I have just come across my ninth UK census search that has revealed unexpected additional information about family born in India. These were mostly children that had been sent to the UK to stay with a relative for their education. It is important to note that the place of birth is usually given as 'East Indies'. The first two were in St Andrews, Scotland, where teenage boys (only) were sent to stay with members of the DEMPSTER family. The head of the household is recorded as a boarding house proprietor. The house on North Street where they stayed is now run as a 'bed and breakfast'. The third was an English house where family stayed with an aunt during their holidays, it must have been pretty big to accommodate them all together with the servants. The most useful, for us, was the Church Missionary Children's Home in London. This was a boarding school for the children of missionaries who were sent 'home' to school. It must have been very hard for both children and parents as some were a young as five. Most did not see each other for several years. Three children of the SCHURR family were found there including my wife's g-grandmother Katherine Ethelberta S. The latest find was family that was related to Maj. Gen. William INNES (my wife's 3g-grandfather). He had retired to Bath in England (a popular retirement city) with his wife, Eliza Helen nee RAWSTORNE . He died in 1850. The next year was census year and his wife was still in the same house, now with a number single relatives including three ex-patriot girls at school. That creates some work as most are new to me and born before UK statutory recording. On a cautionary note, the spelling of her name was given as INNIS; this was because the enumerator who visited the house had used his own phonetic version. That should be remembered and wild cards used when searches draw a blank. One other search gave a strange result as a transcriber got it all wrong and so the search engine could not possibly get the correct answer. That was only resolved by viewing the original image. Basic Census searches can be made for free but details require a subscription or pay-per-view. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/census-records.htm I hope that this note may give a few ideas for getting past, through or over brick walls. -- Dave Barnett