BETA: Beta period extended over Christmas
Due to the positive feedback from the beta period so far, and to allow people to search the extra 22 counties we’ve added, we have extended the beta period into the Christmas holidays.
Please keep an eye on this blog for updates on the shutdown date.
There will not be live Customer Suppport over Christmas, Boxing Day and the weekend directly after (27th/28th) but we will be picking up enquiries again on the 29th.
A few people have received invite emails, deleted them and not been able to get back into the site. Please remember to either bookmark the beta site in your browser, or to use the link on the right of this blog, as you cannot access it from the main 1911census.co.uk site.
Finally, please keep the feedback coming, thank you *ever* so much for your time and help so far, and our very best wishes for a happy Christmas and an excellent New Year from the entire team here at findmypast.com and brightsolid.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
As I am Welsh with some Somerset blood, so far I have not been able to search for anyone.
On the whole, despite it being a very expensive project, I do not think it will be as successful as ancestry.com unless you are prepared to offer 6months or a year’s subscription as getting one frame at a time is going to prove very costly indeed.
Just my pennyworth!
Jill Muir
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I lodged one support request and so far I have been issued 5 call numbers for that one request (via 5 emails).
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Thank you for the invite, which I have both enjoyed and found very frustrating as many names I have entered result in ‘no records found’. The positive has, of course some less helpful sides also.
I have found with difficulty some of my relations and reported a transcription error which is being corrected. I note of the relatives I found that most of those listed fail to have their correct first names listed. This is an error due to the time of entry and the names entered and those that are were names in general usage within the family rather than the name/s on birth certificates. This creates a major problem in finding people. having given this some thought I believe the best way forward would be to include in the results ‘the place of birth’. This would help sort the actual from the possibilities. The latter tends to result in too many wrong results causing high expenditure and is likely to result in fewer people being able to continue with their search/es . Most people I know who are doing searches are pensioners. I have opened pages to find they are not my relatives this is not only frustrating but also tends to make me question whether I can continue with my searches as there is no way to reduce the probability of being correct as few would know where anyone was living 98 years ago.
I would appreciate having feedback on this suggestion which would have cost implications for you BUT i believe that this addition would actually increase usage of your site and therefore increase income in the long term. people will come back if their searches result in real finds and results rather than it becoming a money wasting exercise that is given up on.
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Thank you. A well thought out site - clear, concise and easily nagivable.
Can you manage to upload Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire for the trial please as that’s where all my relies were!!!
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Even though you have extended the beta site date , that does not really help those of us in Durham and Northumberland. I understand that things take time. But those of us IN THE NORTHare losing out.
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Whilst I realise that checking and eliminating each person from the “Results found” could be lucrative, it is frustrating and expensive for the customer. It would be good to have address or preferably place or even county of birth as a search term. I relise you wouldn’t want to enable us to pin down the possibilities too much, but with previous census material, we are now used to being selective about that for which we are paying.
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
thank you so much for this early christmas present, my grandfather came from the corsley prangleys so i was able to track him down in 1911 and my grandmother. my grandmother is listed with her 5 siblings and it also says 2 children died, so the mystery deepens to find out more.
i agree there should be a field for where born in search results so can sift out easily those not needed, i know you can search for where born but the answer and spelling will always vary, and putting a county in the search for where born doesn’t always help narrow down results. in terms of name search being able to search on 1st name with date of birth and where born would be a great help. on previous censuses i’ve done this and tracked down ancestors with wrongly transcribed surnames.
my major concern is cost 30 units to view the census schedule can eat into your credits v easily and often in the search it’s essential to check that the transcript given is indeed your ancestors. compared to ancestry costs which gave me unlimited use of uk census info giving greater value when looking for my ancestors, my husbands ancestors
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hi there can you extend the period into the new year as I will not have time to try out Hampshire before then. Thanks
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
was glad to hear more counties added so soon but alas none in the north,yorkshire&lincolnshire in particular. glad I didn’t buy any credits yet.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I agree with Fiona’s comment above; a well thoughtout site. Any chance that Essex might appear in the Beta trial please?
