Paul Nixon stepped in at the last minute to replace Mary McKee who was unable to be our Speaker on this occasion. Paul leads the licencing of records for Find My Past (FMP) and was heavily involved in the tender to the National Archives, which was a multi-million pound investment by the company. He has been presenting lots of Roadshows on the 1921 census although his main interest is Military History. Paul kindly allowed the talk to be recorded and this was broadcast at 8pm (UK) on the same date.
The census, taken on the 19th of June (postponed from the 24th of April due to strike action) consisted of 28,162 bound volumes in 14,000 storage boxes. There are 38,443,248 names included in it and, once scanned, there were 18 million images. These digital images were made available for transcription to partners in India, via FMP servers located in the UK, for security reasons. As each page was divided vertically so that the transcriber could not see the whole page, Paul said this explained why sometimes details didn’t always match up. Everything was encrypted and only decrypted in October 2021 after 2.5 years of work. Data clean-up was started then and is ongoing. Currently updates are being posted weekly. There were 38,563 Enumerator districts in total. No surviving Enumerator Summary books or Census Enumerator books still exist.
The reason there is an extra charge for the entries, even for subscribers, is to cover the high cost of all the work. At the moment, it costs £2.50 for a transcription and £3.50 for an original image. Once the initial outlay has been substantially recovered, the 1921 census will be available as part of the normal subscription. Paul said he was not able to tell us when that would be, even if he did know. The National Archive does receive a royalty each time a purchase is made.
He then compared the differences between the 1911 and 1921 censuses. These were principally that the age was given in years and months which should help identifying 2 individuals born in the same year. Marital status was shown, including divorced if that was the case and whether a child had parents still living (step-parents were not counted in this). Education was shown and if employed the name of the employer and their address was also shown. There was also a grid included in the images showing the number of minor dependants, even if they were not at home. This could be useful to identify any people who were away from home that night.
When about to start searching for anyone, Paul stressed how important it was to resist the temptation to dive in immediately; do take the time to read the “learn about these records” section. Searches are FREE and you can use as many as you like – you only start paying once you click on an image or transcript. He also showed us that when we start to search, at the end of the pre-amble are three links, Learn More, Search Tips and Useful Links. Looking at these could help save time and effort in the long run! When searching, less is often more and don’t forget wildcards!
There were different forms for different size households; E for under 10 people and EE for larger families. Using these form codes may help to narrow down your search. Most large Institutions (over 100 people) were given their one Piece Number so if, for instance, you know that you are interested in Chartham Asylum you could search in the advanced search by its Enumeration district number and piece number (in this case ED19 piece number 04322). The numbers for most large asylums can be found HERE. Many other institutions are treated in the same way. All fields are indexed and there were 46 fields. The map that is shown is the one for 1921 but there is an option to switch to a different version including a modern one. This may help you work out the location of the institution.
In the images it will pay to use the filmstrip as well -this has the option of thumbnails, extras and transcripts. Clicking on extras shows any other pages available. Any page that has a padlock on it is not included in your purchase. The plans of division will show the full extent of the enumeration district. The address of the property is on the schedule and instructions.
If your ancestor had a long first name or multiple names, they may not all be included because the box was not very large; you may find just an initial instead. Birthplaces, too, may be inaccurate on the transcript or search. Someone born in Islington might just be amalgamated into ‘Middlesex, London’, but this is being corrected and the work to increase detail and amend other anomalies is on-going until at least the end of March 2022.
Paul suggested that when searching, if you hover your cursor over the symbol for transcript or image other names will be shown and in this way it is possible to identify others in the Household. If you then search on their names, it may be possible to see more names and in this way build up a picture of those present.
If you see a mistake when searching but don’t want to pay for either the transcription or the image, send an email . Put 1921 census transcription update in the subject line and give a link to the search with a description of the error.
Paul’s talk gave us a fascinating insight into the vast amount of material available from the 1921 census and what a huge undertaking it has been to get the completed project online by 6th January 2022. Let’s hope that this new resource will give us novel approaches to difficult problems/brick walls and fresh insights into all our family histories.
Report by: Sheila Harris and Lesley Smith