Black Sapper Posted 10 July , 2013 Share Posted 10 July , 2013 Sorry to bother you guys here but a quick query? I get so lost fumbling my way through the 1911 Census for Military Overseas that I decided to catalogue all the Regiments & Units for each country onto separate pages. Should make it easier to at least know where to start searching for those 'lost'individuals? Should I share this info with other GW Members? If yes, then where best to post this stuff? Best regards Black Sapper (Peter Holden) Typical info below/attached1911 Military Census - Gibraltar.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 10 July , 2013 Share Posted 10 July , 2013 We had a thread previously which linked to the individual regiment/battalion starting page, but it seems that Ancestry then changed the references and all became redundant. I have downloaded all the images for the South Lancs in India, but haven't yet done anyhting with them - I might transcribe them at some (unspecified) point in the future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 10 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2013 What a mess the Ancestry records are in? You have to first view 1911 Census - Military - Civil Parish box "All", which will give you the main cover sheets for each unit/regiment in each area/country. This usually consists of 3 pages for each, but contains no personnel details whatsoever. You then need to 'go back' / 'return to browsing' & then change the "Civil Parish" box to "Not Stated". Now when you search the relevant area or country you initially desired to view, you need to trawl through hundreds of pages just looking for the Regiment/Unit you wanted in the first place before you get to research the 'soldiers by name'? Guess where the Regimental/Unit cover sheets are that would have identified that you're in the right place - yep, you got it - in the first search areas!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrr......... I think I'll rethink this one & finish cataloguing the 'Cover Sheets' for each 'Country/Area ', identifying every Unit/Regiment etc. Then I'll go look & trawl through the hundreds of pages of the actual census records, locate & identify each Regiment/ Unit & record the http://search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/view.aspx ....... as a link which people can then use to go directly to the Regiment they wanted to search in. B****r me, now I'm confusing myself so I'll shut up & just get on with it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 10 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2013 I managed to revise the Gibraltar 1911 Census list but now this post will not let me add the revised file as it is 'too big'? I need to look into this a bit more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Tucker Posted 10 July , 2013 Share Posted 10 July , 2013 I recently did a search for Richard Hammond Bryan in 1911. Found him with 1/Warwicks in India. Going back a forth from the Warwicks names there were 2/Loyal N Lancs, 1/Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 2/Norfolks and 1/Lincs. Also some wives and kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 July , 2013 Share Posted 10 July , 2013 I spent four days writing an Index for India etc , only for Ancestry to change the images and their order.....the index is now useless and I have not felt inclined to do it again. Good luck with your venture. Ubique. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 11 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2013 Apologies guys n' gals, but it ain't going to happen - I give up, Ancestry.co.uk beat me into submission by making it just so difficult to navigate their 1911 Census records for Military! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lang Posted 15 July , 2013 Share Posted 15 July , 2013 This is a stellar effort that has unfortunately gone bad due to ancestry (cough, spit...). They are a 'for profit' company and a subsidiary of the Mormon church. It is in THEIR interests to get YOU to PAY for access to 'their' records. (cough, spit...) So they'll continually thwart all efforts to index 'private' lists into their records, and they'll call it 'an upgrade' to their site. Kindest Regards, Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGM Posted 15 July , 2013 Share Posted 15 July , 2013 The Mormon Church filmed the records and Ancestry scanned these films. (When searching through service records if you come to the end of a reel you will see this is true.) At the moment The Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are indexing.... - well, it's probably better if I quote: During World War II a bombing raid on London damaged 60% of the service records for British soldiers that served in WWI. Volunteer as an indexer and help make what remains of this valuable collection available for free at FamilySearch.org. (My underlining). Learn more and sign up. familysearch.org/indexing. So if anyone has some time to spare maybe they could investigate helping with this project. CGM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 17 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 17 July , 2013 Well said Tom, agree wholeheartedly! Obviously they split the Census Book cover sheets from the census records so as to make it almost impossible to link the two together? BUT .... I'll not be beaten! I'm getting there & will post again on this 1911 Census shortly. I just like the way the 1911 census records so much about each family, wives, kids, marriage length etc. - you can find out so much from it. I've just resolved a huge issue I had with a soldier's history simply from the 1911 records of where his 8 children were born .... good stuff. Intrigues me though that many infantry regiments in 1911 census actually recorded their soldiers 'civilian' trade or occupations - I've found this to be useful when having to decide on which 'John Smith' is the one I wanted? CGM - I took a look - certainly quite easy to do, if a little time consuming. My concern is that they only have provision for recording 'base' information so I would query the value of what they hope to produce? Here's a link for a sample which you can see what is to be indexed at each stage & for a number of different WW1 records - worth a look... https://indexing.familysearch.org/projtab/viewProject.jsf?url=UKWWI_Service_Records_19141920_Part_1/ProjectHelp1.html Think I'll give it a miss though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGM Posted 17 July , 2013 Share Posted 17 July , 2013 I haven't signed up as I am already immersed in other projects. If I had time I think I would look at it. CGM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 I now fully endorse Tom Lang's .... "Ancestry (cough, spit .....)" comments, having just spent the best part of 2 weeks fumbling my way through their 1911 Military Census records. I still cannot for the life of me understand why they, "Ancestry (cough, spit .....)", decided to split the Census Record Book Cover Sheets from the 'meat' of the census - absolutely no logic there? Just makes it harder for their customers to trawl through sheets & sheets of census records to find the Regiment or Unit their ancestor's served in - and that's before you go look for the individual you were researching! Frustrating stuff! Why should all this be necessary? For some strange reason, and I just did a fairly long bit of general 1911 census research using names directly from the military census records, and a high percentage of them don't come up immediately because, during "Ancestry (cough, spit .....)" transcription exercise, they made many misspellings & mistakes? (I think they must have farmed the transcription work out to a 3rd world country who had no idea of what they were transcribing & in many cases just guessed at the spelling of English/Scottish/Welsh & Irish names & places)? Any way - I did what I needed to do for my own records & it does seem a shame not to share it. So until "Ancestry (cough, spit .....)" decide to change it all again - here's all the references to each 1911 Military Census Record for each & every Regiment or Unit. (Unfortunately you still need to be a member of "Ancestry (cough, spit .....)" to be able to open the links .... but ....... they could save you a lot of expensive trawling? I'll add the links in a separate post below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 1911 Military Census - Aden.pdf 1911 Military Census - Bermuda.pdf 1911 Military Census - Burma.pdf 1911 Military Census - Ceylon.pdf 1911 Military Census - Channel Islands.pdf 1911 Military Census - Channel Islands.pdf 1911 Military Census - Cyprus.pdf 1911 Military Census - Egypt.pdf 1911 Military Census - Gibraltar.pdf 1911 Military Census - India.pdf 1911 Military Census - Jamaica.pdf 1911 Military Census - Malta.pdf 1911 Military Census - Mauritius.pdf 1911 Military Census - Sierra Leone.pdf 1911 Military Census - Singapore.pdf 1911 Military Census - Sudan.pdf 1911 Military Census - South Africa.pdf Tidied it up by edit today 29.07.2013 1911 Military Census - China & Hong Kong.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Black Sapper - thank you. It is an incredible resource you have created. Have you by any chance put it on an excel spreadsheet? MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Martin G - nope not yet? - Maybe I'll take a look as I've got it all logged, with .jpg images of each Unit's Census Book Cover Sheet in Word for Mac format? What would you suggest? Columns for ......... Country ......... Unit/Regiment Title .......... Postal Address ......... Ancestry Link for Census Book Cover .............. Ancestry Link for Census Record I suppose one could go totally OTT & add link for Wives? Number of personnel etc? (Wonder how long that would take me??) LOL Grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Black Sapper - just for the Country, unit names and links.. Having done this exercise before I found it much more useful to be able to search a document for a key word...so for example someone wanting to find the 4th Bn Worcestershire Regt would find the Bn (and its links) with the Ctrl F function very quickly. All it needs is the Country in the first column, the unit names in the second column and the links in the third. Lots of cutting and pasting I know..... If it is on an excel spreadsheet you just need to have one document rather than 12 and it is fully searchable by unit name.... Having done India before, I know just how big the index is. Just a thought. What you have already done is really impressive. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 MG - that won't work on GWF - you can't upload or attach an excel file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 MG - that won't work on GWF - you can't upload or attach an excel file? But I think you can post a link to a drop-box with an excel spreadsheet attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Could do it as a .pdf file again - that would still be searchable (it is on my Mac) & the links still work? How would that do MG? 1911 Military Census Test pdf.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sapper Posted 28 July , 2013 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Thanx MG - I'd best be getting on with it then? (After my beach walk, dip in the pool, sundowner on the beach & a couple of Caribbean beers though - my God retirement in the tropics is tuff) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinBattle Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 You deserve several sundowners for all that work! Sheer persistence in the face of all that (cough, spit) could throw in your way! I've never attempted to do the 1911 Military before because it seemed so complex. This may help in rooting out which of several potential men I can't properly identify on the various Rolls of Honour I'm working on! I only hope I can get this sorted before (cough, spit) "upgrade" again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 A truly heroic effort. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 28 July , 2013 Share Posted 28 July , 2013 Incredible work! Thank you for letting us in on your efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 29 July , 2013 Share Posted 29 July , 2013 Please be aware that for the 1911 Census in India, there were definitely some men in the British Army known to be in India who do not appear in the census, so the data is not complete. So you can't draw any conclusions if a name, or a regiment, doesn't appear The FIBIS Fibiwiki has a page "Stations of British Army troops in India", which has a short section on the 1911 Census http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Stations_of_British_Army_troops_in_India Cheers Maureen PS I'm having problems posting this, apologies if the formatting is strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now