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
As many of my relatives come from London, I have found the preview useful. However, as someone else has mentioned west ham does not seem to be registered, and I can’t find some relatives who should be in bury st. edmunds either. I agree that having a place of birth column would help to sort the possibilities. I can’t find an army family I would expect to find in Bury st. edmunds, a place of birth column would help to find them if they were else where in the country
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I didn’t notice the fact that you had so few Counties listed. No wonder I couldn’t find any family history for my Hampshire and Surrey relatives
A “could do better” mark to you and half a bad mark to me.
If you had said there were hardly any Counties on I would not have bothered.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
sorry you have not got lincolnshire yet, so still waiting
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Are there details anywhere we can use to construct a partial census reference? A Parish/Town to RD/SD conversion table would be ideal.
E.G.
Twickenham - RD128 SD2 ED1-xx
I needed to find someone in Twickenham and eventually had to go through some convoluted search on TNA to work this one out.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
As someone who has been involved with Family History for more years than I care to remember, I am thrilled the 1911 census is on line this early. I wish to thank everyone for all the efforts that have gone into producing this information. I have a lot of updating that I can do but I am wondering how expensive it will be. I have an Explorer subscription with FindmyPast.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
My husband was very pleased to find his relations in Surrey now that you have extended the number of counties. I have reported errors on 3 people.
Why is it that Lancashire always seems to be one of the last to appear on family history websites. All my relations were in the North of England.
Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to see some of the 1911 census early.
(I have to admit I think the cost is rather high!)
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
It might be brilliant - but as the entire family I am researching were in Lancashire at the time, I really wouldn’t know. Disappointingly Southern-centric.
Can I also agree with Jill Muir, above, in asking you to think about an annual/semi-annual subscription?
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I also agree with Fiona. the site is great, but, it is Nottinghamshire that i am waiting for. Can we get it please ? !
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I agree with the above comments regarding a ‘where born’ field in the results. I can see many people after an evening of searching, and having to pay for many unneeded transcriptions, drawing the conclusion that the site is just too expensive to use to get the chance of a correct return and not returning.
I had that feeling last night, having used about 200 credits (£18) just viewing transcripts in the hope its the correct one for my grandfather (none of them were). Knowing that for every person in my family tree, I may have to repeat this exercise with the same results is just not financially viable. As a site this is significantly more expensive than the 1901 census when it was launched (90p vs 50p for a transcript and £2.70 vs 75p for an image) and that had where born allowing more cost effective use.
Much as I want to search for my relatives, I can see me waiting until this is available on one of the subscriptions rather than pay-per-view.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I have enjoyed using the site- I was lucky my bigamist great grandfather and his two wives popped up without any problems in London and Coventry.
Keep it open longer please as I need to check out Oldham and Lancs is not available yet.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Monthly subscription option would be nice. So frustrating to have to pay to read records of people just to eliminate them.
Also back button doesn’t always work in browser to return from search results to search form - really annoying but easily fixed?
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I do hope that Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire will come online soon. What I have seen so far is great. A great many family genealogists here in North America eagerly await the 1911 census.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I have located some of my strays in the London area but the spelling is less than satisfactory. I was unable access the actual pages to verify my observations.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
The 1911 census is a record of everyone who lived in England and WALES in 1911.
I am also of Welsh extraction and am unable to search for the majority of my relatives. It would have been a nice gesture to have had at least one WELSH county in the trial.
On a positive note I think once all the counties are listed this is going to be a very useful site.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
what a fantasic job you have done so far. yes there have been some transcription errors but it is the usual HIGH quality that I have come to expect from Find My Past. It does cost a bit at the moment but we are getting it before its release so we can’t complain at all. I have found out so much and have so many more deceased children to find!
Keep up the good work
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I have to agree with all of the above comments regarding narrowing the search a bit. I am more than willing to pay for good leads, but at this price, I will be waiting for you to add place of birth to the search field.
I applaud your overall layout and design. Everything appears to work as it should.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I too am wondering why we have nothing in the north yet, Lancs, Cumberland, Westmorland & Yorkshire are what I need.
