christine liava'a Posted 2 January , 2004 Share Posted 2 January , 2004 Arthur Bertram Lawson see thread in "Soldiers" was a Lt Col in 1918 where & how did he learn to be a soldier? Maybe in the Boer War Is that why we can't find him in the 1901 census? Did the British who were in South Africa in the war get counted in the census? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 2 January , 2004 Share Posted 2 January , 2004 Christine The 1901 census, in common with previous ones, was a record of all those actually in the UK on census night, 31st March 1901. If a soldier was serving overseas he would not be counted, but would be included if he was home on leave. It's a bit different for ships of the Royal Navy, which were considered to be little bits of Great Britain afloat, and were included whether at sea or in port [home or abroad]. The only problem comes because of the poor transcription of the census in some areas - the person is there but not able to be identified because their name appears as something remote from reality. Apparently if you add up all the men thought by present day family history searchers to be abroad 'serving in the Boer War' it adds up to something a little over three million Having said that, it seems highly likely that Arthur Lawson could have been abroad on census night as a regular soldier. Sometimes, if the men were married, and have a reasonably unusual name, it is possible to trace the wife on the census who may be helpfully listed as 'wife of soldier/sailor' etc. Regards - Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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