Genealogy Chat

Second names certainly would be useful, particularly for common surnames. The other thing that bugs me is the dreadful payment system with its credit card/voucher format and time limits, it's too easy to lose money. The 1837 system is much fairer and could easily be adapted to allow payment by voucher for those without a credit card.

For comparison Paul

Its a pity they didn't include the second names, this would have made it easier for people hunting their families, but then they want us to spend more on this site. It still doesn't convince me to spend money on this site. To many errors to be sure that the persons we find are the right ones. I still can't find my gg grandmother who I know was still alive and living in Thickwood Wiltshire. Emma or Emily Latham, (it was spelt wrong) she was a dressmaker. I forgot to make a note as I had found her once but I have tried everything else since and so luck. Thanks for posting this reply. Irene

Finalyy received an answer from the 1901 Census people. See below Paul Dear Mr Pearce-Smith Thank you for contacting The National Archives with your views on the 1901 Census Online site. In response to your specific comments regarding: 1. Page and Person ID * We are continually enhancing 1901 Census Online and such enhancements may affect internal system parameters. Page ID is an internal system parameter and not part of the user functionality of Census Online. As such, it is subject to change with software enhancements and we offer no support to its unauthorised use. The level of free searching and other elements of the site are always being reviewed and enhancements are made to the site on a continual basis. However, when considering making any modification to the site we need to ensure that the site remains commercially sustainable. QinetiQ need to be able to re-coup their development costs. It is the view of the National Archives and QinetiQ that any changes to the site should be made within the site and not as a separate activity. 2. Free access to public records The National Archives has discharged its statutory duty by making microfiche copies of the 1901 Census for the whole country publicly available at its Kew site on the first working day of January 2002 and then at the Family Records Centre in Islington. It has also supplied many local record offices and libraries throughout England and Wales with microfiche copies relevant to their areas. There is no charge for consulting the microfiche or the traditional finding aids but there is no name index with the microfiche. 3. Financing of 1901 Census Online Digitising the 1901 Census and making it available on the Internet was a task beyond the resources of the National Archives. The project went out to tender and a contract was awarded to QinetiQ under the Government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements. Our contract with QinetiQ is a commercial one. QinetiQ have put up the capital for the project and are funding the technical enhancements. The 1901 online service is a significant enhancement over the microfiche service. The online service contains a comprehensive index to over 32 million names which can be searched by name, place, institution or vessel as many times as you wish and free of charge. For a small fee you can then access a transcription of the entries from the original returns or access a digital image of the census page as it was written by the enumerator in 1901. We believe that the costs of using the online service are reasonable (50 pence to access a transcript and 75 pence to access the census image) and compare favourably with the costs of travelling to London to look at the microfiche. Delivery of the records online allows us to make a service available throughout the country to people in their local library. This means that the costs of a visit to London can be saved, the service can be accessed at any time to suit the lifestyle of the individual, and the physical difficulties and time taken to travel and visit a remote centre are avoided. For people outside the London area, in particular, an online service can be a much more attractive option. We do hope these responses address your specific issues, however if you wish to make a formal complaint, we have procedures in place to help you: