ESSEX-UK-L Archives

Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2005-03 > 1111943345


From: Ruth Aylett <>
Subject: Re: [Ess] ESFH census indexes
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:10:09 +0000
In-Reply-To: <1d8.39df801e.2f78371b@aol.com>


In line with an earlier comment on the list, I have found that a sizeable
number of Ayletts present on the ESFH index seem to be missing altogether-
or at least a search on first name/age/location doesn't bring them up, nor
even first name/location.

Of 63 Ayletts in the reg district of Dunmow on the ESFH fiche, only 42
appear on a search of AYLETT/DUNMOW for 1837online.

> On the 1837online site they say the census pages were transcribed by people
> in India and Sri Lanka to save costs, but they are checked in the UK. Haven't
> they learn from Qinetiq's mistake?

Clearly not - and if I can cross-check against the ESFH fiche I suppose they
could have done the same. I note that there are several entries for various
popular first names I checked where the family name is given as '....'. This
makes me doubt that any checking has actually been done at the UK end. The
quality seems to me to be less good even than the 1901 index.

> At least the ESFH indexes are transcribed and checked by people who are
> close to the names and places and have proved to be more accurate due to local
> knowledge.
>
Not only this: as I mentioned before they also give more information since
they are arranged by sub-district, not district, and also give the
sub-district of birth.

Ruth
--
Ruth Aylett Professor of Computer Science
Mathematics and Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK Tel: 44-131-451-4189 Fax: 44-131-451-3327
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/ "Life is beautiful"

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