Also I agree with those who feel that you should give us the birthplace in the index as with a common name it is almost impossible to tell whether we have found the right ancestor, especially if they are not where we expect them to be.
For my few southern relations I have looked at the index but feel that the cost is too great to look at the transcription or the original pages. I am used to Ancestry where you can see the birthplace and where you can search on Christian names + age + birthplace only in order to find a relative whose surname has been mis-transcribed. A wider age range would be useful too.
I would be prepared to take out a subscription for unlimited look-ups within a time scale, say 1 month minimum, otherwise I’m hoping that, as with other census material and other records, I will eventually be able to spend an afternoon or two at the National Archives and look at the 1911 census for free.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:23 pm
After searching for my maternal grandmother for about 10 years with only some circumstantial information but no hard evidence, your site has provided the first glimpse of her family together - young grandma, her siblings and parents together, complete with a “brother in law” to corroborate her mother’s maiden name. Found her very easily. What a Christmas present! Thank you.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Thank you for the opportunity to use the Beta site.
Most of my relatives are in the north so I have managed only a few successful searches so far.
I have viewed the transcripts, but not viewed images as I think the cost too high. Also, it could be very expensive to find relatives with common names as their place of birth is not included in the search results, personally I will not view the transcript unless I am almost certain I have the correct household.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I have bought about £31 worth of credits and I am getting stuck in while I still have chance. I just wish that Cheshire and Lancashire had been available. I agree that it is very expensive, but, we have had the chance to view this census much earlier than those not invited. I can’t understand why they can’t keep this going a bit longer? They would be getting money from us, while it is ongoing! When is the launch date for the completed census?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I have bought about £31 worth of credits and I am getting stuck in while I still have the chance. I just wish that Cheshire and Lancashire had been available. I agree that it is very expensive, but, we have had the chance to view this census much earlier than those not invited. I can’t understand why they can’t keep this going a bit longer? They would be getting money from us, while it is ongoing! When is the launch date for the completed census?
December 24th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Looks very interesting, tho far to expensive for mr to browse thr, espec if mistakes are made. I to think that you should do a 6 month or yearly subscription, as your viewing credits are very expensive, and I prefer Ancestory because of this.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Would you be able to advise, please, just what is included in a Transcription?
I have found two members of my English family, but unless I am able to see who else was residing at the addresses concerned, it is far too expensive (in Australian dollars) for me to purchase credits for those Transcriptions. There is no way I could afford an Image! On the whole, while it is an exciting possibility to see the early release, it would rank among luxury items on my budget. Would you consider that a HIGH volume of turnover at a LOWER price would produce an equal, or greater, amount of INCOME to the investment you have made? Thanks Doreen Australia.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Although i am looking forward to the full site, i am disappointed that the counties i am interested in..Somerset and Northumberland, are not available so i am unable to fully test the site without paying for records i do not need
December 24th, 2008 at 12:28 am
The site looks good and it’s ease of use is great.
Unfortunately there is no way to narrow down selections. Similar searches to Ancestry.com would be brilliant. I kind of object to having to pay for census images or the transcript for that matter that aren’t mine.
Perhaps the offer of monthly, quarterly, 6 months or yearly subscriptions would be a better option.
I couldn’t really search that much because my rellies come from Yorkshire and Lancashire, so we miss out.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Thank you for extending the beta period. I too would like to see place of birth as a search term if possible. I have limited time to research and would appreciate anything that would allow me to spend more time looking at the actual records rather than mucking around looking at page after page of search results.
I hope a soundex option will eventually be available for those difficult to read surnames - even with the best will in the world, things get mis-spelt or mis-transcribed.
Unfortunately not many of the counties I am interested in are live yet but from the couple of entries I have found, the payment system has been easy to use and saving records to the hard drive straight-forward.
One thing that my mother had trouble with was needing to register to purchase credits - she assumed that as she had signed up for the newsletter, she was also registered for the general site. You may want to put some sort of notice regarding this up as others may also be confused.
I found one forename that had been mis-transcribed - is there any way we can submit a correction?
