13 January 2009

So it's here . . .

This morning I got the email telling me that the 1911 census has gone live. Funny tho', I'm not as excited as I thought I would be - maybe it was the beta-testing which got it out of my system.

So, after a morning out, I decided to look for Bert & Blanche - and, this time, I found the right combination, hiding in West Ham. Actually, they're still where they were living three years previously. Quite pleased with this find!

Interestingly, Bert's mother was living/staying with them, which would make sense as her husband had died the year before and they had left Woolpack Farm in 1905. There was a flurry of newspaper articles in this year as the village of Hemingford Grey gave James a portrait (of himself) and an illuminated address (answers on a pc, please!) in recognition of his service to the village over the previous umpteen years.

One of the best bits was contained within the Hunts Post article about the sale of farm stock in October 1905; amidst the horses and oil paintings was this sentence:-

"A very fine cockatoo, which by the bye was exceptionally talkative at the sale, made £7 2s 6d."

Fantastic! But makes me wonder why he wouldn't take the bird with him to his next house. Takes all sorts, I suppose.

Anyway, back to the census. More soon.

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