Private employer in 1921 census

[fumblina]

Does anyone know what an entry of "Private" would indicate against the employer in the 1921 census please? The occupation field is blank on the transcription.

Also a daft question but I can't seem to find the answer:
If you pay for the photo of the census for £3.50 does this include the transcript?
Or would you need to pay an additional £2.50 for the transcript to have both?

Thanks!

[Megan Roberts]

I think from memory that it is a price for each, so if you wanted the transcript as well it would be £6.

What was the employment?

For instance if it was something like a nurse, they could be employed as a private nurse in a household, rather than simply saying that they were in service.


Some of these things are not very clear. My great grandmother was living in the house of a slate quarrier and was described as a "servant", "mid-wife", and having no fixed place of work, and no employer listed. The household in question has two chaps who were boarders and a new born baby. So I think that she was working for the slate quarrier and living in their home. How long she lived there for I do not know. However, possibly if she had been between jobs, and living in her own place she might have described herself as working privately.

[Pam Downes]

As always, give us the details so those of us who have a full sub to FMP can look at the entry ourselves.

Re the payment details. It's £3.50 for the census image, plus in the middle of the page you will see a tab labelled Extra (address). Click on that. Across the bottom of the page you then see
Original image, cover, address, map, map, plans of division.
Download at least the image, cover, and address as they will give you additional information, including the census reference. You do have to work it out for yourself, but it is easy.

The department and year code at The National Archives follows from 1911 being RG14, by 1921 being RG15.
Across the 'cover' you should see written/scrawled RG15 followed by 3, 4, or 5 digits, which will be the piece number.
Also on the cover are three boxes, labelled Regn. District, Sub district, and enumeration district. The first two will have place names, and they should all have numbers which will 'translate' into something like RD7 SD6 ED5.
The final bit is the schedule number which is in the top right-hand corner of the census image.

So the full reference will be something like RG15/1234 RD7 SD6 ED5 SN309, though you should be able to shorten it (like the 1911 census reference) to RG15/1234 SN309.

The maps are maps of the area, and they can be enlarged to a certain degree.

'Plans of the division' are details of the enumerator's walk which includes the address your relative is living at.

The transcription is just that. A transcription of the details on the census image, though you do get the census reference given so you don;t have to work it out.
The only problem with transcriptions is that they are prone to error. Just because one person's details are transcribed correctly it doesn't mean that everyone else on the sheet is error-free. Which is why it's always recommended that you buy the image, rather the transcription.

As Megan says, you pay for each.

FMP might have an offer this New Year weekend, so do check the website.

[Jomot1]

On the 'Employment' column of the 1921 census it says:

(Note - for Domestic Servants and others in private personal service, write "Private")
(See Instructions 3 to 8, 11, and Examples)

[Pam Downes]

Knew that even though I waffled on, I would still forget something.

Look at the top of the 'employment' column on the census image. Instructions say:
For Domestic Servants and others in private personal service, write "private".

(Jomot1 types a couple of milliseconds faster than I do!!)

[arthurk]

So the full reference will be something like RG15/1234 RD7 SD6 ED5 SN309, though you should be able to shorten it (like the 1911 census reference) to RG15/1234 SN309.

When the 1921 census was first released I seem to remember that some people found that, unlike 1911, schedule numbers could be repeated within a piece. It seems that each enumeration district had its own series of schedule numbers, and the latest advice I've seen is that to avoid ambiguity, you should include the ED number in the reference as well.

[Pam Downes]

When the 1921 census was first released I seem to remember that some people found that, unlike 1911, schedule numbers could be repeated within a piece. It seems that each enumeration district had its own series of schedule numbers, and the latest advice I've seen is that to avoid ambiguity, you should include the ED number in the reference as well.

Thanks for that piece of information, arthurk.
In that case, I'll just quote the whole reference number.

[fumblina]

As always, give us the details so those of us who have a full sub to FMP can look at the entry ourselves.

Sorry not been on for a few days since posting. The record is a 1922 census for 30 Mozart Street Hartlepool.
Elen Forcer - Daughter
First name(s) Elen
Last name Forcer
Sex Female
Birth year 1903
Census date 19 June 1921
Age in years 17
Age in months 9
Age as transcribed 17 y 9 m
Relationship to head Daughter
Orphanhood Father Dead
Birth place West Hartlepool, Durham, England
Birth county Durham
Birth country England
Transcribed birth place West Hartlepool, Durham
Employer Private

Thanks you for the information about the 1921 census. I think you are right in that the image seems a much better option for the extra £1 despite not including the transcript.

Thank you

[fumblina]

@Jomot1 - Thank you that would explain it. I'd seen domestic servant in other earlier records, but that makes sense as earlier records did not specifically list employer.