December 24th, 2008 at 3:54 am
I agree with Maureen as above to include a birth place would really great. I also got frustrated at opening up wrong pages, this resulted in most of my credits going down rather fast and not getting any where with my research. Also the cost of credits is rather high as opposed to whats happening in the world at the moment.
December 24th, 2008 at 4:38 am
I strongly agree with the comments regarding the place of birth being shown in the search results in order to be able to isolate possible ancestors.
Also, I often search the “other” website using first name, YoB and PoB only - it produces results if a surname is transcribed incorrectly or spelt differently - which happens frequently. It has helped me frequently when all else fails. Is it possible to take off the require on the family name - perhaps require given name and YoB in those circumstances to limit the extent of the search?
Also, please accept AMEX - I live overseas and have neither Visa or Mastercard - makes use of your site cumbersome and not appealing.
December 24th, 2008 at 5:00 am
As the majority of mine and my wife’s family is from London, Suffolk, Beds and Staffs my research is well ahead of schedule! I wrote a wish list first before jumping in and searched for children although parents did not come up with my 1st search. It certainly paid dividends as I found most of the 2 families for 30 quid. Excellent work guys. 30 credits on todays exchange rate (GBP to AUD) is pretty exe compared with unlimited use of Ancestry I get for the same money. But I got the results.
Merry Christmas All……….
December 24th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Many thanks for a wonderful Christmas present. I agree with many of the comments above, especially including the place of birth, and the lack of Northern Counties. Unfortunately I was unable to find my grandparents, although I expected them to be in Middlesex, Berkshire or Buckinghamshire and at first thought I was onto a good thing I was able to check their addresses before and after the census and establish that they were not at either which was very useful.
One problem I found was searching for Thornbury Road brought few results, but searching again omitting the word ‘road’ brought up the rest of the houses albeit mixed in with other ‘Thornburys’. This was fine with only two or three counties online, but would be horrendous with a common road name on the full version
My main concern is whether or not I will be able to access the ‘my records’ section after the trial ends.
All in all I am delighted with the site, and can hardly wait for the full version.
Happy Christmas to All!
December 24th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hi
Am delighted to access all this new information. Found at least eight relatives through the index , but am really daunted by the expensive credit charges. I accept you must recover your costs and make a profit , but believe you will achieve more customers and greater usage with reduced charges. Why not something like a Budget Service .
Happy Christmas to all.
December 24th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
It would be VERY useful to be able to search on a combination of first name and place of birth or place of residence. I have some names which are frequently transcribed wrongly and cannot find some of the people at all.
December 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I think everyone has hit the main problems in a nut shell. It is tantalizing to think you have found your relatives only to be faced with it being too expensive to try to confirm this, especially with the exchange rates. The adding of the extra counties in the beta test opened up far more doors, but as both sides of my direct family are mostly in Kent & Yorkshire, I have been limited to “the inlaws”. The site is quick and easy to use but definitely we need at least a birth county to limit the results lists which must then be gone through. Thank you for for giving me the opportunity of testing the site, I started off with great excitement but lapsed into disappointment when I was unable to confirm the information, having said that I now have a list of possibilities!
December 25th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I also agree that showing a POB as well as YOB in the search results would help cut down unnecessary expenditure. I only hope it does not need a major rebuild to accommodate this.
Similarly, I also had problems with the street address – could only find a few houses in Hawthorn Rd, Edmonton even though they must exist –relatives searched by name at no 28, 53 and another at 54. As they were terrace houses, they must have been built.
Also, perhaps the finance people could reconsider an unlimited access for a set fee (1 week/1 month/3 month/6 month etc) as well as per view. This will certainly help those of us who have been at it a while and like to take extended families as far as they will go.
I suspect that with rising unemployment, more people will be taking up or spending more time on FH as a hobby, if they can afford it.
Having had my grumble, I must admit that I’m dead chuffed at finding a number of my Aunts and Uncles, including those within living memory. I must be getting old!!
December 25th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Initially I found two of my Families , both in London and printed out both in Original.
Doing the same search for my CUSTANCE grandparent was more dillicult.
