I also found that years of birth are often very inaccurate. It took me ages to find my great grandfather in the 1901 census when he was in the Union Workhouse in Atherton as a patient. They had his age as 36 when he was 39 so I guess it might be even worse than this 20 years earlier if someone just couldn't be bothered to check on ages and just estimated them. Hope this helps. Meg Magdalen Galley-Taylor 01409 261804 meg@taylor.it   -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-bolton-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-bolton-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Perle Sent: 07 October 2011 07:07 To: ENG-LAN-BOLTON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [ENG-LAN-BOLTON] 1881 census Hi List. Does the 1881 census have a special place for looking at hospitals I am clutching at straws with trying to find my Daniel Bentley, I have his family but not he. Then he appears on the 1891 with his family. Perle Brooking. Younghusband South Australia :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. Other people can learn from them! :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-BOLTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Meg, I wonder if it might not be more likely that then, as now, many people for reasons from vanity to villainy found it advantageous to massage their ages up or down when asked. In the ten years between each census the ages of man move on as do the reasons to wish to advertise an older or younger age than the bum-fluff or the wrinkles might suggest. Regards, Bob (who's been in his prime for several decades). On 07/10/2011 09:43, Meg Galley-Taylor wrote: I also found that years of birth are often very inaccurate. It took me ages to find my great grandfather in the 1901 census when he was in the Union Workhouse in Atherton as a patient. They had his age as 36 when he was 39 so I guess it might be even worse than this 20 years earlier if someone just couldn't be bothered to check on ages and just estimated them. Hope this helps. Meg Magdalen Galley-Taylor 01409 261804 [1]meg@taylor.it References 1. mailto:meg@taylor.it

Oh I agree except that in his case he died of pneumonia a year after the Census so I think he must have been fairly ill at the time so not sure vanity came into it although he was a widower, his wife having died in childbirth just 6 months after their marriage in 1891. Perhaps he had been knocking a few years off his age for a while. The fact remains though that it is likely that ages can be wrong when people are in institutions, not least as there is nobody else in the family to verify things. Meg Magdalen Galley-Taylor 01409 261804 meg@taylor.it   -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-bolton-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-bolton-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bob Thornley Sent: 07 October 2011 10:42 To: eng-lan-bolton@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ENG-LAN-BOLTON] 1881 census Meg, I wonder if it might not be more likely that then, as now, many people for reasons from vanity to villainy found it advantageous to massage their ages up or down when asked. In the ten years between each census the ages of man move on as do the reasons to wish to advertise an older or younger age than the bum-fluff or the wrinkles might suggest. Regards, Bob (who's been in his prime for several decades). On 07/10/2011 09:43, Meg Galley-Taylor wrote: I also found that years of birth are often very inaccurate. It took me ages to find my great grandfather in the 1901 census when he was in the Union Workhouse in Atherton as a patient. They had his age as 36 when he was 39 so I guess it might be even worse than this 20 years earlier if someone just couldn't be bothered to check on ages and just estimated them. Hope this helps. Meg Magdalen Galley-Taylor 01409 261804 [1]meg@taylor.it References 1. mailto:meg@taylor.it :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. Other people can learn from them! :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-BOLTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message