FLHIG
 

Family and Local History
Indexing Group

Selected articles from the Newsletter

This article first appeared in SIGGNL 19  pages 4 to 7

The British 1881 Census Project:  Part III
Stephen C Young

[Continuation from Part II of the article in issue 18]

Obviously not all persons enumerated on 3 April 1881 were living in family groups, or even in typical households. A large percentage of the population were either in the navy or situated on vessels of different varieties (fishing boats, canal boats, merchant seamen, etc.). These people were often recorded on a special "Schedule for Vessels" form provided by the Registrar General. Small commercial or private vessels were just as often recorded on the standard schedules and therefore appear amidst the households of a given locality, making their detection even more difficult. This list will alphabetically arrange all vessels and ships by their name. Also provided with each vessel is the census place, registration number, home port, name of the master, tonnage and description (ie schooner, steamer, brigantine, etc.). All of this information can be vital in identifying specific ships since the name alone is often not unique. Ships and vessels were not enumerated in the Scottish census so this product is not available for that country.

Similar to the vessels/ships listing is this research tool which alphabetically sorts institutions by name. This includes schools, jails, hotels, orphanages, barracks, etc., and therefore provides an important utility to those researchers already in possession of facts about the location of individuals. For example, perhaps a researcher known the name of the school their ancestor attended, but not its location.

National Indexes

Once all counties have been transcribed, evaluated, data entered and indexed, it is anticipated that two additional national indexes will be produced. The potential power of the Surname Index and Birthplace for identifying individuals is increased immeasurably by this country-wide searching capacity. The full benefits of this project will become readily apparent when the facility of combining all counties together has been completed. In addition, it is possible that the List of Vessels/Ships and the List of Institutions will also be merged to create national listings, in alphabetical order, to assist researchers. [Note, 5 June 1997: The national indexes for Scotland were published on microfiche in May 1997; these include only a Surname Index and a Birthplace Index. The corresponding England/Wales indexes will not appear until 1998 at the earliest.]

Conclusion

In conclusion I must say how pleased I am personally that the 1881 census data base will soon be available for late Victorian social history research. Obviously this data set is by far the largest and most detailed historical document ever completely transferred to a machine readable format. Current production figures estimate that the last census entry will be completed sometime in September or October of 1995. Only just over 2 million entries still need to be transcribed in England (Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are completed) and close to 1.5 million in Scotland; roughly 4.5 million in England and 2.25 million in Scotland await evaluation; and less than 8 million entries in England and 2.5 million entries in Scotland need to be entered (times two). It will probably not be until late 1996 or early 1997 when the last county indexes are completed. The counties of Yorkshire (population about 2.9 million) and Lancashire (population almost 3.5 million) will likely be the last produced on microfiche. As of [1995] all of the data entered thus far has been shipped to GSU headquarters on 6,873 5.25 inch floppy diskettes and the project is now entered into its seventh active year.

It yet remains to be seen in what format the 1881 data will be available at ESRC Data archive. They are requesting the raw data as well as the indexed arrangements, both of which will be of benefit for different kinds of research. The GSU will probably transfer the 1881 data onto CD ROM like so many of their other research data sets (IGI and Ancestral File). Of related interest is the fact that the GSU is also in process of indexing the 1881 Canadian census and the 1880 U.S. census, as well as other 19th century records. We should all respect and remember that this data is only available because of the diligence and dedication of thousands of volunteers, most of whom are genealogists and family historians. Over fifteen thousand persons have combined their efforts in this project. These poor relations of the historical profession must be given their due by the academic community for what I consider the largest and perhaps most significant historical computer database yet devised or created.

Appendix - British 1881 Census Project Methodology

1. Transcription

The Family History Department of the Church has provided to all participating family history societies in England, Wales, and Scotland, a paper copy of the census pages they have been asked to transcribe. They have also been supplied with blank transcription pages on which to transfer the data, thereby standardizing the format for the sake of efficiency and accuracy. The precision in copying the information from the census is increased by the requirement that each page be transcribed twice, both by different people. Both sets of transcription are then checked for any discrepancies by a third person and suitable corrections are made. One set of corrected transcription and the census hard copy are then sent to the Project Management Centre at Garretts Green.

2. Evaluation

Once the transcription has been received by the Management Centre it is examined by Section A Evaluation to ensure that the transcription and hard copy agree and that vital reference detail is included on the transmittal forms for proper tracking of the batches. This is not a detailed inspection of all the transcribed entries but more a check to confirm such facts as geographical identification and whether any pages are missing, and to make corrections where applicable. When the transcription is in order it is shipped to one of four evaluation centres. Each of these centres has one or more satellite evaluation centres to which they assign some of the work. The very important process of evaluation ensures that the transcription pages are ready for data entry and that the person entering the data does not need to make any decisions about the correctness of the information. Evaluation requires a precise knowledge of project requirements and guidelines by missionaries who are highly trained in this specific work. It has been recognized that a very intimate understanding of evaluation only comes after extended training and that a minimum commitment of 20 hours per week is most desirable. Such training guarantees the constancy and accuracy important in this work, otherwise valuable time and resources are expended in correcting the evaluation. All pens, paper, correction tape, white-out, markers, etc., for this work are supplied from the Management Centre.

3. Tracking

A very sophisticated system has been developed to track the census information from the original enumeration pages to the final computerized format. Each enumeration district was divided into a number of "batches". Often one parish could be a batch, whereas large cities may contain many batches because of their large population. Each batch is tracked by computers at the Management Centre in Garretts Green to ensure that the status and location of each batch is instantly available: whether in transcription, evaluation, data entry, or already in Salt Lake City. The reports which are required from evaluation and data entry centres are manually entered in the tracking system computers at the Management Centre. This is important to know so that the final batches of any county can be quickly identified and accelerated through the system, thereby making that county available for the indexing process in Salt Lake. The origin of problems or errors in any of the aforementioned processes can also be easily identified and corrected by keeping track of where the batch had been routed. Consequently, it is imperative that each evaluation and data entry Co-ordinator is cognizant of their responsibilities to this tracking system. The Management Centre will respond to any queries for assistance in this regard by contacting the local evaluation and data entry personnel project leadership.

4. Indexing

When all the batches for a county are received in Salt Lake, they are loaded into a multi-million dollar mainframe computer to be sorted and indexed through a series of very technical computer programs. Close to 100 full-time missionaries and employees devote attention to verifying and auditing the batches of data they receive from the Management Centre in an effort to provide one last safeguard for the precision of the census indexes. A ninety-five percent or better standard of accuracy has been set for this project, a criterion which has been met so far. The result is the production on microfiche by county of three indexes sorted by surname, birthplace, and census place, and another reproducing the census as originally enumerated. Additionally a microfiche for each county explaining the miscellaneous notes for specific entries is produced, as well as two more lists which identify the institutions and vessels enumerated within that county. At the end of the project it is planned to produce a national surname and birthplace index. This will represent an extremely powerful research tool which will dramatically assist in the work of redemption of the dead.

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