It bacame easier when I entered just the surname, CUSTANCE. I then got 306 results !! from whitch I was able to select my families.
December 26th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I am sadly disappointed with the experience. The search facilities are limited/poor. As a consequence, it is not possible to narrow a search down to an individual or even a small group of people. The cost per original makes it prohibitive to look up a group of people returned from a search - so you end up not doing any at all - hardly an inducement to use the site. Either the search has to be improved or the cost materially reduced - preferably both – otherwise the site will be of limited use to people once the initial excitement of finding Granddad wears thin and then the true deficiencies and cost become apparent. It looks like having gone from being at the forefront of the 1911 experience, I shall have to go to the back of the queue and wait for the subscription service. A bitter disappointment.
December 26th, 2008 at 2:00 am
V. excited that 1911 is becoming available early. Unfortunately, all my ancestors are from Notts, Lancs, Yorks and Lincs which due to your system are not available. Presumably I will have to wait for Ancestry.com
December 26th, 2008 at 10:17 am
what a fantastic site recently i found both my mom and dad had 2 other siblings we knew nothing about i found them by chance at the library looking for baptisms then looking on the 1911 census i have found another brother for my mom that we didnt know about although it is expensive to look at the transcripts i think it is well worth it i have been lucky enough to find at least 14 transcripts relating to my ancestors so lots more to add to my tree you are doing a great job im sorry that not everyone will be able to find thier ancestors just yet but im sure it wont be long thank you for all your hard work and good luck to those who are searching
December 26th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I can’t wait for the 1911 census to show up on findmypast as I have a subscription with the site but that sub does not work on this site and I need to buy more credits to view. 30 credits to view the image is too much. I live in Australia and have conversion rates to think of as well. There is a big jump between the 60 credits and 280 credits.
I stongly believe that if you have a subscription on findmypast then you should be able to use that subscription/credits for this site as well. They are ’sister’ sites after all.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Looking forward to further extensions. Sadly all my ancestors are in counties other than those you have made available. Waiting for Notts and Cumbria mostly, then Yorks.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
It was lovely to get a glimpse of what information the 1911 census has and it is a very nice gesture of findmypast and hope that this will be successful but as a member of ancestry for me i prefer to pay a yearly subscription and be able to look up as many rellies i want and also go through an entire village on the census form as i could not find my ancestors only to discover it was because of a spelling mistake, i would not be able to do this with credits. Was also disappointed that no counties in wales were on offer. I think i shall just be patient and wait for ancestry as i have been thier customer for 4 years and because it will work out far cheaper, sorry findmypast.
December 26th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Having read all the comments so far,it would seem that most people are concerned about the lack of a `place of birth ` search option and the high cost involved in viewing transcripts and household images.I have to agree.Findmypast must remember that most family researchers are not wealthy people (lots are pensioners like myself) However we are patient and will be willing to wait if necessary until the 1911 census becomes more widely available(and cheaper) through other agencies. Having said that,I must say thanks for the opportunity of taking part in this preview.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I have at last found the record I wanted. I had tried all the spellings I know without success.
I therefore put in just a comma in the last name field and one of the first names, with the place of birth.
It worked, but the surname was mispelt in yet another way!!
December 27th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I would like to agree with just about all of the posted comments but especially with the those concerned with the cost of units. I feel like a ’sucker’ for purchasing so many units and, unfortunately, haven’t got the patience (of some of the posters) to wait for the subscription service.
As regards the concerns over searching: I’m probably being a little stupid here but all the advanced search contains many options for searching. I suppose the biggest concern is having the surname as a required field.
On a very specific note, the basic search and the advanced search seems to be coming up with different results - should we only be using the basic search? Following on from this, I’m concerned that the list of counties that we’re able to search on isn’t true or complete - e.g. I can’t believe that there aren’t any Williams’ in Herefordshire in 1911!?
December 28th, 2008 at 5:39 am
I got lucky as I do have some Staffs relatives. Unfortunately, I did lose money looking for my grandmother. Only after paying to see the transcript did I find that the person listed (same name, same birth year and county) had a different birthplace, was someone else entirely.and that my credits had been wasted. This was despite the name being an unusual one.
