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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Gloucestershire => Topic started by: Lidfam on Friday 16 January 09 09:50 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I have just found my great grandfather in the 1911 Census, at Horfield Barracks, Bristol, listed as an inmate. I have looked into the history of the barracks, and all I can find is that is was, obviously, an army barracks, but also used for army training. On the same page as my g. grandfather on the census, are men in their 60s and 70s years of age, and he himself was 44. Could somebody please tell me why men of this age should be at an army barracks in 1911, and is the term "inmate" significant? My ancestor was, by trade a carpenter - joiner, and the only explanation I can come up with is that he was working there at the time. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Dale
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Hi Dale
Sorry but I don't have an answer to your question, but can I ask did you manage to look at the original document or just the transcript? The reason I ask is my grandfather is also shown in 1911 as based at Horfield Barracks where he is a Private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. The original document is not available so I am unable to confirm his place of birth.
Regards
CB1964
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Hi CB
Thankyou for your reply. No, I haven't seen the original, only the transcript but all the men on the page were inmates. When you say the original isn't available, would that apply to all the pages in the Barracks, because I am thinking of buying some more units to actually obtain my original page.
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I'm really not sure. The transcript gave me some basic details but not the place of birth. When I tried to view the original it says "We are sorry but the image is not currently available." I thought only the overseas military records were not currently available.
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Hello, Dale. This was the location of the barracks, as shown on a map of 1935.
Hope this helps.
Eric
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Hi CB
Thankyou for that. I now have the actual handwritten page my g.grandfather is on in the Barracks. It doesn't give any more clues, but I am still unclear as to why civilian men in their 60s and 70s would be staying at an army barracks. My first thought was that they were working there and lodging, but there are all sorts of occupations that would not be condusive to such an institution, such as rag and bone man, dock labourer, and farm worker.
I have to be honest and say that I am thinking it could be possible that the transcribers made an error with the institution name, and it maybe could be the nearby Horfield Prison? If your ancestor was at the Barracks in the same Census, but was in the military, and you cannot access the page, this might add more weight to my theory, as surely the whole of the Barracks would be unavailable to view. It would certainly give me something to research if that was to be the case.
Dale
PS. Up The Reds.
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Hi
With the earlier cenus's it would be possible to tell what road/area it was in by checking previous/latter pages.
With this one being one or more pages per household/establishment it is more difficult.
However it might be the Horfield Gaol is actually in a different parish area, regardless of the name, they are about one and a half kms from each other.
You say that you know have the handwritten image, if that says Horfield Barracks in the address box (bottom RH corner) then it isn't a transcription error.
I would suggest a question to the 1911 site querying this should sort it out.
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Hi
Thankyou for the suggestions. Although I have the original census page, the form filled out by an institution is entirely different to that of a normal household, and there is no address box on every page. The Institution where my g.grandfather was, had 7 pages to it, and so I would presume the address would have been given either on page 1 or on page 7. Without spending more credits, which don't come cheaply, I have no other way of knowing.
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Hi Lidfam
I think, if you're patient, you should get more information when it is released in due course.
FindMyPast are planning to allow you to see pages which are associated with those you have bought. I don't think they have said when (personally I hope they prioritise the counties that aren't released at all yet, but that's just me being selfish!)
Kind regards, Arranroots ;)