Template talk:British Census

Template:British Census

Content improvement suggestion
Wonderful template which will be very useful. Few suggestions:


 * 1) I wonder if the opening sentence should mention 1841-1911, rather than just 1841-1891 (although later ones aren't available on film, beginners may not know the census is available through 1911 and that should probably be the first thing, shouldn't it?).
 * 2) I would like to see a link to a more descriptive Wiki article which gives more detail. For example, do all of these sites have info for all of the censuses? Do all have a searchable index? Do some have additional features that others don't, such as search by address or parish? What is different about them which might help a user know which is best for their needs? If such an article exists, link to it. If not, "someone" should create one.
 * 3) Add a general statement telling users whether they need to check just one, more than one, or all of the sites (or referring to article just described).
 * 4) The text for FreeCen is not a complete sentence and I'm not sure what it means. Please reword.
 * 5) The opening sentence (see also #1, above) says film for 1841-1891, but 1891 is only on fiche.

Alan 20:31, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Here is the template (its what I paste from page to page) I have come up with for the 25 or so pages I am working on in Suffolk: There is already a page with all the links to the census sites, so I see no point in entering them again, so I link to them, subscription and other websites. There is over 500 parishes in Suffolk and many have very samll populations. The part I strike out pertains to the relevance of microfilm census records. It could be reworded. I can go to the Family History Library and get all the indexes and images right on the computer, so the micorfilm is of little relevance. If I go to a family history center to order a microfilm, but they have it on computer like the family history library, so I would not order the microfilm there since I have access to the images there. The selling point of the census sites is the indexes that they have, without the indexes, the microfilm would be revelvant. It wasn't that many years ago when there were no indexes. Another point I would like to make about linking to a census film number is that in (Metfield)my template I link to the parish in the catalogue, so the census is easy to find. I think people are smart enough to go to the parish listing and pick out the census, cemetery or what ever they are looking for. Pertaining to Suffolk most of the parishes are very small and only have a few listings to begin with, 2, 3 or 4. Another link I have in my template is to the the Suffolk Census. If no one wants to link to England Census Records and Indexes Online then it would make more censuses to link to the County Census page and put the above template there rather than on every parish page. Donjgen 19:41, 24 January 2012 (UTC) (moved to discussion page by Alan)

==== Census records ==== Census records are available on a variety of subscription and other websites. It is unlikely that you will need to consult the 1841 to 1891 census on microfilm, since the census records are online at Family History Centers, archives, and various libraries. When the microfilm is required, consult the Family History Library Catalogue for film numbers. There is statistical data available for the census years 1801 to 1931 that records the number of houses, families, people, and other statistical data for every parish in Suffolk. Refer to the Suffolk Census wiki article for details about the Census.

England Census Records and Indexes Online lists all the sites. I don't know why no one has linked to it. I am the only one that has linked to it from a parish or County page. Another odd thing is that, that page has just over 2000 hits, yet the English Census page has 15,000 hits. Both pages are linked together. Its like peole want to know about the census but they do not want to know which sites have the census and look at the records. Or on the other hand they already know the sites, but arne't familiar with census records in general. The relevance of England Census on microfilm is small wilth all the online sites that are available. I haven't looked at a census microfilm in ages. Donjgen 20:17, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Heres another template that just got put on every page I think a link to the county census page should be added to it As: Refer to the Suffolk Census wiki article for details about the Census. Like Acton, Suffolk Donjgen 23:10, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

The link function in the template software is dysfunctional. If you change the "disp=" within the FHL link it overrides the link. In other words you can't link to the catalogue with any other word other then a film number in this case. Typically you can link to anything with any word you choose. Is this a programing error? Donjgen 16:57, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

TO Whom it may concern: I have noticed that the template "British Census" is being put on every parish page. Since I did not like the format of it I created 2 other census templates that add additional parameters. The templates is "Suffolk Census" and "British Census2" It has to be remembered that these templates are drafts and subject to change. I would question putting the template "British Census" on every page because if one parameter changes in the template every page will have to be visited again to make that unique change. It is poor judgement to think that every parish page in England needs this template. I had Steve take the time to put a link on every parish page in Suffolk to the Suffolk Census page. Now most of those links are gone, replace with this template. I do not think that the 500 parish pages in Suffolk need a link to ancestry.com, findmypast.com and the other websites. There are pages created specifically that talk about these websites and it is easy to link to those pages. From what I see someone plans to put this specific template on the 10,000 parish page in England. I'm not going to go around changing that template, but if I am working on a speciifc parish, I will change that template to another one, those mentioned above or another one.Donjgen 23:11, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Template problem
It appears that there is an error with this template that causes it to look like there's an extra space so that it shows up in a blue box. averyld 22:37, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Suggested Reword
Census records from 1841 to 1911 are available online. For access, see England Census Records and Indexes Online. Murphynw 08:53, 17 March 2014 (UTC)


 * I agree that the first sentance should be updated to extend the range to include the 1901 and 1911 census. I also prefer the option of providing a link to a detailed page that lists all the online census options, but I do think you should keep the sentance with the link to the FHLC entry for the specific parish microfilms. --Steve 21:39, 26 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Good point! Murphynw 22:22, 26 March 2014 (UTC)