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The 1841 Census Midnight Sun/Mon 6/7th June 1841 |
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The 1841 Census forms record, at the top of each page, the identity of the place where the census is being taken. The body of the form is as follows:
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Column 1 Place (i.e. local address)
Column 2 Marked to indicate whether a house is uninhabited or being built or is used to indicate the start of a new household.
Column 3 Names - Only the first Christian name was to be given. For several people in succession with the same surname "do" for ditto was used.
Column 4 Age and Sex
The instructions read: For persons aged 15 years and upwards it is sufficient to state within what period of five years their age is, writing down the lowest number of that period: thus for persons aged 15 and under 20, write 15 - for 20 and under 25, write 20 ... but the exact age may be stated if the person prefers it. For persons under 15, write in the number of years; for infants under one year the number of months.
Column 5 Profession, trade, employment or of independent means.
Column 6 Where born (a) whether born in the same county or (b) Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
The relationship between the members of the household is not recorded.
Availability
Available online at Ancestry, findmypast or The Genealogist and other collaborating web sites - index and enumerator book images.
Enumerator book images available on CD (for Hertfordshire Unions) from British Data Archive or from Archive CD Books
[If you know of other sources please tell me]
Comparative Review Test 1
For the first comparison I selected a tiny parish near where I live called Puttenham, and a slightly fuzzy name at random on the first page, Ann Cherry, the aim being to compare the ease of finding of the village, and the clarity of the writing. All enumerator book images images were obtained by using a nominal 400% magnification and a screen save, with no additional editing.
Subject 1: CD: S& N Data British Archive Ltd: Hertfordshire 1841 Census Images
On loading the CDs it was easy to go directly to the parish by name, and find the name Ann Cherry on the first page.
Subject 2: CD: Archive CD Books: Hertfordshire 1841: Pieces HO107/441-442
[This CD is part of a set for the whole of Hertfordshire, but can be brought separately] On loading the CDs one gets the menu for the complete set, and while there is an index to tell you which parish is on which piece, you are taken to the start of the piece and have to scan over three other folios to get to Puttenham. The image was so feint as to be almost unreadable.
Subject 3: Online Transcript and Index: FindMyPast
A simple search for Ann Cherry in Puttenham, Hertfordshire produced a single correct result with a satisfactory transcript. The image was so feint as to be almost unreadable.
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Subject 4: Online Transcript and Index: The Genealogist
[to be carried out later] - Presumably uses the S & N images, above
Subject 5: Online Index: Ancestry
Searches for Ann Cherry, or anyone else living at Puttenham, were negative, and Puttenham is not listed in the table of Hertfordshire parishes, and neither are at least two of the other parishes on piece 442. Requests by piece/folio/page number were also abortive. It would appear that several parishes are not included in the Ancestry data base.
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DATA MISSING FROM ANCESTRY DATABASE |
Comparative Review Test 2
For the second test I selected the clear first names on Flamstead:
Subject 1: CD: S& N Data British Archive Ltd: Hertfordshire 1841 Census Images
The images is over darkened - and has picked up some noise, but is still readable
Subject 2: CD: Archive CD Books: Hertfordshire 1841: Pieces HO107/441-442
Subject 3: Online Transcript and Index to images: FindMyPast
Subject 4: Online Transcript and Index to images: The Genealogist
[to be carried out later] - Presumably uses the S & N images, above
Subject 5: Online Index to images: Ancestry
This time the search produced the goods - and a good quality image,
Page updated January 2011