I agree that not being able to see birthplace before spending credits could quickly become so costly for some searches it would make them unviable.
Enjoying trial very much though and have fingers crossed that Derbyshire appears before it vanishes!
December 28th, 2008 at 11:26 am
The search interface is not very good, but many of the comments here show that people haven’t explored the possibilities.
December 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I must have been lucky to find all but one of my ancesters without much trouble. It was a real Christmas present to discover my still lively 101year old mother as a three year old living in St Pancras, London (despite an ‘L’ being transcribed as a ‘T’ in her maiden name).
December 29th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I agree with the replies with regard to the cost. As a subscriber to FindMyPast I would have thought we would have got it as part of our subscription. I have purchased units but within half an hour they were all gone. Although I have enjoyed finding ancestors in 1911 and thank you for putting the site on line, I shall have to wait until you make the site part of a subscription package (I think you do mention somewhere that it will happen but when) before I can do anymore searches.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:47 am
The website is great and all appears to work while i used it.
I am over the moon with some of the people i have found.
BUT - i have spent about £65.00 pounds in my eagerness to find my lost grandparents who i have been trying to find for years.
The place of birth should be put in the search results,
“Have you tried looking for a name like Smith”.
At one point i clicked on View original and ended up with the transcription as well and got charged for both even though i did not click on both.
The age range could do with being extended to -5+ years.
On the transcriptions it is not fair that how many children they had living and died does not appear. Surely a transcription is a transcription of what is on the page!!! and should include this.
It is to expensive compared to when the 1901 came out, Surely
the cost can come down a bit, there are going to be enough people accessing the site to cover costs and make a healthy profit.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I also have enjoyed using the site and have found a lot of information as the majority of my relatives come from London and Cambridgeshire, so lucky there! But it is expensive compared to other pay for view sites and it is amazing how quickly you use the credits up!!
I also agree that the search results do not give you enough information to choose the right relative - my relatives ARE Smiths!! I wasted several credits only to find I made the wrong choice.
Saying that, I hope we will soon see the full site online and I can get to grips with the rest of my family
December 30th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I share the general enthusiasm (and also agree that transcriptions should be fuller). Importantly, when the full site arrives can there be wild card searching? I had to guess around three or four versions of my own surname, which in this and other censuses has given rise to wild misreadings.
December 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Works well but horrendloulsy expensive, particularly with limited search facitilities.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Very very good to be able to search for ancestors ahead of launch date - I am lucky to have family coming from many of the counties provided, and have made lots of useful discoveries. I heartily agree with above comments re birth location to limit fruitless and expensive non-results - please have a thought about including this feature. And a subscription system would be a positive way of reducing the cost to users.
Overall I think you’ve done a really good job with this - well done, and HNY.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Was disappointed that subscription could not be used though pleased to get a reply to my email fairly swiftly. As my card had been stolen and I was waiting a new one couldn’t take part in much more than an initial search - the site seemed well designed to the limited extent I used it.
And disappointed still more that have have to buy units for the census proper- when I get to March and renew my findmypast explorer subscription my so-called loyalty discount will nowhere near amount to the package of units I have bought - and the reason I have bought the larger pack is to search on behalf of friends who are already priced out of the market by cost of research now.
I know we are lucky to have so much digitised information - I have been reseraching since long before there was any and I appreciate the sea change but please consider the wise comments above for so many who have limited resources to spend.
Do you perhaps have or could you actively encourage more institution and group subscription to help with this issue?
Heather
January 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I’m really disappointed. :>(
Out of the 15 basic ( free) searches I have made so far I have found 10 sloppy spelling errors ( mainly from names which are far from complex or unusual !) i.e. Percy mispelt as Percey. Also F for female when the person is clearly a male and should have logged as M for male.
It is also relevant to note that the ‘district’ which shows up in a search is actually the ‘registration district’ NOT necessarily the area in which the person was living in 1911. e.g. someone could be living in Dulwich but the search shows ‘Camberwell’ which is the registration district!