The Lemon Fool

Of interest to family history researchers, the 1921 census is now available on the findmypast.co.uk site. Scans or transcripts are available, a little pricy at £3.50 a scan or £2.50 for a transcript. I have bought a couple of scans and the quality is good.

I too have also bought some, four in total. The scan quality is good, as you say, but I was surprised to see the address is not on the householders form. It appears on a front page which you need to download separately, but is available at any time once the household page has been purchased. It is found under a heading of Other Materials, or some such name. Also available for free is the cover, a narrative of the census area and two map pages showing the area in question, though not at a particularly large scale. Interestingly, the narrative page informs the enumerator how far it is from one extreme of his area to the other.

On a sample of four, my only concern (which I've also read of elsewhere) is the transcription quality. When I searched for my grandfather's entry it didn't come up as the surname was wrongly transcribed. An "a" was transcribed as an "o", a mistake which I am well aware of from my own experience, but on looking at the scan, there is little excuse for it as the writing is neat and clear.

These comments apply to England but not Scotland. I am told that the Scottish 1921 census details will be released in the second half of this year.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:These comments apply to England but not Scotland. I am told that the Scottish 1921 census details will be released in the second half of this year.

Dod

Presumably only available via the official ScotlandsPeople website?

It wouldn't surprise me to find it a little cheaper than the FindMyPast England and Wales offering, which seems a little overpriced. It will hopefully be cheaper or included within subscriptions in due course, once the novelty and ability to milk it subsides.

The only problem I have with the Scottish model is the lack of a subscription option; everything being Pay as You go. But I'm willing to forgive them that given the much better information available on vital records (birth, marriage and death registrations)

staffordian wrote:On a sample of four, my only concern (which I've also read of elsewhere) is the transcription quality.

The transcribers can be accused of being ignorant of British geography. Since when was it likely that someone on a London census in North West London would have been born in Kilburn, Derbyshire rather than Kilburn, London ?

Alaric wrote:

staffordian wrote:On a sample of four, my only concern (which I've also read of elsewhere) is the transcription quality.

The transcribers can be accused of being ignorant of British geography. Since when was it likely that someone on a London census in North West London would have been born in Kilburn, Derbyshire rather than Kilburn, London ?

That's interesting. It makes me think that rather than simply transcribing, they are adding their own assumptions.

Or are they actually mistranscribing London as Derbyshire?

Also interesting as I lived for several years in the next village to Kilburn, Derbyshire. Hard to confuse it with London

staffordian wrote:

Dod101 wrote:These comments apply to England but not Scotland. I am told that the Scottish 1921 census details will be released in the second half of this year.

Dod

Presumably only available via the official ScotlandsPeople website?

It wouldn't surprise me to find it a little cheaper than the FindMyPast England and Wales offering, which seems a little overpriced. It will hopefully be cheaper or included within subscriptions in due course, once the novelty and ability to milk it subsides.

The only problem I have with the Scottish model is the lack of a subscription option; everything being Pay as You go. But I'm willing to forgive them that given the much better information available on vital records (birth, marriage and death registrations)

Yes I asked them on that site. I think they are part of the National Records of Scotland. It can get quite expensive but you buy so many points for £10 and it works out at about £1.50 an image I think.

I am anxious to check part of my family and also my own street.

Dod