Wednesday, January 5, 2022

First Look at 1921 Census of England & Wales Indexing - Updated

 I wrote Are You Ready for the 1921 Census of England & Wales? Buckle Up!! this morning, and thought I was ready. Umm, someone forgot to put his credit card in the system.  Oh well.

I was ready right at 4:01 p.m. PST (12:01 AM in England) and clicked the link and could not get in.  I expected that, and wondered how long I would have to wait.  

After 15 minutes, I tried again and was "In like Flynn" as they used to say.  Here is the index search page:

I added a first name (James), last name (Richman), and place (Wiltshire) and clicked on the green button that said "View 4 results."  I saw the four results:

The links to the transcription and the record images are the black icons on the right side of the listings.  The indexed fields on this index page are First name, last name, Birth year, Birth place, Parish, Registration district, and County (similar to earlier census indexes).

I decided to see how many Richman names were in Bradford on Avon, and received 32 of them when I clicked Search:


Updated 6 January 2022:

I scrolled down to the James Richman entry and clicked on the Image icon (on the right) and saw:

The "You're buying" sliding panel came up on the right-hand side of the image above and told me that "James, Julia Alice and Douglas William Wise are on this record."  That's good to know.  I could click on "Credit or debit card" or "PayPal" to pay for the image on the bottom of the right-hand panel.

Note also that the notes on the sliding panel say "A scan of the original record.  The first source of truth.  A piece of history to save and share."

The notes on the sliding panel for a transcription say:  "A legible transcription of the original record.  Shows every occupant's age, family role and where, available, profession.  Contains a map showing the local area at the time."  The sliding panel also names the occupants of the household.

So the map is only available with the transcription?  I like that both sliding panels name all of the occupants.

The FREE search for a name or a location works, but as you can see there is not much information provided.  A user really needs to see the transcription or the image to see a family group.  

I immediately noticed that a number of Richmans in Bradford on Avon were listed as born in "Bradford, Yorkshire, England."  I'm pretty sure that they were born in Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire - the Civil Registration for Births tell me so for those persons.  But that is a common problem with indexes of original records.

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Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to Findmypast, and have accepted meals and services from Findmypast, as a Findmypast Ambassador and now as an Official 1921 Census Ambassador. This has not affected my objectivity relative to Findmypast and its products.

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3 comments:

Teresa said...

Map is available with the image as well...I am buying images and doing my own transcription. The Extra Materials button on the filmstrip takes you to to the maps, ED description, cover page, and front page...good value for the money!

Malcolm G said...

Hey Randy,

How much were the records to view.
Can you save the images once you have paid, what type of file is the image (PDF, JPG, other?).
If you have paid can you return to that image indefinitely, or is it a limited time view?

I'm interested but as I already pay for a couple of genealogical databases and access, I'm going to wait to see what people think of the service. Not the images but the transcriptions and the speed of download and quality of the images.

Cheers cousin Malcolm

Randy Seaver said...

Malcolm,

* The index for the records is free to search and view - one line per person.

* To view the transcription, it is £2.50, and for the image £3.50. Most comments I've seen say to just view the image rather than both of them. The transcriptions are imperfect.

* I haven't saved a file yet, but I think they are .jpg.

* Paying for an image or transcription lets you see it again for as long as there is a payment required.

Cheers -- Randy