Calculating Ages
Below is a very rough guide to calculating a persons age for an event.
KNOWN NOT KNOWN CALCULATE
Date of Marriage age of husband at time husband to be 25 years old
age of wife at time wife to be 21 years old
Date of Birth date of birth of husband from marriage back 25 years
of One Spouse date of birth of wife from marriage back 21 years
Date of First date of marriage husband to be 26
Child's Birth wife to be 22
Marriage date with age of husband husband to be 20 years old
word "minor" for age of wife wife to be 18 years old
husband and wife
You may see a marriage certificate stating the age to be "FULL AGE" - this means that the person was over 21years of age.
Military Ancestors
Below are some useful links for
tracing military ancestors.
Army Records:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/Army.htm
Royal Air Force:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/RAF.htm
Royal Navy:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/Navy.htm
Royal Marines:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/marines.htm
Merchant Seamen:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/merchant_seamen.htm
Medal Rolls - First World War:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/research/easysearch/medal_rolls.htm
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission - WW1 & WW11
http://www.cwgc.org
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Birth-Marriage-Death
Certificates
None of my resources will show
you the references needed to obtain Civil Registration Certificates. Below
are two excellent references which will certainly help:
FreeBDM:
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
This is a project that has been running for several years in which volunteers
are aiming to transcribe the GRO references that you need to obtain Birth,
Marriage and Death Certificates. So far over 60 million have been
transcribed from 1837 when Civil Registration began. An excellent
FREE resource.
1837 Online
http://www.1837online.com/Trace2web/
On this site you will find an
entire copy of the indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales
from 1837 to 2002. These images are available to search, view (including zooming
in on those awkward-to-read names), save to disk and print for a modest charge.
This site will be most useful to you if you are already familiar with these
indexes and wish to have the opportunity to search them in your own time,
without having to physically visit a library or a register office. The
cost is £5.00 for 50 views.
There can be a time lapse between an event which occurred in the
latter part of the year and when it was registered, e.g. the birth
of a child born late in December may not have been registered until
January so the event would be found in the March Quarter for the
following year.
From 1 January 1912
both bride and groom's names are given in the index - before this
you should look for the most uncommon surname, note the reference
number and look for the matching reference number for the other
surname. Note that divorcees marry the following time under the
surname they are commonly known by, this may be previous married
name, maiden name or another.
Since the September quarter of 1911 the mother's maiden name was
included in the index, any children with the same surname as the
mother may be illegitimate.
From 1 January 1866 - 31 March 1959 the age at death is given in the
record, very handy for an indication as to the year of birth, after
31 March 1959 a date of birth is supplied.
Note that these references will
not give you any personal details of the person, they are what is needed to obtain
a copy of the certificate of a birth, death or marriage. See below.
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I WANT A COPY OF A
CERTIFICATE
To obtain a
copy of a birth, marriage or death certificate at the cheapest
price, you need to find the GRO reference from one of the resources
above. The GRO reference is in the form of the name of the person,
the quarter of the year the event was registered, the district the
event registered in, the volume number and the page number - an
example looks like this:
Name Year
Quarter
District Volume Page
BROADRICK,Maria 1856 September Driffield
9d 35
This indicates that the birth of
Maria Broadrick was registered during July-Sept in Driffield.
Be aware that the person may NOT have been born during this period,
the reference indicates when the birth was registered. For
some reason the birth was registered later, in some cases years
later!
When you have
this reference, you can order a copy of the certificate online from
the Office of National Statistics:
www.familyrecords.gov.uk/topics/bmd.htm
the present cost is 7 UK pounds. Be aware that you must be
accurate when supplying a GRO reference as they will still charge
you a portion of the fee if you enter the details incorrectly.
You may also apply in writing to:
The Postal
Application Section, General Register Office.
Smedley Hydro,
Trafalgar Road
Southport
Merseyside
PR8 2HH
England.
You can also order a copy directly from the district registration
office. This link will show you all of the District
Registration Offices in England and Wales:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/RegOffice
There are also many
companies who will apply for a certificate on your behalf, the plus
point in this is that they will check the GRO reference for you
before making the application, they do of course charge more than if
you order it yourself.
A standard full
(not short form) Birth certificate
contains:
Date and place of birth.
Name(s) of the child and the sex, Full name and occupation of
the father. The name(s) surname and maiden surname of the mother.
