Hi All, Many thanks to Debs Fenemore for bringing this site to our attention. The work that this site will save seems to be immense. It does bring to mind two questions. 1. What will become of all the work that the hard working volunteers at the free BMD have done, and. 2. If it is ok for this to all be published, why is it law for the census to have a 100yr clause attached to it? surely as much information can be gleaned from this as any census can give. What can be more intrusive than ones own birth, marriage and death? I personally have no problem anybody seeing where I lived or for that matter whom with. This to me just make a mockery of a law that needs updating. Why can the Americans have their census made public so much earlier than ours? In this era of microsecond internet, so much information can be accessed such as the electoral roll, Phone numbers, addresses etc. While I appreciate there are some who want their private lives private, the reality is that this is unlikely and only to get less as time and the internet progress. Please forgive if you consider this to be too heavy for this forum. Best wishes Andy Penton Mewsey, Hants. Researching; Lewington, Warwick, Bradbury, Briant, in Hants Lewington in Wilts Tyrell, Cherry and Churchill in Bucks. Mawer in Durham/yorksGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

On 25 Nov 2002, at 20:25, Andy Mawer wrote: > Many thanks to Debs Fenemore for bringing this site to our attention. > The work that this site will save seems to be immense. It does bring > to mind two questions. 1. What will become of all the work that the > hard working volunteers at the free BMD have done, and. 2. If it is ok > for this to all be published, why is it law for the census to have a > 100yr clause attached to it? surely as much information can be gleaned > from this as any census can give. What can be more intrusive than ones > own birth, marriage and death? I personally have no problem anybody > seeing where I lived or for that matter whom with. This to me just > make a mockery of a law that needs updating. I wonder how many family historians are unaware of the changes in just this area that the British government is proposing to introduce. As I understand it, in addition to ceasing to produce paper records of these events or of censuses, the intention is that birth, marriage and death certificates will be available only to the individuals named on them, or with their written permission, until they (the certificates) are 100 years old. This leaves me wondering: 1. How will anyone new to the hobby be able to make a start? Most of us start after our parents have died but before their 100th birthday. 2. How do you obtain the signature of the subject of a death certificate, and how can he/she be then concerned about privacy? Jim Fisher in Luton, Beds., UK. http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jimella/geneal.htm - Fam hist pages I use CDs produced by Archive CD Books to assist fellow researchers http://www.archivecdbooks.org

Andy Perhaps you should be having a look at the - dare I say it - hotch-potch of proposed changes in legislation regarding the registration of BMDs ? Whilst some of it, as suggested by the FFHS and most genealogists, may be long overdue, some of the changes proposed ......... well perhaps I'll leave it to you to have a look at the FFHS comments and response at: http://www.ffhs.org.uk/Societies/Liaison/Feedback.htm rather than get on my "high horse" - I doubt I'll be able to stop ;-) <snipped numerous sarcastic and cynical comments regarding the draughting of poor legislation> Paul On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 20:25:50 -0000, "Andy Mawer" <[email protected]> wrote: >Hi All, >Many thanks to Debs Fenemore for bringing this site to our attention. The work that this site will save seems to be immense. It does bring to mind two questions. >1. What will become of all the work that the hard working volunteers at the free BMD have done, and. >2. If it is ok for this to all be published, why is it law for the census to have a 100yr clause attached to it? surely as much information can be gleaned from this as any census can give. What can be more intrusive than ones own birth, marriage and death? >I personally have no problem anybody seeing where I lived or for that matter whom with. >This to me just make a mockery of a law that needs updating. Why can the Americans have their census made public so much earlier than ours? >In this era of microsecond internet, so much information can be accessed such as the electoral roll, Phone numbers, addresses etc. >While I appreciate there are some who want their private lives private, the reality is that this is unlikely and only to get less as time and the internet progress. >Please forgive if you consider this to be too heavy for this forum. > >Best wishes >Andy > >Penton Mewsey, Hants. >Researching; >Lewington, Warwick, Bradbury, Briant, in Hants >Lewington in Wilts >Tyrell, Cherry and Churchill in Bucks. >Mawer in Durham/yorksGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com > > >==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== >Introduction to UK genealogy >http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html >http://www.pro.gov.uk/leaflets/Riindex.asp 50.33.50N 02.26.70W

Hi Andy, To answer your question about where this leaves the FreeBMD project - it leaves us exactly where we were before this scheme was announced! The FreeBMD project offers to do the searching for you, and it is FREE. Ok it is not complete yet, but if everyone helped out, it soon would be! So what would you rather do, pay your money and laboriously search those horrible indexes, or let FreeBMD search for you for free :-) Come on everyone, transcribe a page each and get this project completed, then we can all set to work on FreeCens and get those online too :-) Sheelagh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Mawer" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 8:25 PM Subject: [WSX] 1837 online > Hi All, > Many thanks to Debs Fenemore for bringing this site to our attention. The work that this site will save seems to be immense. It does bring to mind two questions. > 1. What will become of all the work that the hard working volunteers at the free BMD have done, and. > 2. If it is ok for this to all be published, why is it law for the census to have a 100yr clause attached to it? surely as much information can be gleaned from this as any census can give. What can be more intrusive than ones own birth, marriage and death? > I personally have no problem anybody seeing where I lived or for that matter whom with. > This to me just make a mockery of a law that needs updating. Why can the Americans have their census made public so much earlier than ours? > In this era of microsecond internet, so much information can be accessed such as the electoral roll, Phone numbers, addresses etc. > While I appreciate there are some who want their private lives private, the reality is that this is unlikely and only to get less as time and the internet progress. > Please forgive if you consider this to be too heavy for this forum. > > Best wishes > Andy > > Penton Mewsey, Hants. > Researching; > Lewington, Warwick, Bradbury, Briant, in Hants > Lewington in Wilts > Tyrell, Cherry and Churchill in Bucks. > Mawer in Durham/yorksGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com > > > ==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== > Introduction to UK genealogy > http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html > http://www.pro.gov.uk/leaflets/Riindex.asp >