Newsletter
- 8 April 2013
Last
chance to save at findmypast ENDS THURSDAY
GRO still
stuck in the 19th century
Have
you claimed your free LostCousins subscription?
Coming
soon: a new way to make breakthroughs
Facebook
clues can reveal your secrets
Policeman's
helmet bears 1897 bloodstain
DNA
discovery rewrites human history
Railway
uncovers 14th century burial ground
The LostCousins newsletter is
usually published fortnightly. To access the previous newsletter (dated 29
March 2013) 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 2012-13 click here.
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).For your convenience, when you click on a link a new
browser window or tab will open (so that you don’t lose your place in the newsletter)
- if nothing seems to happen then you need to enable pop-ups in your browser or
change the settings In your security software.
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!
Last chance to save at
findmypast ENDS THURSDAY
You can save 10% on a subscription at
findmypast.co.uk and get a free LostCousins subscription worth up to
£12.50 if you're quick. See my last newsletter for full details
- it's important that you follow the instructions listed there.
GRO still stuck in the 19th
century
For years, many of us in the world of
genealogy have been trying to coax the General Register Office into making
birth, marriage and death information more readily available - and eventually I
decided to go the top by writing to Theresa May (who as the Home Secretary is
ultimately responsible for the GRO).
Here's what I wrote:
Dear Minister,
TIME TO BRING THE GRO INTO THE 21ST CENTURY?
When we met briefly on 29th
October I indicated that I would be writing to you in connection with the
General Register Office - I'm sorry it has taken so long to put my thoughts
down on paper, but hopefully you'll agree that the
wait has been worthwhile.
I suspect every minister dreams of being able to please millions of
people without it costing the Exchequer a brass farthing, but few ever have a
chance to put such a policy into practice. I'm writing to you today to explain
how with a simple reform you can transform the lives of the millions of family
historians in Britain - and far from costing money, it will create additional
revenue!
The 1836 Act which
established the General Register Office and the Civil Registration system was
passed before Queen Victoria ascended to the throne, and whilst there have been
some concessions to the advances in technology since then, such as the
introduction of fountain pens, in many respects the GRO is still operating in
the 19th century.
Family history is something
that the British are normally rather good at. The television programme Who Do You
Think You Are? attracted such large viewing
audiences on BBC2 (over 6 million) that it moved to BBC1, and has been licensed
in numerous overseas territories. It has also inspired an annual show at
Olympia which is said to be the best-attended family history event in the world
(the 2013 show takes places between 22nd-24th February,
should you want to see for yourself).
Findmypast, a British
company, is challenging the American market leader (Ancestry) not only in the
UK but also in their home market; Genes Reunited, another British company, has
10 million registered members. I'm also playing a part, albeit on a much
smaller scale - 60,000 family historians subscribe to my fortnightly online
newsletter.
This British success has
been achieved despite the failure of the GRO to make its historical registers
available online. To obtain a copy of a birth, marriage, or death entry from
150 years ago takes longer and costs just as much in real terms as it did then
- despite the advent of the computer and the World Wide Web, two British
inventions that transformed the world in the 20th century and continue to do so
in the 21st.
England & Wales was the
first part of the United Kingdom to introduce Civil Registration, but it is now
falling behind the rest of the nation. The General Register Office for Scotland long ago recognized the
importance of making its historical records available on the Internet, and
providing uncertified digital copies of entries - which are typically all that
family historians require. The General Register Office for Northern Ireland is
in the process of making similar arrangements.
Soon England & Wales
will be the only part of the kingdom
where it takes longer to get a copy of a 19th century birth, marriage, or death
entry than it did when Queen Victoria was on the throne! But the main concern
of the millions of family historians who are researching their English and
Welsh ancestors is that the cost of certificates has become prohibitive.
Let me explain why: in the
days before the Internet people researching their family trees would generally
focus on a single line, and even if they researched other ancestors they
usually didn't include their extended families. In those days it wasn't cost
that restricted demand, it was time and distance - no wonder
most people didn't take up the hobby until they retired.
When census and other
records became available online about 10 years ago it not only became feasible
for many more people to research their family trees - it became possible for
them to extend their research to cover their entire tree. However, the high
price means that they typically limit their certificate purchases to their
direct ancestors. I believe that at the right price, probably between £1.50 and
£2, the demand from family historians for digital copies of register entries
would be 20 to 50 times higher than the present sales of paper certificates at
£9.25 each.
