So many stories from a century ago...
Anew census is always a momentous event on our family history journeys. However, the 1921 Census really does seem ‘extra’, a record that is something quite special – both in terms of the level of often poignant, telling, detail that it provides about those enumerated, but also for the staggering historic backdrop against which it was set in that post-war world.
We’ve all learned by now that the 1921 was postponed at the last minute due to industrial action, when the miners downed tools in the light of appalling pay cuts. Intrigued to find out more, I set off to search for leading members of the Miner’s Federation of Great Britain (the organisation behind the strike), to see what they were up to on census night. And here I happened upon Frank Hodges (see 1921 census entry above) at the Royal York & Albion Hotel in Brighton, occupation ‘Trade Union Secretary’, whose employer was the Federation. Interesting stuff. But it was on scrolling down the page, glancing at the others enumerated, that the era really came to life for me. Occupations ranging from railway clerk to journalist, Labour party official to novelist, General Secretary of a Trade Union, and President of the Government of Georgia. Places of birth: as well as locations in England, entries for Belgium, Russia...
Whatever our politics today, I found it simply intriguing to see history ‘happening’ – people of the past coming together to talk, to brainstorm, to try to plan for a better world. This is just a slice of our ancestors’ times of a century ago – we would love to hear your stories, your discoveries, your thoughts and reflections.