The usual residence, if the birth took place elsewhere and the
signature, description and address of the informant (usually the
mother or father). Date registered
A Marriage
certificate contains:
Names and ages of the bride
and groom, (exact ages or if 21 years and over it may just say "of
full age" and their addresses. The names and occupations of the
bride and groom's fathers. Date, form and place of marriage (church
or register office, by Banns or licence) and the names of witnesses
(usually two, they are often relatives of one of the parties).
A Death
certificate contains:
Name of deceased. The date,
place and cause of death with age. Occupation. The usual residence
if different from the place of death, and name and address of the
informant who registered the event.
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Census
Dates
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901 |
10 March
27 May
28 May
30 May (Destroyed)
6 June
30 March
7 April
3 April
3 April
5 April
31 March |
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The 1881, 1891
& 1901 census are the only one's that has been fully transcribed and indexed.
Remember that the
census is based on an individuals presence on the night of the census and
not if they were permanently living at the stated address.
This could give rise to the situation of children living at a house without
parents - should their parents be staying the census night elsewhere, or
the appearance of 2 or more families living together.
Is that aunt visiting or living with the family ?- other census years
may give an indication.
UK censuses are covered by the
"100 year privacy rule, this means that the details are not available to the
public until 100 years after the census was taken. The latest available
census is the 1901. The next one, the 1911 census, will not be
available for public viewing until January 2012.
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UK Censuses started in 1801,
however from 1801 to 1831 they are of little use, being no more than head
counts.
From 1841 they
included names ,
Occupations, Whether Born in same County, Whether Born in Scotland,
Ireland or Foreign Parts. Ages were given but above the age of 15 - ages
were rounded down within 5 year bands. 16-19=15; 20-24=20 etc.; they
gradually progressed to give more and more information.
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Spelling
Variants
Use Spelling Variants to Find Ancestors in Census Records
-
Census
indexes are a valuable resource for finding the family you are looking for,
but sometimes the family you are looking for seems to be absent from the
locality, even when you are certain they were living there. Here are a few
strategies for locating them.
-
Look
for spelling variations, i.e., Morison, Morrisson, or Merrison for Morrison,
or Rause for Rouse. I have a relative that has a different spelling in every
census. These variations are often correctly indexed, just spelled
different by the census taker.
-
Try
requesting the surnames of households in a specific county.
-
Remember
that a lot of the first names are those that the person was known by, and
not necessarily their proper name, i.e. Annie for Ann, Betty/Betsy for
Elizabeth, Sally for Sarah etc..
-
Whilst most ages
are about right, if the family was illiterate, and up to half were
illiterate or semi-illiterate, the enumerator would just guess at the
age. Don't disregard a potential record just because the age is not
exactly right.
-
Many people were
referred to by their "known as" or nickname. i.e. Polly for Mary,
Peggy for Margaret, Fanny for Frances, Nellie/Nelly for Ellen/Eleanor,
Lizzie/Betty/Betsy for Elizabeth/Eliza, Nancy for Ann/Anne/Annie etc;
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Attachments.
Results are sent by an email
attachment. You must ensure that your mail reader is set up to accept
attachments. for Outlook Express you need to do this.
Open Outlook Express, click on TOOLS >OPTIONS >SECURITY and make sure that the "Do not accept attachment" is NOT ticked.
Note: NEVER open
attachments from an unexpected source. All attachment's sent from Census UK are
scanned for viruses before being sent - they will be endorsed at the bottom of
the email with:
Outgoing mail is certified Virus
Free.
Census UK recommends AVG Anti-Virus
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.778 / Virus Database: 525 - Release Date: 15/10/2004 -
(This date will vary as the virus definitions are updated)
I would strongly
recommend everyone to get AVG Anti-Virus from
www.grisoft.com
it's free, updated regularly, and very easy to install.
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Purchasing Records
1 Record
- 1.20
2 Records - 2.00
3 Records - 2.80
4 Records - 3.60
5 Records - 4.00
6 Records - 4.60
7 Records - 5.00
A copy of the original
enumerators entry for the above years marked * can be purchased for
the following cost: So, if I found the person in say, 1871, 1881, 1891
that would be 3 records at a total cost of £2.60 for all 3 records
**NEW** If you
would prefer you may have unlimited searches and records:
Unlimited Searches & Records for 3 months
£10.00
Unlimited Searches & Records for 6 months
£15.00
Unlimited Searches & Records for 12 months £25.00
Payment can be made by
one of the following methods:
UK Sterling, by
Cheque on UK Bank, Sterling Postal Order, or Sterling Cash to:
H. Broadrick
10 Glenariff Drive
Dunmurry
Belfast
BT17 9AZ
United Kingdom
I will send
the image(s) to your email address as soon as payment is received. I
do NOT wait for cheques to clear before
sending the images(s). A print out of the image can also be
sent if you enclose a stamped addressed envelope with your payment
Payment can also
be made online: If you do not have one of these accounts, perhaps
you know someone who does - do you have a friend or relation that
may have an account that would send the payment on your behalf or
would send a STERLING cheque drawn on a UK Bank on your
behalf ?