Ironically the GRO makes no
money selling copy certificates, even at £9.25 each, because although the
physical cost of producing a certificate is only about 20p, the rest is
swallowed up by staff costs and other overheads. However, digitising
records and putting them online not only makes them more accessible, it brings
down the cost. For example, when the 1911 Census was first made available by
the National Archives in 2007 it cost £45 per household, because everything had
to be done manually, but when it went online in 2009 it cost less than £2. Now
it costs less than £1 per household!
At £45 per household the National Archives were breaking even, but at
less than £1 per household they are making money. Shouldn't the GRO be equally
commercial when it comes to records that are of purely historical interest?
You won't be surprised to
hear that the General Register Office has plenty of excuses for not reforming:
the statutes, they argue, prohibit the provision of information except in the
form of a certified copy. They contend that without new primary legislation
they cannot carry out the necessary reforms.
I'm not convinced. Section
5 of the 1836 Act - which does not appear to have been repealed or amended by
subsequent legislation - gives the Registrar General the power to:
"make Regulations for the Management of
the said Register Office, and for the Duties of the Registrar General, Clerks,
Officers, and Servants of the said Office, and of the Registrars, Deputy
Registrars, and Superintendent Registrars herein-after mentioned, in the
Execution of this Act, so that they be not contrary to the Provisions herein
contained"
In fact, there was nothing
in the 1836 Act that specifically prohibited the provision of information in
uncertified form, or stated that the registers could not be viewed by members
of the public (indeed, they were permitted to do so in the mid-19th century).
If you agree with my
analysis, then perhaps you might invite the Registrar General to use the very
wide discretion provided by Section 5 to bring the systems up to date, and meet
the new demand from family historians by putting the older registers online, as
Scotland did years ago?
However, should you
consider that new primary legislation is required, then perhaps it should
include provision for the historical registers - those over 100 years old - to
be transferred to the National Archives, who already hold the national censuses
and have been extremely successful in making them available online using the
resources and expertise of commercial companies.
Since what I'm writing
about relates to just one small corner of one department within the Home
Office, it must seem very insignificant in comparison to the much more serious
issues that you have to deal with.
And yet, because reform
would benefit millions of British people and encourage genealogical tourism
(something that has been very positive in Ireland, and is also being promoted
in Scotland), whilst at the same time bringing in much-needed revenue for the
Government, I believe that it merits your attention.
I hope you agree.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Calver
I don't expect everyone reading this
newsletter to agree with every single word that I wrote, but I'm sure that the
vast majority of you will be broadly in agreement. Indeed, I doubt that even
members of the public who have no interest in family history would dispute the
logic of updating the GRO's systems. After all, I'm not writing this newsletter
with a quill pen, and it won't be getting from me to you by stagecoach - it
isn't 1836 any more!
Sadly I didn't get a reply to my letter
from the Home Secretary, or from the Minister directly
responsible for the GRO, nor from the Registrar General herself. Instead, nearly
2 months later, after my letter had been passed from out-try to in-tray
goodness knows how many times, I got a response from the GRO Communications
Manager, who wrote:
"...I recognise that
the present situation is far from ideal for those many people who are involved
in researching their family history.
However, I do believe that
at present we are confined by existing statutes in what we do. Registration
legislation generally
(and it is not alone in this) defines what is permitted rather
than what is not: so it specifies that for those wishing to obtain information
from the record, a certified copy of the entry may be purchased. The
legislation does not specifically go on to list ways in which such information
cannot be divulged, but it cannot be inferred by this that access arrangements
other than that specified are therefore permissible.
Our understanding is that
if we want to amend the way in which access to register information is divulged, this will need some legislative change. You
mentioned the 1836 Registration Act in your letter, but this also provided that
information should be divulged by certified copy following access to indexes
(not to the records themselves)."
You'll note that he ignored the point I
made about Section
5 of the 1836 Act and he also carefully focused on telling me what couldn't
be done, rather than suggesting what could be done. Considering that the Prime
Minister has repeatedly urged that the people of Britain adopt a "can
do" attitude, it's rather annoying that public servants are allowed to
stick with the "can't do" approach that we all laughed at when Yes,
Minister was on our TV screens in the early 1980s.
Perhaps I've missed it, but I can't see
anything in the 1836 Act which specifies what information should be in the
GRO's indexes - this seems to have been left entirely to the Registrar General
to decide. Surely if that's the case, the present Registrar General could
compile indexes that are far more detailed - just as many local registrars have
already done?
