As part of our service we use access to the Census Records for England, Wales and Scotland. These, as you know, take place every ten years - with available records starting in 1841 and running up to 1911. For Ireland the situation is different, as you will see elsewhere on this site.

We have used both the computerised transcriptions ( including I.G.I. references ) and actual copies of the original census entries as evidence for clients.

However, it is not all plain sailing.

As with many researchers, we have found that estimated dates of birth for the same person can vary from census to census, as can the actual places of birth. On many certificates we have found "X - his/her mark" and we feel that this reflects upon general levels of literacy in times past. Elsewhere we have battled past discrepancies that have been brought about by errors made by later enthusiasts transcribing and recording older records. In one case, we found that with a misreading of olden handwriting a swirly letter "S" had been interpreted later as a "P"!

But we're stubborn and such challenges are there for us to ride over....