Genealogy Chat

Hello!!! Fellow genealogists.....a nice man by the name of Guy has set up a petition to be sent to Tony Blair.....(more to follow)

I have been looking into this more and more and there are so many facts that actually demonstrate that the Government is treating Genealogists extremely badly! Just by way of example: In Northern Ireland both the 1901 Census and the 1911 Census was released in 1960; The Freedom of Information Act 2005 removed the restrictions placed on the release of information and the requirements of this Act are being ignored; Prior to 1911 the average release period for Census Returns was 80 years. So rather than just talking about it I have decided to take Action! We have set up a Petition to be submitted to the Government to see if we can get them to reconsider! http://www(.)cookgenealogy(.)com/phpPETITION/ (remove the brackets) :-)

Have now signed Susan x

Its a great idea isnt it!....thanks Laura...x

hi susan, i only get this did not match any documents i have removed the brackets hazel.

*sigh* You will be wasting your time with this. It has already been debated twice in Parliament and it WILL NOT be debated again!!The Government have more important things to do. The 1911 census is not ready for publication yet, it will take at least another five years to process. It will be released on Jan 1st 2012 and not a minute before. Any petition is pointless - the release cannot be speeded up in any way. OC

This old chestnut has reared its ugly head again. You can debate as much as you like about the early release of the 1911 Census, it won't make the slightest bit of difference. If it was released tomorow, there is no way it could be put on line, it is a massive task to digitise the information and will take until the due date for it to be done. If it was released immediately, the only way you could consult it would be by going to London to do so, as we had to do in the 'bad old days' Jennifer

There have already been quite a few 'petitions' on these boards regarding the early release of the 1911 census. It was debated in parliament last year and they voted NOT to release it early. As already said, it isn't ready to be released yet anyway. We want it in a fit state to be able to search it properly and making sure it is scanned properly at decent quality takes time. I personally think you will just be wasting your time and you won't be successful in the end anyway. Sorry if this is not what you want to hear. Kath. x

Furthermore.. In the Government handout above, they state that 'less than 5% requires further work to render it stable'. But I have heard people who have SEEN the state of this census for themselves, that anything up to 50% is stinking, waterlogged and will be virtually unusable. They may well be able to stabilise it enough to scan it - but will we be able to read it? Even if its only 5% - that's about 1.5 million people who will be missing from the 1911 - what are you going to do then? Answer - you will have to research using other methods, something you could do now, without waiting till 2012. The previous censuses which were released early were only used by professional genealogists, a mere handful of people. They were not plastered all over the WWW for every nosey parker to see. I am dead against any early release of ANY census and certainly this one. OC

Why oh why don't people realise that filming and digitising the 1911 census is a mammoth task. It will be released on 1st Jan 2012 (if it's ready on time). It would be impossible to release it earlier, the time scale just isn't there.

I am sure you are all right about the 1911 census not being ready, and therefor not being released early. I do wonder however..if you realise how hostile you all sound..if i was susan i think i would be feeling rather hurt at the moment due to the way you have all shouted down her idea....ok you may not agree, but a bit of common courtesy and respect costs nothing

Webster Thankyou for pointing out that we sound hostile. This was not my intention, nor anyone else's I am sure, and I sincerely apologise to Susan. But that does not alter my opinions on this matter - not hostile opinions, just my opinions. OC

thats cool oc..i have no probs with your oppinion..i dont intirely disagree with you, just sometime we type things and in our head they sound different to how the read to others

i agree webster bet she is feeling down about the reception she got it was an idea thats all

Hurt is an understatement....stomped on!! :(((((( I realise everyone is entitled to air their opinion....but it is all negative....from Merry & all the way down! and all in repeat of one another. The man who has put it together is doing it to try and benefit everyone and after all even if the petition gets genealogists no-where at least a bit of effort was put into it.... where's the harm in trying.....it is hurting noboby! Susan

Complete waste of time and space.....it will not happen. Reg

if everybody thought that way, nothing would ever get done.

thanks for your imput reg you are probably right...but please just for a moment think what it would be like to have an idea..which you believe to be a good one...you want to share it with your friends...and when you do someone says ...'Complete waste of time and space' not a nice feeling is it??

Susan I didnt mean to be hostile either but do think you are missing a point here. Even if the government said yes tomorrow, it wouldn't be ready to go online before the 2012 date anyway. The task of filming and digitising is enormous. The 1911 census is much larger than the 1901 and apparently that took 5 years to film and digitise. I too would love to see the 1911, but know I will have to wait. Just the same as I remember waiting for the 1901 and the 1891. The 1891 wasn't put on the Internet either, you had to either travel to London or visit the area you needed to see it on microfiche. No indexes either, had to trawl through fiche after fiche.

Hi Everyone!! I also feel uneasy about the early release of the 1911 census or any other census.... There are so many people on that census that are still living today! (and yes I know some will still be living in 2012) The 100 year closure is there to protect them and their families and also to protect us and ours in the future. Just think of all the different secrets/skeletons you could uncover and cause great hurt and embarassment to the older members of your family..... Susan....I know it's frustrating, when I first started this a couple of years ago I really wanted the 1911 to be brought forward but as I have 'got to know' my family and found out more and more about their lives my views and opinions changed, Now I would feel like I was snooping around in their homes while they were out!! I just couldn't do it!! Deb