Genealogy Chat

Kath

In fact you are NOT paying the government for transcribing the 1911 Census

It was handed over to a PRIVATE company to do. The government presumably put out a request for bids for a company capable of doing the job, Brightsolid won, and PAID the UK government for the rights.

They used a new technique to do the transcribing, and that was made both easier and more difficult because the original census sheets were still available.

That's why we can see our ancestors' very own handwriting

In all previous censuses, the original forms were filled out by an enumerator or someone else, collected, and the information then transcribed into books. The original sheets were then apparently destroyed, and what we see as census original images are taken from the record book.


In the case of the 1911 ............. the techniques used by the company who obtained the right to transcribe them was very expensive, and they have admitted that they have to try to recoup some at least of the cost.

In my own humble opinion that is partly why they agreed to speed up the process so that most of the information could be released up to 2 years early .......... because that way they could charge more and get more back.


Thus .......... you are not paying any level of government twice in order to see the 1911. You are paying a business!

I can remember having to pay to see the 1901 Census on a separate site, for about a year or possibly more, before it became available on ancestry, findmypast, etc



This is from the 1911 Census site:-

brightsolid – partner of choice for the online 1911 census

In April 2007 the National Archives announced brightsolid as its chosen partner for the online launch of the 1911 census. It also announced that brightsolid’s genealogical subsidiary, Find My Past, would be making the census available through a dedicated website.


About brightsolid

brightsolid began life in 1995 as Scotland Online, and has built an enviable reputation as a first-class internet services provider.

brightsolid is a business critical ISP. We manage our clients’ information availability and online presence through hosting, internet access, applications and business continuity products and services supporting a large number of corporate and public sector customers.

brightsolid has a strategic partnership with SunGard Availability Services, a global leader in disaster recovery services. This enables us to provide unique business continuity and IT disaster recovery services.

The company has significant expertise in the digitisation and management of records in the fast-growing online family history market. It manages ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. In 2008, brightsolid acquired findmypast.co.uk, which operates an online family history site based in London, England.

brightsolid has several contracts in this field, including the contract to digitise, license and publish the 1911 census from The National Archive in Kew.

brightsolid operates its own data centre. It’s underpinned by a resilient and secure network with dual location and disaster recovery options. Designed and built for brightsolid in the last few years we don’t face the legacy challenges of older data centres.

brightsolid has an impressive list of partners. brightsolid are a MicrosoftGold Partner and an Oracle Partner and our disaster recovery services are provided in partnership with SunGard, a global leader in this field.




Brightsolid is also incidentally the company that bought Friends Reunited group last year .... that means they also own Genes Reunited.





Oh yes ......... your taxes did not pay the cost of the 1911 census, because you weren't paying them then!


And I think you were incredibly harsh and rude to George and others in telling them to think of others and not just of themselves.


it seems to me that you are guilty of doing that! I'm sorry to hear of your household situation, but that doesn't mean others should pay for your access through their taxes.


Why do you think so many people offer help on here, using their own subscriptions, memberships and credits in all kinds of sites? Part of the reason is to help people who for whatever reason cannot for the moment afford to take out those subscriptions. George is one of the people who help



sylvia

when i joined gr it was to research my family trees. i started off by buying five pounds worth of credits. but i used these within a day, so deciced to take out gold membership with gr. i have done that many look ups, its paid my sub several times over.
i dont mind paying because who paid the people who took hundreds of hours to put all this info on in the first place?
whilst some things are free in life, this type of research is right to charge a fee.
some may disagree with me, but thats just my personal opinion.
i also do look ups for other people if i can too(free of course!)

I have just returned from a visit to the Central library in Nottingham. i queried what access they have to family history sites online.

This is what i was told

(1) They have access to Find my Past but not the 1911 census, but they will shortly be introducing a pay voucher system to use the 1911 census, but they don't know when this will start or how much.

(2) The Nottingham City libraries do not have access to Ancestry.co.uk

(3) The libraries in the County of Nottinghamshire do not have access to Find My past ,but not the 1911., whether or not they will also have the voucher system i don't know, they do have Ancestry

So it looks as though access to the 1911 will have to be paid for at libraries.

As a council tax payer in the city, i say a good idea , i do not wish to pay for others to use the facilty for free, my tax is enough as it is

\George

That is interesting.

People in Nottingham appear to be well served, but the same might not apply elsewhere.

I wonder how many other libraries are offering FMP for 'free' Perhaps members could check out their area and we could compile a list?

Yes, it was restricted. As I said above, the Notts Library site mentions there were just 7 archive centres who were funded by the National Archives.

1911 was rolled out to a handful of libraries for a very limited period.............I doubt if there were more than half a dozen who had it , and once the allocated credits expired, access was withdrawn.