I don't think this is just about the GRO
- it seems to me that there are fundamental problems with the way that the
public sector responds to the needs of the public. By the way, I'm not making a
party political point - the last time I wrote this was when the previous
government was in power.
Perhaps Shakespeare had it right when he
wrote "A plague on both your houses!"
Have you claimed your
free LostCousins subscription?
Remember that if you've recently
purchased a new findmypast.co.uk subscription (or upgraded your present
subscription) after carefully following the instructions
in my previous newsletter you could be entitled to a free LostCousins
subscription!
Coming soon: a new way to
make breakthroughs
We all have areas of our tree where
we're stuck - whether it's an ancestor whose baptism we can't find, or a branch
that seems to disappear - and when this happens it's useful to have some input
from other researchers.
Sometimes our cousins will be able to
help - whether you meet them at LostCousins or elsewhere, other researchers who
share your ancestors are a great resource. But sometimes it takes somebody from
outside the family to spot what everyone else has missed - and that's where it
can be useful to take your problem to genealogy forum.
I know that most people reading this
have never used a forum, and some of those that have didn't find it very
welcoming. That's why I'm working with a fantastic group of volunteers to make
sure that when it opens, the LostCousins forum will be especially welcoming for
first-timers.
If you've tried every other avenue, why
not bring your 'brick walls' to the LostCousins forum when it officially opens
next month?
Tip:
the LostCousins forum is strictly invitation-only right now, which is why
there's no link from the main LostCousins site. However if you indicate on your
My Details page that you're interested in joining, you might be lucky enough to
receive an invitation ahead of the official launch. And, while you're on your
My Details page, it's a good opportunity to make sure that the rest of the information
you've provided is up to date and as complete as possible.
Like many of you I'm old enough to remember
rationing, which continued in Britain until July 1954, over a decade after
D-Day (see this BBC article
for more details and dates).
But I was a little surprised to read today that retailers
in the UK are rationing the sale of powdered milk for babies, according an article on the BBC News
website.
Facebook clues can
reveal your secrets
Researchers from Cambridge
University have discovered that simply by analysing Facebook 'likes' it is
possible to make highly accurate predictions about people - from the colour of
their skin to their gender, orientation, political allegiance, and much more. Combine
those inferences with what people explicitly tell you about themselves,
and you could know more about someone than their own relatives!
Other research has found that by collecting
relatively innocuous information from a variety of online sources you can build
up a far more detailed picture of somebody than they ever intended - be very
wary of choosing the same user name at different sites.
Have you tried searching for your own
name using Google? Or for your email address (put it in double quotes)? Or for your user names? You might be surprised at what you
find!
Note:
I'm a great believer in providing privacy and security for those who value it.
At LostCousins nobody can see your name or your email address - even when
you've been matched with someone else they'll only see your initials (until you
choose to exchange names). By the way, it's not only other members who can't
see your name - Google and other search engines can't see it either.
Policeman's helmet bears
1897 bloodstain
In 1897 PC George Snipe was killed when
a brick struck him on the back of the head - and his bloodstained
helmet is in the West
Midlands Police Museum at Sparkhill, Birmingham.
Reading an article
about this at the BBC website last month made me wonder what other memorabilia
and police evidence bear DNA samples that might potentially allow a modern
reanalysis of an old case - or provide the solution to a family history riddle?
DNA discovery
rewrites human history
A recently published article in the American Journal
of Human Genetics suggests that the common paternal ancestor of every
male on the planet may have lived much longer ago than the 60,000 to 140,000
years that was previously believed - the DNA of Albert Perry, a
recently-deceased American appears to come from a line that diverged around
340,000 years ago.
This New
Scientist article
suggests that one possible explanation is that hundreds of thousands of years
ago humans may have interbred with a species that is now extinct - a pattern
which fits with recent discoveries of Neanderthal DNA in most modern humans.
Interestingly the sample was analysed by
Family Tree DNA,
the company which I have used for my own DNA tests - and the only testing
company I can personally recommend to LostCousins members.
If my newsletter articles about DNA and
DNA testing in September
2012 and October 2012
haven't told you everything you need to know then you might be interested in a
half-day course that is being run at the Society of Genealogists on 4th May -
you can find out more details and book here (though you might
find it challenging if - like me - you use the Chrome browser).
