Newsletter – 28th
October 2021
When will the 1921 Census launch? All is revealed
BREAKING NEWS
How the 1921 Census will tell me more about my
family
Why the 1921 Census was taken in June
What's more dangerous: cars or COVID?
Paleface proves man is descendant of great
chief
Do you live in the US? Ancestry offers start NOW
Bob from New England found in Olde England
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When will the 1921 Census launch? All is revealed BREAKING
NEWS
Findmypast
have at last confirmed that the 1921
Census for England & Wales will launch on 6th January, which is as I had
anticipated – but the big surprise is that they're going to be charging
slightly LESS to view the 1921 Census images than they did the 1939 Register
pages in 2015, or indeed the 1911 Census schedules in 2009.
Nevertheless,
for those of us who have a subscription and are used to virtually unlimited
access to records, paying £3.50 to view each household schedule is going to
force us to think carefully before clicking the button. Incidentally, it'll be
an additional £2.50 for a transcript – but it's hard to see why experienced
researchers would need those, unless there's important information included
which isn't in the image (which seems unlikely).
When
the 1901 Census was released I spent around £150 viewing records, but I don't
imagine I'll spend anything like that sum on the 1921 Census: I'll want to see
my father (my mother wasn't born until 1926), my grandparents, and the great-grandparents
who were still alive, but that's only 6 households – and because I have a PRO
subscription I'll get a 10% discount, bringing the total cost to just under
£19, which is hardly a fortune. Indeed it's less than the
cost of this year's Christmas turkey, which is currently occupying one of the
shelves in the freezer.
Note:
a few people have complained that the 1921 Census isn't going to be included in
their Findmypast subscriptions, but it shouldn't be a surprise – this was
foreshadowed in my February 2019 article.
How the 1921 Census will tell me more about my family
In
the 1921 Census we're going to find out who our ancestors were employed by, and
where they worked – facts that will provide us with more insight into their
lives than ever before. In some cases it will reveal
how our ancestors met; in others it'll explain why someone who wasn't a family
member witnessed a marriage. In every case it'll be an extra piece of the
jigsaw, one that might solve a mystery – or create a new conundrum.
Note:
employer details aren't given for domestic servants, though for live-in
servants that will usually be obvious.
My
mum's lifelong best friend was someone she met at work during the war, but I don't
know anything about my grandparents' friends – there are names on the back of
photographs, but I've no idea what the connection was. Were some of them
co-workers? I may find out in January.
Another
reason why I'll be interested to see the new census is because in 1911 my paternal
grandmother was in Essex Lunatic Asylum – she was discharged the next day
having spent 8 months there after giving birth to her first child, Horace (the
uncle I never met who was my father's only sibling). Was she at home on 19th June
1921, I wonder? I'd like to think so, but I know from speaking to my father that
she was often ill, though I don’t believe he ever knew the true nature of her
illness. I have family photos which include Martha Gawthorpe
(or Gawthorp) who used to look after my father when
he was younger, though she wasn't the nurse who was looking after baby Horace
in 1911. It will be interesting to see whether Martha was with the family in
1921 – I've so far been unable to positively identify her in other records.
Why the 1921 Census was taken in June
The
1921 Census was originally scheduled for 24th April, but it was delayed by industrial
action. As we now know, it was only deferred by 8 weeks, but at the time they considered
holding it later in the year. The background to the choice of a June date can
be seen in a note prepared by the Registrar General which you'll find online here.
It's a little difficult to read and the server it's hosted on is often overloaded,
so I've transcribed the key parts below:
"I have ascertained from the Labour Ministry
that industrial holidays, which begin in July, go on right up to the end of
September, and may possibly overlap a few days into October.
"In view of the fact that during June there
will be to a growing extent a certain amount of middle class
holiday taking, I consulted first Mr Knight and secondly Sir Frederick Willis
as to how far this might produce an increase in the population of certain
watering places which would raise difficulties in connection with any claim to
county powers. Mr Knight mentioned the case of Scarborough as the only one that
occurred to his mind. Sir Frederick Willis, however, expressed the view that
the extent of the movement during June was not sufficient to give rise to any
difficulties of the nature indicated."
In
case you're wondering why Scarborough was singled out, it appears that to
qualify as a county
borough a population of over 50,000 was required; as you can see from this chart the
population was over 45,000 in 1921, higher than in 1911 and 1931 (when the census
was held on 26th April).
Note:
another seaside borough, Southend-on-Sea, was awarded county borough status in
1914 having absorbed Leigh-on-Sea the previous year. Ironically it was in
Leigh-on-Sea that the MP for Southend, Sir David Amess, was assassinated two
weeks ago – a tragedy that prompted the Queen to award city status to the town.