I don't see why anyone would expect to get - for nothing - something to advance what is, after all, only a hobby.

There are far more important things which require public funding.

I'm old enough to have been brought up to expect to pay my way in life..............

I wasn't trying to imply anyone was misleading, but rather that access appeared to be limited to certain areas - 1911 certainly wasn't available for free where I live.

I did have a look on the Notts website, but I couldn't see any obvious reference to FMP, so can't confirm or otherwise at this stage.

Lots on searching local archives including Parish Records, though. Well worth checking out if you have interests in the area.

Taken from the Nottingham Libraries Website

"1911 Census

The 1911 census is now no longer available at Nottinghamshire Archives.

The 1911 census was only available for a limited time. The National Archives had funded a limited number of credits so that seven archives across the country could provide free access for a limited time only. The length of time that these credits were available depended upon demand.

As the census has been very popular all the credits have now been used.

Story updated: 10 November 2009"

So it looks as though Nottingham was one of the selected areas who did have the 1911 census for free, but no longer does .

Elaine

I think you need to make it very clear that you are talking only about UK libraries.

It does not necessarily apply all over the world.


You should also think very carefully about how much use you make of these so-called free services.

Access to quite a few internet sites that actually require the library to pay a subscription (as for the Library edition of ancestry) has either been much reduced over here or there is a charge for using the service

......................... reduction in library support by the local councils means hard decisions have had to be made.



sylvia

Freewheel & InspectorGreenPen

I do agree with your comments re the 1911 census and the costs etc.Some people seem to think the Government should provide everything for free, this is not a cheap hobby, but its less than my Golf fees, perhaps i should ask the Government to pay.LOL

Re access at libraries Last time i visited the Central Library in Nottingham 2 months ago they did have access to the 1911 census on FMP which you could use for free but limited to half hour session.
Dont know if this still applies, but i am going there on thursday, so i will be interested to see if its still available.

George

I was about the say the same thing. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds to transcribe, index and scan the images and then maintain the database on the web.

I would be interested to hear just which libraries offer free access, I know our library has the Ancestry Library Service, but I'm not aware of they offer free census or FMP access. Other counties may do, but I don't think it is consistent across the country.

No, Kathleen, the info should not be free. (My opinion, to which I'm entitled)

The transcription was VERY costly, and it should not come out of the taxpayers' pockets.

Why should your neighbour help to pay for your research?

The info should be paid for by those who want it - a very small minority of this country's population.

You'll have to check with your own library, not all local authorities will provide this service and some may only have it at selected libraries. Many will have ancestry library edition but that won't have the 1911 census on it.

many public libraries have now, a computer suite, with a computer set aside for family history only........you have to have a membership card for a library....which is free.

Bob

You have NEVER been able to access the 1911 census through GR .................. and you won't be able to for quite some time.


The only access to the 1911 census is either through the 1911 census site OR through www.findmypast ........ and it is pay per view or subscription to look at the transcript or census image. Although it is possible to search for free on the 1911 site, and to find out a lot of information.

The reason is that the way the transcription of the census has been done was very expensive, it has been released almost 2 years early, and only to findmypast as a means of attempting to recover some of the cost of the transcriptions.


It may become available on ancestry ............... but probably not for at least one mroe year.


GR's gold membership is actually a bit of a con in itself ...................... there is debate among the us members as to how many official records GR actually carries.

I'm one of many who believe that they do not in fact carry any at all ........ they just re-direct you to other sites.


This is why for example, you cannot move from one page to another in a census, or why you only see bmds as an index to names, instead of the record with spouse name possible to see.



Much better to save your money and subscribe to ancestry (my choice) or findmypast ........ and just keep the lowest susb on GR so you can continue to use these boards, and get help from the members on here.




sylvia

same with ancestry..........advertise free trial............BUT you have to lodge a card up front first,,,,,,,

bob

Well, it is a bit sneaky but not strictly untrue as you can search for free!! Give it a go though and see how you get on. I suppose they do have to cover costs to be fair, but I agree it is very expensive for what you get.
Jan

I guess you confirmed it, it's a con, nothing is for free and they are profiting off those adds that say it is free and then charge you... very bad, they should be reported to trading standards.

This is information that should be freely available to the public.. it's a disgrace!

You can't view for free anywhere - this is the case with all census apart from 1881 as you no doubt know. However, it is possible to check out other members of the household, relationships, even check if an occupation or address matches - I have nudged Jonesey's excellent thread for you, it is on Tips Board.
I have a sub now, but found out lots for free before I did that, so don't dismiss it just yet.
jan

Thank you Jan

Oh yes, I've been there, contrary to the add, i have to pay view the results, it's a con.

I need a link to where I can view my grandad's census notes for free.