1841 CENSUS-When? .....

[david black]

Given the numerouss missed deadlines for previous census can we aume that the 1841 won't be releaed in March as advertissed on the official site.

Assuming it will be late does anyone have a realistic date for its release.

David Black

[DavidWW]

Given the numerous missed deadlines for previous census can we assume that the 1841 won't be releaed in March as advertissed on the official site.

Assuming it will be late does anyone have a realistic date for its release.

David Black

Hi David

Good question!

I'm in a difficult situation in the sense of having at least some inside knowledge of the situation which I can't always disclose.

Given the fact that the addition to ScotlandsPeople of a new dataset such as the 1841 index and images is not an insignificant task for GROS's contractor ScotlandonLine; and given that the UserGroup would like to believe that the UG would, as previously, be given at least a few days to be allowed to "testdrive" the 1841 census on SP before general release, I think that it is safe to conclude that the chances of the 1841 census index and images coming online at SP by the 31st March 2006 are minimal. Not impossible, but certainly minimal !

The fact that the availability date for the 1841 data is still shown as "Mar 2006" on ScotlandsPeople is something that I'd prefer not to comment on, as I might say something and use words that I'd later regret

The availability date for the 1841 dataset if it's not going to be March? All I can suggest is that you email GROS and ask, - have a look at the GROS site on http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/.

The name of the Registrar General is Duncan McNiven, and his email is Duncan.McNiven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk , and I'm sure that he would be concerned to know of the continuing concerns of SP users in relation to yet further failures to meet dates promised on SP.

There's now 300,000 registered users of SP out there, and if Duncan McNiven's email In-box can reflect the concern of only a small proportion of frustrated users of SP in relation to the 1841census, then, wha kens?, we might perhaps, at very least, be granted the concession of a realistic date for availability the 1841 census index and images.

David

[joette]

The name of the Registrar General is Duncan McNiven, and his email is Duncan.McNiven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk , and I'm sure that he would be concerned to know of the continuing concerns of SP users in relation to yet further failures to meet dates promised on SP.

No sooner read than e-mailed David.I will let you know of any reply.
Just to add that for some reason their has been a "failure to deliver to sender" reply.My mistake??????

[Russell]

Hi David

Your restraint as well as loyalty in the face of adversity is admirable!!

Given that our relatives have been waiting for many years perhaps we need to practice similar restraint.

Russell

[DavidWW]

The name of the Registrar General is Duncan McNiven, and his email is Duncan.McNiven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk , and I'm sure that he would be concerned to know of the continuing concerns of SP users in relation to yet further failures to meet dates promised on SP.

No sooner read than e-mailed David.I will let you know of any reply.
Just to add that for some reason their has been a "failure to deliver to sender" reply.My mistake??????

The GROS email system was down up to around 09:30 am, so please try again as the email address is correct!

David

[Lizzie]

David

Just sent email re 1841 census and it was returned, wrong address?

Lizzie

[DavidWW]

David

Just sent email re 1841 census and it was returned, wrong address?

Lizzie

Hmmmm................ continuing Scottish Executive/GROS email problems??

The email address was triple-checked a couple of hours ago ....... I'd suggest leaving it for 24 hours and then trying again .................

David

[DavidWW]

David

Just sent email re 1841 census and it was returned, wrong address?

Lizzie

Hmmmm................ continuing Scottish Executive/GROS email problems??

The email address was triple-checked a couple of hours ago ....... I'd suggest leaving it for 24 hours and then trying again .................

David

Severe appleologies, - I just took the first Google hit which showed the spelling McNiven and plugged it into the standard GROS email address format, when, in fact, the correct spelling is Macniven, so that the correct email address is Duncan.Macniven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk .

Situation complicated by the GROS email problems and the GROS switchboard confirming the spelling as "McNiven"

David

[Revans]

1. I have not previously contributed comments to TalkingScot although, as Registrar General for Scotland, and as a historian by training who is keen on family history, I obviously have an interest in what it says!

2. My name is Duncan Macniven (not McNiven as this website has suggested) and my e-mail address is: Duncan.Macniven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk. You are welcome to e-mail me if you want and (so long as I do not get an impossible number of e-mails), I will do my best to reply. (I am sorry, incidentally, that those of you who e-mailed to Duncan.McNiven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk did not get through to me, because of the Mac/Mc confusion which we are all so familiar with!)

3. There is no need to e-mail me simply to reinforce the message that people want the 1841 Census on line as soon as possible. I am as keen as anyone else to see it (and the recent edition of the 1851 Census showed me that my great-great-grandfather had had a first marriage of which I was completely unaware: I hope for more revelations about my family when I see 1841). Our original timetable for getting the early Victorian Censuses on line was ridiculously over optimistic and I apologise that we raised false hopes. But we were doing something which nobody had done before – I don’t know of another website worldwide which gives such wide access to digitised family history images. We had originally thought that the main task was digitising the actual images. That was indeed a big job. But we had underestimated the further detailed work necessary to make sure that the images are correctly ordered and accessible – and that users are not, so far as we can help, suffering from the sort of inaccuracies which must have irritated those of you who tried to send an e-mail to ‘duncan.mcniven’! The 1851 Census was particularly difficult from that point of view due to the poor quality of the original records and is still imperfect (though we may be able to make further improvements and will report back on www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk the results of our efforts).

4. We are now happy with the quality of the 1841 Census images and they will be released during the first week of April for testing by the user group to see whether they can spot any faults which we have overlooked – a test which has proved well worthwhile in the past. Assuming that goes well, we plan to launch 1841 on or about 20 April.

5. Thereafter, the main digitised images which will not be on the website will be the Old Parish Registers. They have been much more difficult to put on the web than we had expected, because we have had to write a new index which gives access directly to the image that the reader wants, rather than to roughly the right place in a reel of microfilm. We are nearly finished that work. We will follow the OPRs with digital images of our Minor Records. To avoid over-promising (which I well realise has irritated many people) I will not fix publication dates for these. But you can be sure that we will lose no time.

6. I hope that you find that report helpful, and that it has lowered rather than raised your blood pressure. It seems to me that, in www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, we have a fine resource for family historians and I’m keen that the fact that we’ve taken longer to achieve that than we’d originally planned, should not obscure the fact that no other country (so far as I know) has done it faster!




Duncan Macniven
Registrar General
24 March 2006
General Register Office for Scotland
Ladywell House
GTN 7166 435
E-mail: duncan.macniven@gro-scotland.gsi.gov.uk

[joette]

Welcome to Talking Scot I am sure you will find us a friendly bunch & any questions don't hesitate to ask.I hope you will not take it personally when we complain about GROS.
I have to agree with you when you say that the records are very accesible & I don't know of any other country(jump in & contradict if you know better) which has such a plethora of info on- line.
It is so good when we uncover a family secret & I am hoping that the 1841 will help prove/disprove a lot of theories I have about mine.
I have to say that if I worked at/for GROS I would be so tempted to lock myself in one weekend & just go for all the records but then I have this fatal addiction called family historinuis.