Wednesday 5 October 2011

Scottish censuses on FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has launched transcript copies on its site of the 1841 and 1851 censuses for Scotland. The site claims the accuracy of the transcriptions to be at least 98%. My understanding is that records will go up to 1901 in due course, unless there's been a change on the 1911 front. The records are accessible at www.findmypast.co.uk/content/search-menu/census-land-and-surveys in an integrated search screen for Britain and the Channel Islands, though you can narrow the search to Scotland, by county of residence and birthplace etc. FindmyPast's blog post on the release is at www.findmypast.co.uk/search/census/1851/person

It is worth knowing that some of the 1841 records are in fact missing - this includes many records from Fife, but also gaps in coverage for Moray, Perthshire, Argyllshire, Buteshire, Ayrshire and Roxburghshire - and St. Kilda was enumerated a few weeks after the census for the rest of Scotland was taken. For more on the missing entries see www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/research/1841-census.html - details of Street Index books (Edinburgh and Glasgow) for 1841 can be found there also, and for 1851 at www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/research/1851-census.html (ten cities).

Some areas also did not start recording the census until 1861 - Seafield in Banffshire, Kinloch Rannoch in Perthshire, Cumlodden in Argyllshire, Kirkhope in Selkirkshire, and Corsock Bridge and Dalbeattie in Kirkcudbrightshire.

Chris

2 comments:

  1. I didn't realise part of Roxburghshire was missing from the 1841 census. Will add details to the relevant GENUKI parish page. Thanks.

    Also if I remember correctly the many missing Fife 1841 census books were lost on the train that set out to cross the Tay Bridge on that fateful night ...

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  2. Hi Vivienne - Teviothead in Roxburghshire is apparently missing in 1841.

    I think there's a slight clarification needed for my last paragraph - I think these became separate enumeration districts in 1861, rather than missing records as such, so records located under another district. Someone (anonymous) has alerted me on Scottish GENES to the fact that Corsock Bridge and Dalbeattie returns for 1841 and 1851 have been transcribed online via D&G library website at http://www.dgcommunity.net/historicalindexes/default.aspx, for example, but they are not searchable as dedicated registration districts on the ScotlandsPeople site until 1861.

    Chris

    Chris

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