... designed by men, the forms were usually filled in by men... forms were
collected by the male enumerator to be summarised, and the results were
transposed by men into national summary statistics... censuses are not the
'real' picture but rather are a world painted by men. This has had a major
effect on, for instance, our understanding of women's occupations."
In order to demonstrate the systematic
under-recording of women's occupations he analysed statistics for the number of
tollgates, comparing these figures with the number of persons shown on the
census as toll collectors. He surmises that this in 1841 it arose from the way
in which the instructions to enumerators were interpreted, ie:
"The profession &c of wives, or
of sons or daughters living with and assisting their parents but not
apprenticed or receiving wages, need not be inserted."
The occupation of toll collector was
used simply because it was possible to compare the censuses against figures
from another source - no doubt over time researchers will find other examples
of under-recording. It's yet another reason to "read between the
lines" when we're reconstructing our family history.
Note:
Housewife,
49 was the title of a 2006 film about the diaries of Nella
Last.
Born in 1841, James Gordon Bennett Jr
was the son of Scot who had emigrated to the USA,
become a journalist, and founded the New
York Herald (in 1835).
It's not an exclamation one hears as
often these days, nor is it nearly so common for boys to be named Gordon -
according to a recent analysis there were only 10 babies given this name in
England & Wales in 2014 (which makes it only slightly more common than the
forename Bennett). I'm glad to say that Peter was much more common, although
with just 369 babies it's 152nd in the rankings - in 1950, the year I was born,
there were over 16,000 of us!
Note:
market research companies and others make deductions about how old we are based
on our forenames
The Office for National Statistics
publishes figures on the top 100 names for boys, and for girls, but for a
longer list they referred me to this website, which allows you to
the trends for the past 20 years (note that if less than three babies were
given a particular first name the name doesn't appear in the list).
LostCousins member Jean wrote in to the Daily Telegraph recently to demonstrate
that unusual names have been around for a long time:
"In parts of north England in
Victorian times it was customary to give the mother’s maiden name to the
first-born son. In 1871 in one small town alone there was a Ramsden
Buckley, Ingham Watkinson, Craven Seed, Merryweather Mitchell, Mountford Jarman and Greenwood Helliwell.
Several unfortunates in the West Riding were named Greenwood Greenwood."
I'm still trying to work out why one of
my ancestors was baptised Newman in the late 18th century - if it's a family
surname I've yet to find it.
Ancestry listen to
subscriber feedback
Last week I recommended that anyone who
experienced problems using the new Ancestry site provided constructive
feedback, and on Friday a post appeared on the Ancestry blog explaining how
they are responding to the feedback they've received.
In particular, where the description of
a place is ambiguous, they're going to omit it from the timeline (or 'LifeStory'); the blog entry also explains how to hide all
of these facts should you prefer to do so. I strongly recommend that you read
what they have to say - it could save you time (and frustration!). You'll find
it here.
Something to bear in mind is that the
changes to the site don't affect your data, only the way it is presented. These
FAQS
give further information.
Placeholder images
annoy researchers
Several members have written to me
complaining about the placeholder images that sometimes appear in Ancestry's
recently-released Merchant
Navy Apprentices 1824-1919 dataset. (Placeholder images are typically used
when an image isn't available for some reason - they're the graphical
equivalent of lorem ipsum.)
I'm glad to say that many - perhaps all
- of the missing images have now been added, so if you encountered this problem
you might want to try again.
Where there's a will
there's another way
When Findmypast
past launched their Probate Calendars Of
England & Wales 1858-1959 records set on Friday there was initial
disappointment - "it's a pity they are not searchable by name" said a
couple of members over at the LostCousins Forum.
However disappointment turned to joy
when I pointed out that because all of the text in the probate calendar entries
has been indexed, it is possible to carry out searches that had never
previously been possible. For example, you can search on address or the name of
an executor - I found people who lived in the street where I grew up.