Paypal -
at www.paypal.com.
Make payment to email address
info@censusuk.co.uk
Nochex -
at www.nochex.com - Make payment to email address
harry@nihosting.co.uk
Please note that the above are reputable and authorised Credit/Debit
card processors. I cannot accept credit/debit card payments
directly. I have no connection with Paypal or Nochex and I do
not receive any of your personal details, other than notice that you
have made a payment and your email address.
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WHAT SOFTWARE WILL I NEED?
To be able to see any results you
will need this software:
Lists:
any text processor
Full Records - these are scanned images of the
original census enumerators books and you will need an image
viewer. Most modern computers have one installed as default.
f you do not have any/all of the
above software, don't worry as there are free programmes on my
website that will do all of the above. Go here:
www.censusuk.co.uk/dloadnew.htm. You will also find some
other useful software there.
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WHY CAN
I NOT FIND MY ANCESTOR'S IN YOUR RECORDS?
There are many reasons why your ancestors may not be found,
or appear to be missing:
GENERAL:
1. In the hobby of Family History there are no
guarantee's. Many people were missed from all censuses for various
reasons, they may be in 1881, missing in 1891 and turn up again in 1901.
Many names were incorrectly transcribed, as were ages. This is one of the
reasons why I offer this service as I will try to find any variants or mis-spellings.
2. Civil Registration of births, deaths and marriages was not required prior to
July 1837 - these details were contained in the local Parish Registers.
Even after compulsory registration, many people still did not bother to register
births my own Father's birth was never registered in 1911.
MISSING FROM CENSUSES:
1. They may not have completed the
return.
2. The return may not have been collected by the enumerator.
3. The enumerator may have made a mistake when he was copying the
details from the return into his book
4. The pages in the enumerators book may have been illegible.
There is nothing that can be done about it. The only person to
whom one can complain is the enumerator who wrote in the original
book using poor quality (or even watered down) ink.
Unfortunately, that person is long since dead !
5. The pages in the enumerators
book may have been damaged.
6. Your ancestor may not have been in the UK at the time of the
census, or may have been in the military abroad, or a fisherman at
sea.
7. Your ancestor may have been
illiterate (up to 50% were prior to early 1900's). The
enumerator would have then entered the details phonetically, as he
heard the householders answers to his questions. Therefore, try
saying the name you are researching to yourself - Could White be
Wight, Whyte, Weight ?
8. Many people put down their
earliest recollection of where they lived as the place they were
born, which may not have been correct. Around 20 of my
ancestors put their place of birth as Surrey or London, when
in fact they were born in Ireland, but moved to England as babies
or young children.
9. Your ancestor may have been lying under a hedge drunk instead of
completing the return!
10. Many households had much more
pressings to do, such as wondering where the next meal was coming
from, rather than entering the correct details on the form.
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WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO
START?
From yourself! then work backwards.
The easiest census to find people
in is the 1881 as it is fully transcribed with names, addresses,
occupations etc; so I have a lot of search options. All other
available censuses are only name transcribed, so it is much more
difficult. However, if you have the details from 1881 then
there is a much better chance of finding them.
After finding the persons, you need
to be able to prove the link by a Civil Registration Certificate,
my VRI transcriptions will not help here as they are from a
selections of parish registers and can only be used as a finding
aid.
If you require any clarification or
other information, please do not hesitate to contact me at
hbc@hbc.inuk.com
VIRUSES
ENSURE THAT YOU NEVER OPEN
ATTACHMENTS FROM UNEXPECTED SOURCES AND THAT YOU RUN AN
UP-TO-DATE VIRUS SCANNER
Finally, please
remember that this is NOT a research service. I can
only try to find records on the information that you give me. How
you interpret any records as to their relevance to your research
is entirely up to you.
However, I will do all I can to assist you
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