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1911 Census Anomaly?


AndyS

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Hi,

Can anyone put forward a reasonable aswer to this anomoly.

A relative of mine (Mary Jane Watson) is shown on the 1911 census as living at '16 Rangeley Road, Sheffield' ... or at least that is the address she has given on the original document and which seems to have been verified as correct by the enumerator.

The problem is that the enumerators list shows shedule 168, which refers to the address for this returned census, as being that of '247 Ben Lane, Wadsley, Sheffield'!!

Why would the enumerator accept an incorrectly completed return if Rangeley Road wasn't the true address?

An 'ancestry.co.uk' search only shows the census but the 'Find My Past' search engine shows both the original images of the census and the enumerators list.

Thanks in anticipation.

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Will Watson (Statistical Clerk) and his family seem to have been occupying 16 Rangeley Road at the census.

Mrs Watson (Mary Jane) seems to have been living at 247 Ben Lane but has put her postal address as requested by the form as 16 Rangeley Road.

I would guess that she normally lived with Will and family (hence her postal address was 16 Rangeley Road) but on census night she was at Ben Lane for some reason. The census form is badly designed, it should ask for the postal address of where the people listed spent the census night. The list of names at Ben Lane is here:

and here's the description of the Ben Lane area

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Top quality reply in under an hour - impressive work, Thank you.

Will Watson (Statistical Clerk) and his family seem to have been occupying 16 Rangeley Road at the census.

Mrs Watson (Mary Jane) seems to have been living at 247 Ben Lane but has put her postal address as requested by the form as 16 Rangeley Road.

I would guess that she normally lived with Will and family (hence her postal address was 16 Rangeley Road) but on census night she was at Ben Lane for some reason. The census form is badly designed, it should ask for the postal address of where the people listed spent the census night. The list of names at Ben Lane is here:

and here's the description of the Ben Lane area

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I know Rangeley Road well.

Hi,

Can anyone put forward a reasonable aswer to this anomoly.

A relative of mine (Mary Jane Watson) is shown on the 1911 census as living at '16 Rangeley Road, Sheffield' ... or at least that is the address she has given on the original document and which seems to have been verified as correct by the enumerator.

The problem is that the enumerators list shows shedule 168, which refers to the address for this returned census, as being that of '247 Ben Lane, Wadsley, Sheffield'!!

Why would the enumerator accept an incorrectly completed return if Rangeley Road wasn't the true address?

An 'ancestry.co.uk' search only shows the census but the 'Find My Past' search engine shows both the original images of the census and the enumerators list.

Thanks in anticipation.

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Hi Edmund & RichardB,

Sorry I didn't reply as quickly as you both did (currently out of the country with limited access to internet) but thanks to your investigative skills and time, I now begin to understand why the anomaly arose.

Thanks once again,

AndyS

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