BETA: Link to feedback survey added
We’ve added a link to the feedback survey on the right of the page. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the survey but provides invaluable feedback for the team here, so please do complete one.
Tags: beta, feedback, survey
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December 24th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I have not ben able to find anything as yet as most of my ancestors came from Yorkshire. What i have seen so far from the 1911 census is excellent.
Thanks
December 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
So far I have been able to to trace ancestors and relatives in Shropshire and Worcestershire. I eagerly await the addition of the Welsh counties, so that I can further research my father’s side of the family.
December 24th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
What a pity that there’s not one Welsh county included in this Beta testing!
After all it was an English and Welsh Census.
I’m biased though as my father’s family who I only discovered earlier this year came from Glamorganshire.
The standard of the images is tremendous - I can’t wait for all the other counties.
Pity there’s no yearly subscription though!!!
December 24th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Thanks for doing this . I have now cleared up MANY questions and the site has looked positive and clear to use. The extra money spent was well worth it. Please keep u[p the good work.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:19 am
Hi
I have jsut read Nicholas’s comment above and agree with him that I too have been unable to search any of my family who all come from Yorkshire.
I really am so keen to get details of my grandparents and hope that it won’t be that long til Yorkshire is available !
Many thanks.
Lyn
December 26th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I have found most of my family as the surname is not common.
I think it would be useful to put a unique reference number (maybe the census page reference) rather than Household so that a sort could be done grouping the same surnames on a census record together.
It would also be nice if after paying to view an image the transcript could be viewed for free. Also having paid for a transcript the image should be at a reduced number of units.
Regards
Pete Hodge
December 26th, 2008 at 11:04 am
hi
I agree, with John Stones Comment; that it is a pity that there is not subscription option.
I can see why there has to be a charge for using the website but I don’t understand why one has to pay 30 credits to see the original image and 10 for a transcription.
Good family history research recommends that one should always check the primary source. In this case it is the image of the original document. I wonder how many people will go astray by taking the cheaper option following the transcript which may contain an error.
Apart from the above the website looke very promising. Can’t wait for my counties tobecome available. Is there a target schedule any where
Regards
Brian
December 26th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Very good to use site and extremely useful data content. Really looking forward to the fuller release in 2009 with improved search facilities. As others have said, it’s a pity there will be no annual subscription.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Key points:
- birthplace should be shown in the list of results, otherwise great difficulties in finding people with common names;
- Peter Hodge’s comments as above - if you’ve paid for an image, then the transcript should be free, and if you pay first for a transcript, then the cost of the image should be reduced by the amount you have already paid for the transcript.
- images should have a TNA reference on them, for proper citation (or is this the very long file name?);
- can we see one image of the other side of the schedule on the web-site please? I’ve noted in several cases that the person filling up the form did not understand the instructions, and several dead children are listed (and transcribed)!
- there are quite a few transcription errors;
- very expensive indeed. In many cases the researcher gets much less information than from a page of a previous census, such as who lived next door (in villages often a brother, sister, cousin or parent), where the residence was relative to other landmarks such as farm, chapel, church, etc., etc.). Pay to view costs should be halved, or you’re going to turn people away.
- as many others have said - needs to be annual subscription.
December 27th, 2008 at 10:27 am
First of all thank you for the opportunity to view the 1911c.
I managed to find two of the people that I was looking for, but as the others were for Essex and East of London which also came in the Essex
County I couldn’t look at these.
I also thought the image price is too costlly and please don’t make any
cost for viewing annual otherwise I for one will not be able to afford it.
A monthly charge or pay as you view gives people of all incomes a chance
to use any site.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I agree with most comments re the charges. I am looking for Norfolk ancestors who I know lived in the same road. One of their addresses is a pub and is not listed in the road as a number. This is not coming up on the street listing but I know was there until at least the 1950’s. So how is this found.?
