When will the England and Wales 1921 census be out?
Family history website Findmypast ( findmypast. co.uk) has said that it will still publish the 1921 England and Wales census in early 2022 despite delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Findmypast said: “Despite Covid restrictions impacting various aspects of the project, Findmypast are still on course to publish the census online in early 2022. Provided there are no further interruptions to the current rate of digitisation, Findmypast are confident that original project timelines will be met.”
Under the 1920 Census Act, the census cannot be released to the public until at least 100 years have elapsed. In March 2019, Findmypast announced that it had been awarded the contract to publish the England and Wales census records online, with a launch date of January 2022.
Since then, the company has been at work scanning and transcribing the records, but the project suffered a three-month shutdown in 2020. When the work resumed, it was at a “much-reduced staffing capacity”.
Findmypast said: “Findmypast is committed to providing users with the best possible experience and launching in full in early 2022. The British brand, along with their partners at The National Archives and ONS [the Office for National Statistics], are still hopeful for a January launch although progress has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The census was conducted on 19 June 1921. The records consist of more than 28,000 bound volumes of original householder returns containing information on the nearly 38 million men, women and children who were living in England and Wales at the time.
When the project was at full capacity, over 30 Findmypast staff were working on the records.
The documents are fragile, so need careful handling. Findmypast said:
“The safety and wellbeing of the project team and the security of the information recorded by the census have been of the utmost importance throughout. While some processes have been successfully adapted, the strict measures in place to protect both staff and documents have meant that developing alternative methods or conducting any work off-site has not been possible.” Peter Calver, founder of family history website LostCousins ( lostcousins.com), said: “The 1921 census is incredibly important because it’s likely to be the last England and Wales census that many family historians will see in our lifetimes.
“Against this backdrop the possibility of a short delay in the release isn’t a matter of concern to me – rushing it out would risk a higher level of transcription errors, and that’s the last thing we want if it is going to be pay-perview access, as in the initial release of the 1901 and 1911 censuses, and the 1939 Register.”
ScotlandsPeople ( scotlandspeople.gov.uk) is still due to release the records of the 1921 Scottish census this year. The release date is expected to be announced this summer.
The records consist of more than 28,000 bound volumes of returns