What's
more dangerous: cars or COVID?
In
the 1920s the chance of dying in a road accident was a lot higher than it is today
– in 1923 there were fewer than 400,000 cars in the UK, but in 1926 nearly
5,000 people were killed on the roads. Making allowance for the discrepancy
in dates there was roughly one death for every 100 cars: even though there are
now 80 times as many cars, road deaths in 2019 were one-third of the level in
1926 (and less than one-fifth of the peak in 1941).
These
are simplistic comparisons – cars aren't the only vehicles on the road, and people
riding bicycles, or horses, or walking are also at risk. But it does remind us
that life was riskier in the past - if the number of deaths had increased after
1926 in line with the growth in car ownership the number of road deaths would
be considerably higher than the number of deaths from COVID-19.
I
was prompted to look up these statistics after reading an article about how
risky it was for emigrants sailing to Australia in the mid-19th century – the author
had calculated that they were, on average, over 4 times more likely to die on
the voyage than if they had stayed at home for those few months (but it was
still only 1 in 50 who didn’t make it). It's unlikely that there were any
statistics available at the time that would have allowed the migrants to make
an informed decision, but I'm not sure that it would have made any difference –
they were, after all, emigrating because there was the promise of a better
life. And they were right – the wealth of natural resources meant that they
lived healthier and longer lives and, as anyone who has tested their DNA will have
figured out already, they have more descendants alive today than the cousins they
left behind.
There
was an interesting article this week in which two leading statisticians questioned
whether vaccination or prior protection provides greater protection against
subsequent infection. It seems there's not a lot of difference in practice –
both offer around 70% protection – but I'd recommend reading the article
in full (it’s not very long and there's no paywall). It certainly suggests that
the government strategy that I outlined
in my July newsletter is a viable one, though so much depends on human behaviour
that there are a wide range of forecasts. And the outlook can change in a matter
of days – there was such a steep climb in UK cases that on Friday BBC News
published an article
headline 'Why are UK cases so high', but on Tuesday - just 4 days later – the tone had changed
completely, in an article
headed 'Are cases about to plummet'.
This
week the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave his budget speech in Parliament – but
even before he stood up he came in for criticism from
the Speaker of the House of Commons because of the long list of announcements
that had been made in advance.
There
was a time when disclosing budget plans in advance would lead to the resignation
of ministers – in 1947 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, was
obliged to resign after carelessly letting slip some details of forthcoming tax
changes to a reporter whilst on his way to the House of Commons to deliver his
budget speech, whilst in 1936 James Henry Thomas resigned as Secretary of State
for the Colonies after it was suggested that he had leaked budget secrets. The
latter scandal prompted a journalist at the Guardian newspaper to write
about a leak 55 years earlier, when W E Gladstone was Prime Minister and
chancellor of the Exchequer – and to imply that Gladstone's secretary had been
responsible for that leak. What the journalist hadn’t realised was that the
secretary was still very much alive, and a libel suit followed, one which
involved the newspaper paying out undisclosed damages. (This article
from Tuesday's Guardian has clippings from 1936.)
The
phrase 'beyond the pale' is often used to refer to language or behaviour that
is considered unacceptable, but I don’t suppose more than a fraction of those
who use it are aware of its origins.
'Pale'
in this context has nothing to do with colour – it's a noun meaning a fence
post or stake (the word palisade comes from the same root). The word came to
mean any enclosed area, and eventually any bounded territory, but (other than in Ireland)
survives only in the idiomatic sense with which we're all familiar.
Paleface proves man is descendant of great chief
Danish
geneticist Eske Willerslev
uses DNA to reconstruct the last 50,000 years of human history: for example, his
research on a 24,000 year-old skeleton from Siberia
proved that there was a link between Europeans and Native Americans. His latest
discovery is also his most recent – by analysing DNA fragments in the hair of Sitting
Bull, who led the warriors who defeated General Custer at Little Big Horn in
1876, he has been able to prove that 73 year-old Ernie
LaPointe is the great-grandson of the great chief, who died in 1890.
You
can read more in this article
from the Guardian.
Do you live in the US? Ancestry offers start NOW
With
the holiday season approaching Ancestry.com have launched some seasonal offers
this weekend - you can save up to 30% on Gift subscriptions when you follow this
link,
and 40% on DNA tests when you click
here.
Bob
from New England found in Olde England
A
rare shilling coin minted in the New England colony in 1652 has been found in a
sweet tin in Bywell Hall, Northumberland. Despite its poor condition it could fetch
as much as £200,000 when it goes up for auction in London next month (according
to this BBC News article).
Note:
in England we used to call a shilling a 'bob', hence 'bob a job' week.