As with most people’s ancestors, being known by another name is making them hard to find. As some of them also were economical with the,hem,truth of the age of their children, I find that I am purchasing several wrong family details and this is making it expensive to continue. As also stated in previous census’s, you could see the neighbours who quite often led you to other family members. I think that the transcripts should be free to view. I also think that the current charges are too expensive and will prohibit many people from using the site. Will the census be available from local archives to search free of charge.?
December 27th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
A pity that although an address search is possible, one can not put house number, which means searching through a whole line of houses until one fibds the one that one wants, and this wstes money.
December 27th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
As this is a ‘beta’ test of the final site, will images/transcripts paid for during the test period be retained when the site goes live or will those who have already paid LARGE amounts of money have to pay again f they need to access the images or transcripts again?
This point doesn’t appear to be covered anywhere yet.
December 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I agree with Noel:
- birthplace should be shown in the list of results, otherwise great difficulties in finding people with common names;
The prices are also rather horrendous for those of us outside the UK.
December 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I was very excited to have access early. Have found some ancestors in London but am very dissappointed at the cost.
Agree that the charges are too much. Any serious researcher requires the original document.
With this census you could be paying a lot with the possibility of only seeing one person’s record if they lived alone. As already noted - previous census pages contained several households, often including further family members as a bonus.
Will charges remain the same?
December 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I have very much enjoyed using the site, and have been lucky enough to find almost all of my children’s great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. I’m just missing the ones in Kent and Scotland.
However, I have noted quite a few transription errors, but having paid 30 units to see the image I don’t want to spend ANOTHER ten units to get the transcript in order to report transcription errors. Is there any way of reporting transcription errors without paying for the transcript?
For example, having found “Fredrk C. Cater” and “Julila Cater” in the same household I was 99% certain I had found Frederick Charles Cates and his wife Julia, and indeed I was right. It would be nice to report the mistranscriptions, especially of the surname, so that people who have less experience have more chance of finding them. The handwriting is perfectly clear - CATES - and the “s” at the end is quite different from the “r” at the end of “Daughter” barely two inches away.
It would also be nice to be able to use wildcards in the surname search, or indeed no surname at all when the first name is unusual and the surname has various spellings - for example Augusta HEADON/HEADEN/HEYDON/HAYDON/HEDDON/HENDON who married and became Augusta HASSELL/ASSALL/HASSALL
December 29th, 2008 at 2:55 am
I agree with a lot of what has been said in the above blogs. As I understand it when 1911 goes live it will be available through the Findmypast website. Please correct me if I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick! This site of course does have an annual subscription rate as well as pay per view facilities so hopefully when 1911 is up and running, not just being tested as at present, a lot of the cost “problems” will be resolved.
I’m very interested in the answer to Stephen R’s query as that had crossed my mind also, though I have downloaded the “bought” documents to my PC.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I agree with Brian,
I can also see that there has to be a charge for using/maintaining the website but I to do not understand why we should have to pay 3pounds sixty pence to see the original image and 1pound twenty to see a transcription.
Family history research demands that you should always check the main source with your own eyes that way if there is an error found later it is yours, In this case the source is the image of the original document.
As I have already found what appears to be many spelling errors of names in the indexes, which could be very costly for a researcher if it sends him/her down the wrong trail. I certainly would be reluctant to pay the sort of prices being asked to view the original documents. I suspect
that there will be many unemployed / families on fixed incomes where money is in short supply who will be scared off from even starting a family tree as a hobby.
The census’s were paid for by the British Tax payer, the storage and care of the documents for the last one hundred years before there release, has been paid for by the British Taxpayer, the information in the census’s are the records handed down by our Ancestors, The British peoples family history. To be asked to pay such a high price to see it is out of order, yes a small charge for digitising and storing the data and making available on the internet is acceptable but these charges are highway or should I say family history robbery. Better to make it accessible to tens of millions paying a reasonable charge and coming back time and time again, than just a few thousand paying a high charge and never returning.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I agree entirely with the comments regarding cost, the charges are far too high. Particularly so when compared to Ancestry annual subscription where every Census, all BMD records and several additional databases can be viewed on an all inclusive and unlimited basis. (No, I don’t have any connection to them)!