When you're using the full text search
put quotes around words that you want to keep together:
If your intention is to find the person
who made the will you can cut down the number of spurious results (ie where someone of the same name was an executor) by
entering the first letter of their surname in the appropriate box on the form.
Note:
the Probate Calendars have been OCRed (read by
machine) so there will be many errors; at the moment it isn't possible to
correct errors.
Search the world for
a dollar, a pound, or a euro EXCLUSIVE
How much could you find
out about your family history in a month if you had a
Findmypast World subscription?
Last November I reported how in a single weekend I'd added
27 new direct ancestors to my family tree, thanks to the Devon parish registers
coming online at Findmypast. There's only been one other occasion when I've
made so many discoveries, and that was when the Canterbury Collection came
online (also at Findmypast).
If I can do that in a weekend, what do
you think you could achieve in a month? Well, you've got a chance to find out,
because until 6th September Findmypast are offering NEW subscribers the opportunity to get the
first month of a World subscription for just £1, $1, or 1€ !
Follow the appropriate link below and
you won't be the only one who'll benefit - LostCousins will also receive a
small amount of commission when you use these links (so please feel free to
forward a link to this newsletter to others who might be interested):
Warning: if you have subscribed to
Findmypast previously you may see a message that the discount code is no longer
valid - please don't contact me when this happens (remember,
the offer is for NEW subscribers). If the links don't work at all for you, see the notes
in italics at the start of this newsletter.
Of course, whilst the people I know at
Findmypast are a nice bunch of people, they're not doing this out of the
goodness of their heart - they’re hoping that some of you will continue to
subscribe after the first month (in which case you'll be charged the full
monthly rate). If you're not tempted to continue simply change the auto-renew
setting at the bottom of the Personal Details page
Bad news about the 1939
Register
Until recently I assumed that when
Findmypast made the 1939 National Register available - hopefully later this
year - it would be included in existing subscriptions. However it appears this
may not be the case, although I understand that no decision has been made as
yet.
It might be helpful to remind you how
the 1911 England & Wales Census was made available. At first it could only
be accessed by paying a substantial sum to the National Archives (a hefty £45
per household); then, in January 2009 several English counties were made available
at 1911censusonline.co.uk, a pay-per-view site (the other English counties were
added over the next few months). Wales was more of a challenge, but by June
2009 the entire England & Wales census was online.
I couldn't remember precisely how much
it cost to view the 1911 Census using credits, and I don't seem to have
recorded this information in my newsletter. The website has also closed down,
but fortunately the Internet Archive has a copy of the Payment
and Prices page from 30th January 2009, which shows that it cost
between £2.50 and £3.48 to view a household schedule, and between 83p and £1.16
to view the transcription.
In October 2009 it became available at
Findmypast as a standalone subscription; 12 months access to the 1911 Census
cost £59.99, but existing subscribers were able to upgrade at a favourable rate.
Eventually, in October 2010, Findmypast simplified their subscription structure
by incorporating the 1911 Census into all their subscriptions - a 12 month Full
subscription cost £149.95, considerably more than the current cost (£99.50) of
a Britain subscription, the current equivalent.
Good news about the
1939 Register
It's not all bad news. Back in 2010,
when it first because possible to obtain information from the register that was
set up under the 1939 National Registration Act it cost £42 per household, and
we were told that unless we submitted proof that people who would now be under
100 years of age were deceased, we wouldn't be able to get their information.
Note:
this manual service seems to be still available - the application form in PDF
format can be found here.
However, I'm sure that Findmypast will be charging a LOT less than £42 per
household.
However, because the 1939 Register was
used as the basis for the NHS register when the National Health Service was set
up after World War 2, the records was updated with changes until the 1990s,
which is presumably when the system was fully computerised - this means that
the information for anyone who died before then will be available, even if they
were born less than 100 years ago. However you'll need to produce the death
certificate of anyone who died when the register was no longer being used as a
working document.
Note:
it isn't clear at this point whether there will be a charge for revealing
redacted information and whether this will be provided by Findmypast or the
National Archives, who now hold the original documents.