Shillings continued in circulation for a short time after decimalisation but
have now been replaced by 5p coins. Allowing for the increase in prices since
1652 a shilling then was equivalent to £7.88 today, but if you adjust it by reference
to wages it's worth £123.50, reflecting the enormous increase in real wages over
the past 370 years. You'll notice from the article that it was a Barker &
Dobson sweet tin – coincidentally I worked for the company from 1976-79, initially
in a temporary role at the group head office, then becoming Financial Controller
of the retail division, which included the Oakeshotts
grocery stores and the Lewis Meeson chain of newsagents.
I suspect many readers of this newsletter were customers at some point!
Several
of my ancestors married on Christmas Day – indeed, it was a popular choice of
wedding date, as this article
explains.
The
blog is headlined "From London, England to London, Ontario…" which
coincidentally was the route taken by the grandmother of my newest DNA contact.
Note that I said newest contact, not newest match – I sent a message to my
cousin via Ancestry nearly 2 years ago, but she didn’t see it until last week.
Morton Farrier, the forensic
genealogist imagined by author Nathan Dylan Goodwin, is a favourite of mine. Like
most of us he has mysteries in his own tree, and because in The Foundlings
there's a family connection to the clients he's working for, it makes the story
even more intriguing than usual.
Another factor that
distinguishes the latest instalment in the series is Morton's use of DNA –
indeed, it's only DNA that connects his clients to each other, and one of them
to him. But don't worry if you're not au fait with DNA – it might be an
important part of the story, but you won’t need to understand how DNA works to
enjoy it.
After that
introduction it won't surprise you to know that Morton's clients were abandoned
as babies – they are the foundlings of the title. But who was their mother, and
who were their fathers? This comes down to traditional records-based research,
which is why you don't need to know about DNA to follow what's going on. As
with most genealogical mysteries there are multiple threads which inevitably
lead us to think that we can reach the solution before our hero – but as ever
there were twists in the tale that I didn't anticipate. Rather like an Agatha
Christie novel, in fact!
Of course, there's a
limit to how much I can tell you about the story without either leading you up
the garden path or spoiling the journey of discovery – suffice it to say that
this is one of the best books in an excellent series, so you won’t be
disappointed. Whilst you could read this book on its own it would be a great
shame if you didn’t start at the beginning of the series, because Morton's
discoveries about his own ancestry link the books together – indeed it's one of
the reasons why, whenever I finish a book in the Forensic Genealogist
series, I'm already looking forward to the next one.
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.com.au
Note: if you want to
see all of the books in the series please follow the
link you'll find here. Also, if you’re in the UK, please note that the first
book in the series, 'Hiding the Past' will be on offer for just 99p during the
month of November, saving you £3.50 on the usual price.
My
wife was very grateful for the feedback she received after her article in the
last newsletter, and whilst she doesn’t have time to write an article for this
issue (with winter approaching there's too much to do in the garden), she
suggested I include this link
for anyone who wants to know more about fruit trees, especially how to keep
older trees in production.
The
best laid plans of mice and men….. well, I mentioned
a month ago that I was hoping that when our smart meter had been installed we'd
be able to switch to a new two-rate electricity tariff, but the dramatic spike
in wholesale energy prices has meant that we're going to be far better off
sticking with our existing fixed rate tariff until it runs out next August. At
14.11p (plus 5% VAT) per kilowatt hour what we’re currently paying is lless than half the price of anything else on the market.
Indeed, it's lower than the off-peak rate in the quote I've just received (whilst
the standard rate is two-and-a-half times as much).
We
only switched to EDF at the end of August after finding out how much Symbio Energy planned to charge us from 1st September
onwards – Symbio went out of business not long
afterwards when wholesale prices continued to rise, and for a while I was
worried that our credit balance was at risk. Fortunately
it has been confirmed that E-on, who are taking over Symbio's
remaining customers, are also responsible for refunding credit balances to
former customers – and given how many of the smaller suppliers have gone out of
business there may well be some of you in a similar position.
Some
people have suggested that gas and electricity prices should be subsidised but,
as anyone who has studied micro-economics will know, this would increase demand
and push up prices even further. The best way to protect vulnerable households
is to give them a lump sum - as the government already does each winter to
those who are above state pension age.
This is where any major updates and corrections will be
highlighted - if you think you've spotted an error first reload the newsletter
(press Ctrl-F5) then
check again before writing to me, in case someone else has beaten you to
it......
I hope you've enjoyed this issue, but – and you know what I'm
going to say next – LostCousins is not just a newsletter, it's primarily a
website where researchers who share the same ancestors can connect and
collaborate. Please don't let your cousins down – complete your My Ancestors
page this weekend!
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2021 Peter Calver
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