Not sure I really like the 1911 census!

[Phoenix]

As a cheapskate and without home internet access, I searched for as many people on the census as I could find and then went to Kew on Saturday and acquired lots of printouts.

Yes, it was considerably cheaper than using FMP and yes I did find out lots, but the only address or even reference on the householders' schedules is what the householders chose to write.

I was so busy printing that I didn't note all the references down. :o

There was the man who wrote "Lowestoft" as his address. There are places I've never heard of, so I haven't a clue which county they are in.

I have all my direct ancestors now, but I now want to see the enumerators' schedules, to put them into some kind of context. Indexes are wonderful, but what I've done so far just feels like a stamp collecting exercise.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

Oh dear!

For the ones where you have no idea whereabouts they were at all, you could tell us the details of the family and we could probably tell you which reg district they were living in from this index, as a start point!

[Phoenix]

I will get off my backside and do that for myself, Merry. Though I can't work out where some of my mistranscriptions come from in the first place!

But references that just look like a string of numbers and letters are very difficult to put into any sort of context. I have two brothers, both from the same village, living in Lowestoft. Are they neighbours, or on the opposite sides of town? The household schedule number might provide a clue, but if you are in a different enumeration or registration district, how do you tell?

I've worked out that RD90 is Portsmouth (a different family), but haven't got much further than that.

[Christine in Herts]

As a cheapskate and without home internet access, I searched for as many people on the census as I could find and then went to Kew on Saturday and acquired lots of printouts.

...

When were you there?

I was there until about 2pm, and specially carried around a FTF poster in my see-through bag, in the hope someone might recognise it and speak... But then you were probably fully engrossed in the 1911, whilst I was mainly in the records areas - apart from rescuing a poor woman who'd been told to use FreeBMD to find a death record between 1945-1960!

I hope you manage to sort out the missing refs. - I had thought that the refs printed automatically onto the schedules, but perhaps they only show on the images' names? (I'm at work, so can't check what I did, myself.)

Christine

[Janet]

Oh Phoenix I am so sorry but if it is any consolation, although I reckon to be a methodical researcher myself, I did exactly the same with not only 1901 but many of the other census as well and I am now grimly having to go through every one I have ever done to do it properly and I know this is going to take me a long time!

I think the problem is that when you are in record offices or even at home working on something the time factor gets in the way and it is only later that you suddenly realise that you have an undated census or one without an address because it was on the previous page or the reference no got chopped off.

I feel for you and wish you luck as I am redoing my own!

Janet

[Elaine ..Spain]

Just out of interest does anyone know which part of the census reference you use if you are searching the 1911 by census ref?

Just as an exercise this morning I copied one of the census references for an image I have downloaded and then pasted it in the census ref box and clicked on search. No results! (The census ref was copied and pasted direct from the 1911 site)

[Orangeblossom]

This is what their site says...

Census references can be entered in any order, but the prefix (RG, PN, RD etc.) must be included.

Each reference should be separated by a space. For example: RG14 PN8600 RG78 PN445 RD167 SD3 ED11 SN200

[Elaine ..Spain]

I've done that Tracey but it is still bring up no results!

[Phoenix]

I'd have said hello, Christine, if I'd relaised you were there! To my amazement, I got there by 9.10 am (a friend didn't make it till 12.30, despite leaving home at the same time) but it was eyes firmly down all day. They have tucked the 1911 computers away in a little ghetto, so it would be very easy to miss people. Though I did bump into quite a few different friends during the day.

Janet, I always tell other people to note the reference and the date. It is such a waste of time to cover the same ground twice - particularly if you found something by trawling and it is mistranscribed on the index. When I started out, I didn't even know what a reference was, so I had to go back over heaps of entries. Which makes it so galling that I didn't practice what I preach!

But because we still have to wait three years before the documents are officially open, the National Archives catalogue provides no help, except in general terms.

Where people provided precise addresses, that's fine. But for everyone in villages, or going for brevity in their addresses, it is very difficult to establish exactly where they were.

[LondonLass]

Have a look in the My Records section - all the images and transcripts you've viewed are saved there, with the full RG ref. Obviously, this won't work if you did the searching at Kew!

Unless you're lucky enough to live quite close to the National Archives, it's not always a cheaper option (particularly if you have a tea and lunch in their canteen), though makes more sense if you don't have internet at home.

[Phoenix]

London Lass, that is the only advantage of using FMP.

Going to Kew is so much cheaper for me that there really is no comparison. Even allowing for meals & travel I've saved myself in excess of £80 on a single visit.

But as each session is only an hour, you have to be really disciplined and write down the reference as you go along. And as I've said, some are pretty meaningless until we can get descriptions of the enumeration districts.

[Christine in Herts]

I thought that there was something in the 1911-blog about additional detail becoming available later - and being added (gratis) to the documents if you've paid already.

Christine

[JudithM]

As a cheapskate and without home internet access, I searched for as many people on the census as I could find and then went to Kew on Saturday and acquired lots of printouts.

Yes, it was considerably cheaper than using FMP and yes I did find out lots, but the only address or even reference on the householders' schedules is what the householders chose to write.

One image I have purchased was filled in by a visitor, who put his London address in the box despite the census entry being for a pub in a little Essex village! Luckily I had searched it out on the index by putting in the name of the village and the publican's name otherwise I would have been completely confused.

[Jeannie]

Hi

I've always relied on the internet for previous census images but I just can't afford FMP for the 1911? I have been able to find out more names using variations on their search pages but I would really like to view the originals.

Is it completely free the 1911 to view at Kew? Do you have to prebook and does it get very busy? I've seen them visit Kew on various TV programmes but never been myself.

Thanks

Jeannie

[Phoenix]

Hi Jeannie
It is absolutely free at Kew. No pre-booking. In the foyer there is a desk & you book an hour session at a time. I managed to fit four sessions in on Saturday!

It will probably be busier once the weather improves, but it gives you the opportunity to get things wrong, find neighbours etc etc. Photocopies are 20p each.

And Kew has lots of other things to do if you can't get a session straight away. They have 66 machines dedicated to 1911.