Railway uncovers 14th
century burial ground
Archaeologists working for Crossrail have been examining 13 skeletons discovered near
Charterhouse Square, in London - it is believed that it may be the site of an
emergency burial ground used at the time of the Black Death. You'll find more
details on the Crossrail website.
In the 19th century people who emigrated
from Britain to Australia had little expectation of ever again seeing the
families they left behind - the journey was long, perilous, and expensive.
I was reminded of this when I read an
article about a proposed mission to Mars in 2023 - the ultimate goal of the Mars One project is to have a colony of 20
settlers, but what made this plan stand out is that there are no plans to bring
them back. Now that sounds much more
like the science fiction that so enthralled me as a young boy in the late
1950s!
Of course, if coming back is more important
to you than touching down on the red planet, you could always sign up for the
Mars flypast planned for 2018 by Dennis Tito, who in 2001 became the first
space tourist when he visited the International Space Station.
President Nixon had a speech written for
him to deliver in the event that the first men on the moon never came back - a
speech that, thankfully, he never had to deliver.
You'll find information about this
speech and many others in a recent article on the BBC
News website - I found it fascinating.
I have to confess that I've never
watched a reality TV programme - unless you consider that The Apprentice falls into that category - but when I read about the
controversial 'Door to Door' challenge on last Autumn's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (which
has resulted in ITV being censured by Ofcom) it reminded me of a much older TV challenge.
Imagine that you're a contestant on a TV
game show and have to pick one of three doors, in the knowledge that only one
of them conceals a prize. When you've made your selection the host (who knows
where the prize is hidden) opens one of the other two doors to show that
there's nothing behind it - and then gives you the option of staying with your original
choice, or switching to the remaining closed door.
What should you do, and why? The most
convincing answer to arrive in my inbox by Friday 19th April wins a one-year
LostCousins subscription.
I remember that in the 1950s and 1960s
if you wanted reliable advice you'd ask your bank manager - he (and it always
was a 'he' in those days) was somebody you could trust. Nowadays there can't be
very many people left who still trust their bank!
In November CPP were fined £10.5 million
by the Financial Services Authority for selling card protection insurance that
wasn't worth the plastic the cards were printed on (my words, not theirs). People
were being sold insurance they didn't need - because (in the words of the FSA) "customers
generally do not need insurance for fraudulent transactions on lost or stolen
credit and debit cards because they are not liable for unauthorised card
payments - apart from in exceptional circumstances". This probably
explains why the cover sold by CPP for £35 per year cost them just 60p to buy
(according to a recent article in Saga
magazine).
Of course, while some sales were made direct,
many were made through the banks that issued the credit and debit cards - yet
another reason why people don't trust their bank any more. You can read the
FSA's press release here.
But it's not just banks that have lost our
trust - another £10.5 million fine was imposed last week, this time on the
energy supplier SSE (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy). I'm not going to
go into details because you can read it all here
on the Ofgem website, but in short they were telling
people that they would save them money when in fact the opposite was often the
case.
You can't beat independent advice, especially
when it's free. I use the Which? Switch website to check whether I'm on the
cheapest tariff, and whether I'm with the cheapest
energy supplier - and over the years I must have saved thousands of pounds. The
ironic thing is that you get the same gas or electricity whoever's name is at
the top of the bill - so there's no reason not to switch to a cheaper supplier.
Finally, in my last newsletter I wrote:
Quite a few LostCousins members who have retired
live abroad, mainly in places where the weather is better than in Britain. But
often it isn't feasible to emigrate, whether for financial or family reasons,
so I'd be interested in hearing from any member who has personal experience -
good or bad - of a timeshare, shared ownership holiday property, or similar
'investment'.
I had some very interesting responses
but only a handful, so I suspect that most of you missed it. Please do pass on
any tips based on your own experience!
This where any late
updates will be posted, so it's worth checking back after a few days.
I hope you've found this newsletter
interesting and that you'll make full use of your membership of my site to link
with the cousins you don't yet know (your 'lost cousins'). After all, that's
what LostCousins is all about!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2013 Peter Calver
You
MAY link to this newsletter or email a link to your friends and relatives
without asking for permission in advance. I have included bookmarks so you can
link to a specific article: right-click on the relevant entry in the table of
contents at the beginning of the newsletter to copy the link.
Please
DO NOT re-publish any part of this newsletter, other
than the list of contents at the beginning, without permission - either on your
own website, in an email, on paper, or in any other format. It is better for
all concerned to provide a link as suggested above, not least because articles
are often updated.