The image quality was good and searching seemed OK but there was only one county available that I was interested in, so my use was limited.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
What a fantastic early Christmas present the beta 1911 Census was. A real surprise when i got home from work on 19 Dec.
Thank you for allowing early access.
I’ve been able to find most of my blood line ancestors plus throw up some queries with my previous research. Trouble is I’ve spent the best part of £50 and thats a real shame particularly in the current economic climate
The theme in these threads appears to relate to price and i have to agree that paying for transcripts and images is really too much. I would suggest a year subscription service along the lines of Ancestry.co.uk that gives unlimited access to all 1911 Census records, i.e. transcriptions and images.
I have many more ancestry threads to investigate and the current high charges will prevent me from completing this.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
All my ancestors are 100% Northern and none of counties were on the beta trial. However I did find some escapee’s who had moved south and using 1911 search facility coupled with Findmypasts BMD indexes I was able to confirm the research and family stories I had on these lines.
As the amount of information available from the search results is limited, it could become very costly to search an ancestor with a common name such as SMITH.
I can’t comment on census images or trasnscripts as I think the cost to view transcripts at £1.20 and the original image £3.40 is nothing short of extortionate. I appreciate it has taken you a lot of time and money to scan the 1911 census [which is bigger than previous ones] Is this a ploy to stop too many people using the site when it all goes live and stop it crashing like the 1901 census did. You would easily recoup costs if the 1911 census was available to view on a subscription basis as I am sure many would sign up to look at the 1911 census. So my purse is staying shut until the cost of the census is a more reasonably priced.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I have read the comments and agree in total with the comments regarding images and transcripts. I do find the cost prohibitive in regards the two. I do have to say though that the information that I was able to garner in regards to the family was correct - everyone I expected to find was there.
My only complaint, was the timing. Living as we do in Canada, we had company from England and I was busy preparing for them, etc. etc. The wrapping of presents and preparing for family dinners etc. was a prerequisite. Also being secretary for our parish church, I was busy with duties there too. I think a pre launch in January of 2009 would have been appreciated more.
Keep up the good work though. I am looking forward to the full launch, and do hope Scotland will be considered. nhnc
March 19th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
What a ridiculous high price for viewing records - at over £3 for an original image I just won’t be bothering!
June 7th, 2009 at 2:29 am
I wont be using this until there is a subscription service like Ancestry.
Many of us have already paid for Ancestry.co.uk and to pay out such a large sum of money per doc is not viable. My family tree is now large and I need to look at many 1911 records, I cannot afford to do this on a pay by view basis.
I will relunctantly consider a monthly or annual charge, but bear in mind it is only one cencus you are offering unlike Ancestry
June 8th, 2009 at 2:26 am
@debbie: there will be a subscription service available on findmypast.com in the future which will give you access to all censuses including 1911.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Debbie,
I got this from “Ancestry web site”
“The 1911 Census is currently only available via a pay-per-view agreement on the 1911 Census website.
Ancestry.co.uk is keen to offer members the richest and most diverse range of family history content available and has begun to discuss with The National Archives the possibility of securing a license to offer our own online access to the 1911 Census in the near future”
I very much doubt Ancestry would ask for an additional subscription just to cover the 1911 census. But the worry I have is that FMP will ask for an additional subscription to cover the 1911 census, either as a stand-a-lone or as a top up to existing subscrpition.
All FMP keep saying is “sometime in the near future”. I, like most, would like a firm commitment as to when and how much a subscription package will be. And if FMP want my money please let us know. Or are they making more money by having a pay-per-view package only at the moment while there is still a rush on to have a look.
mark