Can't make out birthplace

[orkneyman]

This is from the 1871 census. The first entry on here,  John O'N***. I can make out he is ,head, widowed, aged 40, stripper and grinder at mill. But I have no idea where his birthplace is, the best I could come up with is 'Belfast British Colonies'. I doubt they would list Belfast as a British Colony in 1871, would they?
Can anyone work it out please.

[josey]

Welcome to rootschat  .

To me it actually looks like  'British British Colonies' like the enumerator was stating his nationality & then the reason for it  Have you found him in other censuses>

[Flattybasher9]

Looks like, New Bedford, British Colonies.
Malky

[rosie99]

The 'New' appears to follow on from occupation Stripper & Grinder at ....

[ShaunJ]

It does look like Belfast to me.

[orkneyman]

Welcome to rootschat  .

To me it actually looks like  'British British Colonies' like the enumerator was stating his nationality & then the reason for it  Have you found him in other censuses>

Thank you for the welcome.
I'm not sure about other census the nearest I've come is this from 1861

[josey]

Here's the reference for the 1871
RG10; Piece: 3932; Folio: 123; Page: 33 Great Bolton Lancashire.

On enlarging the original I agree with Belfast - you can see more of the 'f'. If only the enumerator's could know how much grief their additional strokes would cause people 150 years later!!

[ShaunJ]

Begins with B and ends in fast

[stanmapstone]

On enlarging the original I agree with Belfast - you can see more of the 'f'. If only the enumerator's could know how much grief their additional strokes would cause people 150 years later!!

It is not the enumerator's stroke. It is a mark made by the clerk in the census  office extracting birthplaces. If you look further down the page you can see the same mark has been made for two people born in Scotland. On the original page the mark was probably in red, although it shows black on the monochrome images.

Stan