1911Census.org.uk

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: M Livermore Mon 14 Apr 2008 16:03
 
I paid £40+ for details of an address from the 1911 census. The information I received told me very little. The names, ages and occupations of those living at the address when the census was done.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Fred Tue 13 Jan 2009 15:31
 
Yes, this another disgraceful rip off by our the condescending British establishment. This information was collected and stored at tax payer expense, it should therefore be provided freely to British tax payers. This is the principle applied in America - the tax payers paid for it, so the taxpayers own it, and as they own it, they cannot be charged to see it.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: D Denny Tue 13 Jan 2009 19:27
 
I think until the 1911 is up and running and we can view this without paying I'm going to give this a miss I'm afraid - as per other e-mails, as per below,and others its just not worth it

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: George Tue 13 Jan 2009 19:51
 
The £40+ that the original poster paid nearly a year ago was when the only way to get information was to get National Archives to do a manual search throught the files. The same information now its online would cost about £3 - I'll leave it to others whether that is extortionate or not.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Jayne Tue 13 Jan 2009 20:21
 
WILL THIS INFO GO ONTO OTHER SITES, WHICH I PAY A YEARLY AMOUNT FOR, OR IS THIS YET AGAIN A SITE THAT WILL COST A FORTUNE TO EXTRACT INFO FROM?

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: David (--@--.--) Tue 13 Jan 2009 20:44
 
There's a bit about this halfway down the Accessing the 1911 census page. Basically findmypast say that later in 2009 you will be able to view this with a subscription rather than pay-per view.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Mike Dovey Tue 13 Jan 2009 21:31
 
I have had a quick trawl around and found no names under the age of 18 !!!!!
Ok I stopped at paying for the privilege of looking at the actual entry but can someone confirm that only 18+ year olds appear ? I looked up a fictitious "John Smith" of Essex and found loads of them all aged 18+

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Laurie M Tue 13 Jan 2009 21:40
 
I found loads of people under 18. Are you sure you haven't specified HEAD in the Realtionship to Head field in the advanced search. If you did this, it would probably only return the 18+s.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Maria Dahlin Fri 16 Jan 2009 5:02
 
I wanted to access the 1911 census but with the conversation rate from pounds to dollars it works out really expensive, especially if you want the census records for the extended family as well. This has been a big disappointment. I know alot of work goes into digitalising the images but surely if the prices were lower more people would access and they would recoup there money that way.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Allan P. Sun 18 Jan 2009 12:38
 
Can anyone say whether in 2012 we'll be able to got to The National Archives and look at the scans for free, as I think we should? I've been searching the web to find out but am not getting anywhere, least of all from the NA or 1911census.co.uk sites.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: David (--@--.--) Sun 18 Jan 2009 19:19
 
You can do it now, view them for free at the National Archives in Kew. There is more information here
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/rdleaflet.asp?sLeafletID=326&j=1 in a leaflet published on Census Returns on the National Archives website.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: John Sat 24 Jan 2009 10:28
 
Fine if you live in the UK, but what about all of us that live abroad and are trying to research our family history? My mum was born in 1910 so only just made the 1911 census, had she lived she would be 99 now, so I don't think the excuse for 100 year confidentiality comes into it do you?

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Chris P Sat 31 Jan 2009 19:37
 
In answer to the original question: yes, but not this much!
This site is ok for the person who only needs a few pieces of info or if you know the exact details of someone and need to confirm something via a free search. But it is a rip-off if you intend to do any serious research. I have about 600 original census return scans from another site which cost me approx. £60 over a 3 year period. That's about 10p per scan which is reasonable when you are doing lots of research. This site charges 30 "credits" for just one original schedule (10 credits for a transcription - but you need the original for proper family history record keeping and, whatever is said to the contrary, there are always lots of transcription errors on these sites). 30 credits equates to almost £2.70 on this site if you go for their best offer at present. That's 27 times greater than what I am used to! The term "credits" is dodgy anyway. You have to ask why don't they simply tell you how much money you have left and give you the actual cost of viewing something. Because it is a rip-off!
I would accept a price which is three times greater per scan as this company has done much to force the issue of getting the 1911 census online. That would mean them having to offer an original image for about 3 "credits". But no way would I pay these amounts. I shall wait for the real price of a census schedule to come down much further before I wade into the 1911 census. The more people refuse to be ripped off, the quicker this site will have to change its pricing model.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Marie Tue 3 Feb 2009 14:06
 
