Wonderful, but if we don't try it won't happen anyway so let's get signing!!! C. -----Original Message----- From: cheshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cheshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of roy.stockdill@btinternet.com Sent: 23 January 2014 16:05 To: cheshire@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CHS] 1921 Census From: "HughesCJ" <hughes.11@btinternet.com> > If this has been publicised on List previously, I apologise for having > missed it, but feel it is well worth mentioning whether for the first > time or not!!! > > There is a petition gathering signatures at present to seek early > release of the 1921 Census as follows: > > * Amend the 1920 Census Act to make the publication of the census data > exempt from the 100 year rule so that the data can be published now. > * It is already 90 years since that 1921 census took place. The 1931 > census data for England was destroyed in WW2 and no census took place > in 1941. > * Considering there is no other census available until the 1951 one, > th original release date of 2022 will be too late. > * Most people named in the 1921 census are no longer amongst us. > > The petition closes on 24th April 2014 and I hope Listers and their > friends and families will support it. If you agree please you could > all take time to sign up to it. > > Signing the petition is very simple just follow the link below and > fill in your details it only takes a minute. Your adult spouses Griens > and relatives are all eligible to sign too. > Please go to > http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49199 > <http://dada.fhscheshire.org.uk/dada/mail.cgi/r/FHSC1/589258009755/hug > hes.11 > /btinternet.com/> > and follow their instructions > > Christopher Hughes> Believe me, I have no wish to be a wet blanket (!) but I am very pessimistic about the likelihood of this petition succeeding for the following reasons..... 1) In my humble opinion, the whole concept of online petitions was a virtual government con-trick set up by (I think) Tony Blair during his premiership to make people think they were being consulted, i.e. that democracy was being applied. My cynical feeling is that these online petitions are "noted" by politicians and bureaocrats and then quietly shelved. Unless someone knows otherwise, I can't name one that has actually succeeded. 2) The 1921 census was the first one that promised confidentiality for a specific period of 100 years. I believe I am correct in saying this - no previous censuses had this stipulation. Thus, legislation would have to be passed through parliament to change this and I suspect the government will argue that there simply isn't time amid all the other legislation they are no doubt proposing to inflict upon us! True, governments themselves have often moved the goalposts - but only when it suits them and not us. 3) It is probably not true to say that "most people in the 1921 census are no longer with us". Given that the population is ageing all the time, I well recall that when the 1911 census was released two years early my friends at Findmypast estimated that there were then somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 people aged 98 and over who were in it. One of these was my own mother-in-law who was on the census in Coventry as a baby of two months and who has only just passed away on January 2 this year three days short of her 103rd birthday. If the 1921 census is released early, I imagine there will be many thousands of people in their 90s who are on it and there may be protests. 4) Politicians and civil servants, in my experience, do NOT regard family historians as being very high in their list of priorities! They do not see the importance of our researches when set against all the other responsibilities they have to assess. Obviously, I would love this petition to succeed, but I'm not holding my breath! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ Reach For The Stars blog: roystockdillgenealogy.com "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message