1921 census

[Top-of-the-hill]

  As groom said, I know exactly where my family was in 1921 - in the house I was brought up in! I would just like to know where my grandfather was working at that point. Most of my look-ups will be on the local history side.

[Romilly]

I completely understand the reasons for charges, and personally would be prepared to pay a lot more if it gave me any clue at all to the origins of my ever elusive paternal grandfather!
However, I’m not holding my breath, as he seems a past master at obliterating any clues at all about his antecedents…
Romilly 

As the date finally nears, I have been thinking of you and hoping that mysterious grandad appears on the 1921. I will be keeping my eyes open for you to post that you've finally found where he came from.

Good luck

Carol x

Many thanks Carol,

And thanks for all of your help with trying to find him over the years.

I’ll be sure to post on here if I find anything at all!

Romilly 

[AllanUK]

Like others have said I don't understand why people expect it to be free in the format it is being made available.

When I first started my research the 1891 census was the most upto date one available.
 These were on microfilm, which all had to be searched manually.  If you were lucky a family history society might have produced some sort of index to help you find possible ancestors/relations.

None of the census were available to me from the comfort of my own home, visits to Archives and libraries for my relevant counties of interest were needed.

Anyone who has taken up this hobby post Ancestry, FindMyPast etc does not realise how lucky they are to have vast collections of records available to them, for a fee, in the comfort of their own home.  I'm lucky myself to have access to some of these too as I never managed to make trips to some counties I was interested in.

I have 19 direct ancestors on the 1921 census, probably 9 or 10 individual households.  I'll happily be paying to view them tomorrow.

Jay

Like you Jay, I spent many hours in county archives (both local and further afield) to find family members - when the 1891; 1901 and 1911 Census came on line one by one it was worth paying the  extra over above my subscriptions to Ancestry and FindMyPast just to do the searches in the comfort of my home.

We all know that the Census returns are public property but the public purse isn't there to assist our hobby.

[candleflame]

I'm just excited it's being released, just as I was for previous ones. This is especially true as I am unlikely to be around for when the 1951 census is released........
I'll enjoy searching for some of my lot and depending on how successful I am, may buy a few, not because they are essential, but because I'd like them. I've done some prep work of looking at some electoral rolls online where they exist and narrowed down where I think some of them should be in 1921, but who knows .

[mrcakey]

Snip
The records should be free, but our glorious leaders farm them out to private companies (where else are they doing that I wonder?), so those private companies need to recoup their huge costs. I don't begrudge them one bit.

Sorry - I don't understand?
Why should they be free?

I can understand what the poster meant by "The records should be free" but I suggest he/she does not understand the implications of that statement.
{snipped}

It's a philosophy thing. I'm afraid I'm an old fashioned liberal. I feel very uncomfortable about the idea of my relatives having to pay to find out about me in 100 years time too. My data should belong to me as a matter of principle.

Digitisation, transcription and storage all cost a lot of money, but relative to what's in the exchequer, I doubt it would even trouble 1% of the government's daily budget.

[Guy Etchells]

It's a philosophy thing. I'm afraid I'm an old fashioned liberal. I feel very uncomfortable about the idea of my relatives having to pay to find out about me in 100 years time too. My data should belong to me as a matter of principle.

Digitisation, transcription and storage all cost a lot of money, but relative to what's in the exchequer, I doubt it would even trouble 1% of the government's daily budget.

Your data does belong to you but your are asking that government data (i.e. data collected and collated by government employees) not your data even if it contains details about you, be supplied free of charge
You can of course use a freedom of information request to have the information the government hold on you supplied to you, but even that comes at a small charge.
There is no point in discussing whether your relatives would have to pay to view records the government hold about you in 100 years as by that time the government may not even be allowed to keep any records on individuals unless they are needed for current business and your relatives will most probably not be allowed to access such records in any case. Even today your relatives have no right to gain access to any records the government hold about you except for a very few records specified by law such as your birth certificate, marriage certificate and eventually death certificate. Even they have to be paid for, I do not see you protesting about that!

Your last paragraph suggests you do not mind paying for access to government records as long as every other taxpayer in the country pays part of the costs, that says a lot about your principles.
Cheers
Guy

[Marmalady]

It's a philosophy thing. I'm afraid I'm an old fashioned liberal. I feel very uncomfortable about the idea of my relatives having to pay to find out about me in 100 years time too. My data should belong to me as a matter of principle.

Digitisation, transcription and storage all cost a lot of money, but relative to what's in the exchequer, I doubt it would even trouble 1% of the government's daily budget.

So write it all down and let your relatives / descendants know about you  without having to wait for a census release in the future

Census info is pretty basic -- Name address age occupation family etc -- so is easily written down and stored either in paper of digital form.
You can also expand on the basic info to give your descendants a much more rounded view of who you are and how you live than a snapshot taken on one night every 10 years

[coombs]

I should know exactly where some of mine are in the 1921 census right down to the address. Unless they were on holiday and were staying in a hotel in Bournemouth or Great Yarmouth. You never know.

[mrcakey]

{snip}
Your last paragraph suggests you do not mind paying for access to government records as long as every other taxpayer in the country pays part of the costs, that says a lot about your principles.
Cheers
Guy

I'm sure it does. The idea that only those who can afford to pay should be able to access them says a lot about yours.