The forms completed by householders
haven't survived, unfortunately - information submitted was copied into
register books, and there are 7000 volumes containing around 40 million
entries. This blog entry lists the information
you can expect to find, but check out this video
to find out more....
Why haven't we had to
wait 100 years?
For a long time it was maintained that
the 1939 National Register was covered by the Census Act, 1920. Eight and a
half years ago I emailed the Freedom of Information department at the Office
for National Statistics - which at that time held the 1939 Register:
It took them 5 weeks to construct a
response, and when their letter came back they asserted that the data was
protected by the Census Act. As you can imagine, I didn't give up. After
unsuccessfully appealing for them to review their decision I referred the
matter to the Information Commissioner's Office for their determination.
Unfortunately it took about 6 months
before they actually did anything, and by the time they concluded that I might
be right and the ONS wrong, responsibility for the records had passed from the
ONS to the NHS, so the whole process had to start again! Around this time my
father - who was in his 90s - needed more of my support, and I naturally decided
that family had to come first. Fortunately I wasn't the only one going after
the 1939 data - Guy Etchells (whose sterling efforts had
led to the early release of the 1911 Census) and Irish lawyer Steven Smyrl both helped to make these records available by continuing
to put pressure on the NHS Information Centre.
Hampshire Genealogical
Society Open Day FREE
On Sunday 11th October Hampshire
Genealogical Society is holding a free Family History Open Day in Basingstoke; experts
from the National Archives will be speaking and there will also be two Great
War historians on hand. You can read all the details here.
Society of Genealogists Open
Day FREE
On Saturday 12th September the Society
of Genealogists is open to all (though you'll have to book in advance because
space is limited). Take a guided tour of the library and listen to Else
Churchill talking about the 'Treasures of the Society of Genealogists' - you'll
find more information here.
The Association of Genealogists &
Researchers in Archives, better known as AGRA, has launched a new website which, for the first time, lists
associates as well as members in the online directory.
A year ago genealogists Graham and Emma
Maxwell, who run Maxwell Ancestry, decided to make available online records that they'd
transcribed while working for clients or researching their own ancestors - and
now they've added thousands of Sheriff Court Paternity Cases. It's free to
search and the basic records are also free - however you may have to pay to see
the full record. Other indexes include prison registers and mental health
records.
LostCousins member Guy, who wrote from
Texas to tip me off about these records, told me that "It took me less
than a minute (after years of searching) to discover the identity of the father
of my 3rd great grandfathers' illegitimate niece, who was born in Wigtownshire
in 1855. I had searched the Kirk Session Records without success, and I was
just blown away that I so quickly found the information in this new record set
(the existence of which was previously unknown to me)."
Welsh records attacked by
mould
Last year Carmarthenshire Archives
discovered active mould growth in one of their strong rooms and whilst remedial
work is carried out their family history service has moved to the public
libraries at Carmarthen, Llanelli, and Ammanford.
There's more information about the problems here.
Certificate of
Irish Heritage to end
This week the BBC reported that the Certificate
of Irish Heritage scheme, which officially recognises people of Irish descent
around the world, is to end due to a low uptake - since it was launched in 2011
only 3000 people have bought the certificates, which cost 45 Euros (or 120
Euros for a framed copy).
Property developer
"decorated wall with children's gravestones"
According to this article
in the Guardian newspaper a property developer who illegally modernised a
listed building "appeared to have wall plaques inside that had been made
from the gravestones of three children who died more than 100 years ago".
I only hope that the report is wrong -
what a terrible thing for anyone to do.
I have to say I'm very impressed with
the BT8500 call-blocking cordless phones that I bought recently. They may seem
primitive compared to mobile phones, but they do the job I bought them for
incredibly well - I haven't had a single unwanted call since installing them.
Here's how these innovative phones work.
When you switch on the Call Guardian feature anyone who isn't in your phone
book will be asked to state their name and press the # key. This means
that friends, relatives, and other you want to hear from get through, whereas
automated calls, scams, and other unwanted callers simply go away!