Can anybody remember how much the 1901 cost when first released? This is expensive, surely far more than the 1901, and the number of transcription errors make tracing an individual who didn't have a particularly unusual name a very expensive lottery. For instance, I'm looking for Anne Butler and am trying to decide whether or not to pay for what may be yet another incorrect transcription - can I rely on Amine Butter with a vaguely similar age to the peson I'm looking for being the correct one? Who transcribed this? I'll use up my present credit and wait until it's available on subscription. Only problem is I'm running out of time!

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Graham Fri 10 Apr 2009 21:11
 
I've spent quite a bit of money over the past few months trying to find my family on the 1911 Census and failing. Today I finally found what I was looking for, and the reason I failed earlier was due to some very elementary transcription errors, the site seems to be riddled with these as I've heard from many other people with the same problem.
It's not enough that you have to take pot luck and pay your fee to see if the record you've found is the right one, if the transcription is incorrect you stand little chance of identifying the correct record in the first place!
This is an expensive enough service as it is, with all the errors it becomes even more expensive, the company must be raking it in from people paying their money only to find another incorrect result. The experience is not unlike playing a one armed bandit, in my case with a similar success rate!
I'm just thankful that I've now found what I wanted, and have no further need for this rip-off service. Complaints are just met with a rather blank "Well it's mostly correct"!

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: carmen E Mon 13 Apr 2009 22:00
 
I paid out two lots of £6.35. and decided that its not worth it. the one family i found had the wrong information. and i even had to correct the spelling of one poor man. I know people transcribe the census from old records, but i think they could endeavour to get correct spellings.
It seems to me, that to look at the census now at this moment on line, is only for the rich, and that means not housewives who are not working. I shant bother looking again.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Mrs. J.C. Joslin Thu 18 Jun 2009 19:15
 
I definitely won't be subscribing to this. As I mentioned on 17 June under "Charges for viewing records" I went on one of the new websites (I think it was Genes Reunited) and they wanted me to pay in advance with credits I didn't have - I'd have to buy them first! I couldn't see what was on it, so how would I know if I was paying for the correct family record.

it's just another rip-off, as usual.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Morris Munns Thu 20 Aug 2009 12:58
 
I've had a look at about 10 transcripts and found too many mistakes for comfort. It seems the transcribers lack knowledge of geography and/or experience reading older handwriting.

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1911 Census - is paying for information worthwhile?
From: Bruce L Fri 18 Sep 2009 20:24
 
I have just had an email from Find My Past (I do not subscribe but I am registered) and basically it offers

"An annual subscription to the 1911 Census is £59.99 – the equivalent of viewing 15 transcripts and images (using PayAsYouGo Credits)"

One this shows how hugely expensive the images are and two as this is for the 1911 census only how expensive access to these public records is. To subsrcibe to findmypast and the 1911 census there is a special offer -

"If you want to add the 1911 Census subscription to findmypast.com’s Explorer subscription, we will give you 20% off the combined price, giving you 12 months’ access to findmypast.com for just £119.95"

I don't expect these things for free but this is more than I pay for Ancestry and The Genealogist combined. As a result I have limited my usually extensive research to the minimum and will continue to do so. I believe the pricing to be rediculously high and will severly restrict the take up.

As a former Free BMD transcriber I fully agree with the comments about the poor quality of transcriptions. Also as you cannot see any record detail you can spend lots of money chasing the wrong records.

In my opinion this is not value for money.

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