KEITH ROBERTS wrote: > Following a bout of searching the 1911 census for a few prime > ancestors I have reached a conclusion. 1. It`s darned expensive Yes, it is. It will be on FindMyPast later this year in a subscription package. > 2. Wherever did they recruit the transcribers? Some interpretations > of place names in particular are unbelievable which doesn`t help > the search process. [...] I have > to say that the handwriting of the enumerator left a little to be > desired Don't blame the enumator, blame your ancestors! The transcribers had to deal with hundreds of thousands of different hands, not just one as in the past. Misspellings can be the result of your ancestors misspellings. Don't forget *you* know what a name or place should be, but not every transcriber will have an encyclopaedic knowledge of names (esp surnames) and places (esp obscure villages and hamlets). I've seen Oulton transcribed as Dulton. It did look like a D at the beginning. I know it isn't because I knew what it should be. What you are seeing are the original household schedules as completed by your ancestors. There was no input from the enumerator and there are no enumerator's books either. I'm not sure if these are going to be digitised or not this time. > 4. The experienced census searcher will find it easy but I`m afraid > the newcomer to searching will find it very very frustrating. I don't think newcomers will find it that difficult. I asked my young to find a particular person and she managed it with no problems. > PS. Whatever happened to the whole of Wales? It hasn't been transcribed yet. It will follow the last half dozen or so English counties.