Review: Irish and Scottish finds in the 1921 English census

I've had a chance to carry out some searches on the 1921 English census on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk), and my overall thoughts are that they have done a very good job with it. Considering my family were largely Scottish and Irish based at this point, I've already made three finds so far. 

The most significant has been for my great great grandfather Edwin Graham, who was from Belfast, and his third wife Sarah (both pictured). We all know the horror stories about the destruction of the Irish censuses prior to 1901, and the lack of a census in 1921 there due to the War of Independence. Well, fortuitously, having already found him in the 1881 census in Barrow in Furness (along with my three times great grandfather Thomas), I now have him in Bootle in 1921 also, with Sarah (aka Mystic Meg in my notes, she was said to be a medium, and there are a few stories about the two of them and their spiritualist life!), and their family. Importantly, one of their kids, turns out to have been called Noreen Maureen, and not just Maureen, explaining why I have previously not found her birth record. Another nice touch is to see the name of his employer - Harland and Wolff - even though he had also noted that he was unemployed at that precise moment. I'd always assumed he must have worked for them at some point, but it's nice to finally see it in black and white somewhere.

The nicest part of the record, however, was to see their son Brian listed. Brian passed away a few year back, but through his daughter I was able to make contact with him before he died, and thanks to his recollection that his grandparents originated from somewhere near Caledon in Co. Tyrone, I was able to make the leap out of Belfast and back to Thomas' original parish in Co. Armagh, and his wife's from Co. Monaghan, with both of them indeed based very close to Caledon in the early to mid 19th century. One final observation, tinged with a little sadness - this is the last census in which Edwin was an Irishman, before becoming a Northern Irishman, just a few months prior to the island being formally ripped apart by Partition.

On the Scottish side, my great grandmother Jessie's brother David John MacFarlane has turned up as expected in Tendring, Essex, where he worked as an actor, whilst my great grandfather David's brother James Paton, a manager for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, has been found in Edmonton, Middlesex, with his family and a young visitor from Inverness.

The census entries are to be found on two pages, with the address of those enumerated on the reverse side of the main schedule, so don't forget to save the second page! There are also additional documents freely available when you click on Open Filmstrip, and then click on Extra Materials, where you will find a map of the enumeration district and instructions for the eneumerator (and a tip of the hat here to Jacky Depelle for sharing that tip on Twitter at 1am!).

A major plus is that you can pay by PayPal to see the records, very handy when I started my research last night in bed, and didn't have to get up to get my debit card. On the downside, whilst a transcript is £2.50, and an original image is £3.50, I had assumed that if you purchased the image that you would then have access to the transcript (as is the case with vital records on https://geni/nidirect.gov.uk), but you still have to purchase that separately if you require it, which I have not bothered with. Full credit though to FindmyPast on the Advanced Options for searching, which are excellent.

Overall, a great resource, and I look forward to seeing the Scottish equivalent when it eventually makes its way online also. 

Have fun!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.