Hello Friends of the Forest
I started a topic on Rootschat (I may have grumbled here too?)in which I grumbled about having to wait to view the 1921 census, I can't be the only one who wants to find out where somebody went. A poll attached to that topic shows 67% agree the time period to view should be reduced to 50 years, but some other facts? came out of the comments.

One person says that the 1920 act is worded that the details within the later census will never be released.
Hardly anything of the 1931 census survives due to the war
No 1941 census took place because of the war
So the next census that survives is 1951, and I bet a lot of us are in that census, I'd like to have a copy, but there's nothing I need to know. But wouldn't it be wonderful to see your street and names of people you might have forgotten about.

One comment states that because of the freedom of information act we can ask to see any government document, the problem is it could cost us £250. I suggested that if the 1921 census was available to view in person, by people carrying ID, I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee. After all we are only asking to see what is our family information, it belongs to us. Each county could hold the census at their archive offices and charge a fee for copies as they do for other records. Would any reasonable person object to that? Has anyone tried?

Anyway I plan to find out if I can view 1921, but there is no way I'm going to pay £250. cheers Fred

It does seem silly not to be able to view the census, but you can view parish records.
If it wasn't for the dedication of this and many other sites like these it would certainley make our research more difficult.
With Ancestry having full access to birth and marriage records from 1837-2005 and the searching becoming more easy to do because of it then maybe it is time to allow the 1921 census to say be released in 5 years rather than 10.
Afterall the census is sometimes only used to confirm what we know already.

Good hunting

Pete

Exactly Pete, the information is out there, census just help in the same way as buying a certificate confirms you are tracing the right family. I bet there are people reading this who like me found something out in the 1911 census and told their older surving family and they love it, they want to know more "Oh that's what granny would never talk about!" There are 2.7 million people over 80 in the UK, and I bet they would all love to see the first census they appeared in, their parents handwriting, maybe a brother or sister who died young but they never knew, it's our families, our information.

One guy doesn't agree at all with me, this was his last post -

Fred, I don't think you can even begin to equate records being carelessly mislaid, to the release of data on millions of individuals for all to see, so I'm not going to waste time discussing it. (*I didn't equate anything really, I just said that more and more current (important) information is being stolen, even the police are selling details to newspapers, phone tapping etc.)

As I said before, it is your right to ask for information under the Freedom of Information Act, and I am not objecting to that at all.

As for the actual publishing of the data - I don't think you've even begun to think about that. At the moment, the 1921 census consists of millions of pieces of paper, just as the 1911 census did. To make this available to the public would be a major undertaking, requiring the same work and the same (if not greater) expense, because the 1921 census will be bigger than the 1911 census.(*My answer was thay did for every census up until 1911 why stop. They didn't produce the 1911 census for fun, they did it surely as a means of making money. One guy said that with digital photography it would be easy to edit anything considered sensitive)

Re inspecting pages from the census in local centres - that would require an enormous amount of work, because the 1921 census only exists in one place, and to copy it for public use would be a major undertaking. (*I don't agree that it's impossible, or not feasable)

If criminals can find information contained in the 1921 census elsewhere, then I expect you can too (*I had said that criminals don't need census to get information about us ie identitiy fraud)

Please feel free to agree or disagree fred

I did think about starting this post, it may be ignored and sink without trace. This subject of the 1921 census and personal information. I know my granmother had a son 3 years before she married, he's there in 1911 with my grandmothers surname not my grandfathers, but he died with my surname Beach. It was when he died that my father first knew about it, and knowing my father well he would have just laughed "Sarah was a naughty girl was she"

A young girl from my family is in Monmouth workhouse with her illigitimate son in one census, a sad story but I say it is nothing to be ashamed of. Illigitimate is a terrible word, a child is a child no matter what.

My aunts family suffered a murder when an 8 year old daughter was strangled, it was 100 years ago, it's history. We have celebrities on TV again this week with "Who Do You Think You Are" happily taking us through their past and I think it's a wonderful thing finding out both good and bad things that happened.

The family of the man who murdered the little girl might not want people to know a relative was hung for murder, but they are not guilty of any crime, just why are people so opposed to a census being made public. Sorry to ramble on "But it bugs me man, peace" fred

It would take a lot of time and expense to undertake the project of the 1921 census, but in the near future it will begin.
So the question is does a rolling release of the census make sense or a full release in 2021.
Its a debate that will never be fully answered from either camp.

Pete

Being a US citizen, not a UK citizen, it is not for me to say.
I would however point out that we open our US census to the public after 72 years and it seems to work out fine. It was a thrill to go to the archives in 2003 and see my name in the 1930 census as a three year old.

Dewey

Me again - A guy who's name is Guy feels as I think the majority do, he was involved in getting the 1911 census released early, he added this
*Quote
I wish people would stop repeating that totally inaccurate statement, it is nothing more than government propaganda.
The 100 year rule was not introduced until 1966.
The people in 1921 had never heard of a 100 year rule and earlier census were released to the general public well before 100 years.

The digitisation of the 1911 census was put out to tender as is the normal situation with such contracts. There were a number of bidders willing to undertake the digitisation and Brightsolid won the contract.

If the 1921 census was put out to tender today I am sure there would be a similar response with companies queuing up to tender.
*end of quote

So maybe it will happen sooner than later. Stay with us Dewey(there must be a Welsh connection there?) cheers Fred