To take a call you simply press '1', or '2' if you also want to add them to your 'Allowed' list
so that in future they come straight through.
Pressing '3' blocks the number, whilst hanging up or pressing '4' sends the
call to the built-in answering machine. But you don't have to remember which
key to press - simply hold on and listen to the message.
So simple, yet so effective - I wish I'd
been able to buy a phone like this 10 years ago! You can buy a twin
phone system from Amazon
for under £50. Even if you end up buying elsewhere, it's worth going to Amazon
to read the customer
reviews - the average rating, from well over a thousand reviews, was 4.6
out of 5 when I last checked, which is pretty much as good as it gets.
Eliminate one bugbear and another one rears
its ugly head - it's rather like playing Whac-A-Mole! My new passport should have arrived over
a week ago, but instead I got a letter from DX Delivery to say that they'd be
unable to complete delivery - though giving no reason (there was no card left,
so I suspect they didn't even try to deliver).
DX Delivery invited me to go online and
specify a new day for delivery, warning me that "If you are not available
to receive this redelivery, any subsequent redelivery may incur a charge."
Even to specify a morning or afternoon would have incurred a charge, so I had
to stay in all day. I gave them my phone number as requested and also some
directions, in case they had trouble finding the house - but nobody came and
nobody phoned. Grrrr!
I went to the website of DX Delivery
again, hoping to find an explanation, if not an apology - but instead I got this:
It's not cheap to call an 0844 number - they're
not included in call packages, and the company or organisation receiving the
call makes money out of it, so they have an incentive it keep you holding on
while they tell you inane things like "your call is important to us".
So instead I went to their Contact Us page and sent them an online message:
"I
waited in all day but nobody arrived. I gave you my phone number but nobody
called. Now you expect me to phone an 0844 number to
help YOU out. You have MY number - please use it!!!"
The only responses I got were an email
and a text message inviting me to call 0844 371 3331. Grrrr!
My only remaining option left was to visit
the website saynoto0870, which provides
cheap or free phone numbers for many organisations - and there I found that I
could avoid their 0844 scamline by calling 01604
782889. Although I was initially transferred to an automated system eventually
I got to speak to a real person who could help - however, as the call lasted a
good 10 minutes I was glad I wasn't paying. Incidentally, I used my mobile
since, with 500 minutes a month, I no longer need to
subscribe to BT's Anytime Calling Plan (thanks GiffGaff!).
At least the passport did arrive eventually, and I have to say
that the photo looks much more like me than the one in my previous passport
ever did!
Money for old rope? Nationwide have decided to repeat the offer I wrote
about last month: you can qualify for a £100 bonus by switching your account to
Nationwide when I refer you (and, if all goes well, I'll also benefit).
This offer applies to the free FlexAccount, free FlexDirect
account, and the premium FlexPlus account (which is
the one I have - because the benefits I get, including free travel insurance,
free breakdown cover, and free foreign currency withdrawals far outweigh the
cost). You can see the details of all of these accounts here.
If you think this offer might be of interest
to you simply email me your name and date of birth - you can use any of the LostCousins
email addresses (including the one I wrote from when telling you about this
newsletter) since all the mail comes to me. By the way, even though Nationwide
isn't a bank - it's a building society - your money is still covered by the
Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In other words, you get the advantages
of mutuality - Nationwide is owned by its accountholders - and the
security of a bank.
This is where any last minute updates
and corrections will be highlighted - if you think you've spotted an error
(sadly I'm not infallible), reload the newsletter (press F5) then check here before writing to me, in case
someone else has beaten you to it......
I hope you found this newsletter useful
- do please contribute to the census consultation. I'll be back in touch very
soon!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2015 Peter Calver
Please
do not copy any part of this newsletter without permission. However, you MAY
link to this newsletter or email a link to your friends and relatives without
asking for permission in advance - though why not invite them to join
LostCousins instead, since standard membership, which includes this newsletter,
is FREE?