1841 Census book with more than one part

[Stephen L]

When trying the grey arrow to check a census reference with one of my 1841 households I found no result. Further investigation revealed I have an error in the book number.

For HO107 piece 5 book 34 (Toddington, Bedfordshire) has been split into 4 parts so the full references recognized by FindMyPast should include "34 Pt 1" ,"34 Pt 2", "34 Pt 3" and "34 Pt 4".

Using Advanced Search and browsing book numbers I have found a few other anomalies exist somewhere in the census but I have not checked the piece numbers. There is a Book 21 that has been split into six parts, a book "36 Pt 2" (but no Pt 1), and Book 39 with four parts. There is also a book "1 & 2".

These cause a problem when entering census details. The Lost Cousins online form only allows three characters for the book number but 7 are required in these cases with parts including spaces.

Some books are split into a and b or A and B, such as 10a, 10b, 3A and 3B. These do not cause any problems.

 

[Stephen L]

I should have asked a question. Should the part numbers be ignored (where they exist) when entering a reference? Or is there a possibility of Lost Cousins modifying the entry form? I can see it would not be a good idea to make things more complicated for the 99.99% of cases where the books are not split into parts.
Thanks.

 

[peter]

The general rule is that where there is an exception, like this, the additional part of the reference is omitted. This particular issue has come up before, but I can't find the correspondence.

 

[Stephen L]

The general rule is that where there is an exception, like this, the additional part of the reference is omitted.

Thanks Peter. That makes complete sense.
Is it worth adding a sentence to the end of the fourth paragraph in the FAQ Where can I find the 1841 census references? such as "If the book has been divided into several parts the part numbers or letters should be ignored, although clicking on the Transcription icon will not lead to the correct page."