Yesterday saw the long-awaited launch of a substantial part of the 1911 census for England and Wales. It’s available on a separate website at www.1911census.co.uk and later in the year will be available on the Findmypast subscription site. Searching is free but you will need to purchase credits to view transcripts or original images. Downloads are fairly expensive – I bought £6.95 worth of credits which entitled me to six transcripts or two census images. However, the site is easy to use and the quality of the images is excellent.
Details which haven’t appeared on previous censuses include how long couples have been married and the number of children born alive, still living or who have died. The column giving details of infirmities has been blanked out for privacy reasons. The most exciting difference between this census and previous ones is that the digitised forms are those filled in by the householders rather than the census enumerators, so you are able to download and save the form completed and signed by your ancestor.
This is not a full launch of the 1911 census. 36 English counties are available but six counties (all in the north of England), all of the Welsh counties, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Royal Navy ships at sea and military establishments overseas are yet to be included.
