Intriguing census entries

[lindy]

Peter asked in the latest newsletter if there were anymore POW examples out there. This one isn't but is still intriguing!
In 1911 my great granduncle was 'found in a shed'. In fact there were 8 men on the page, found in 3 separate sheds, and the entry was signed at the bottom by the registrar.
I shall be interested to trace him in 1921 when it's available.

 

[At home in NZ]

'found in a shed'.

Very intriguing indeed, makes me wonder if they were hiding. Although another thought is, was it on a farm?

 

[jorghes]

My only real curious one is the 1881 census for my 3x great grandmother which gives her occupation as "husband in prison".
(Unfortunately I haven't managed to find his prison record as of yet.)

 

[lindy]

Yes you are right, 3 sheds on 3 different farms. The "found in a shed" is the 2nd column entry where the relationship would be. In his shed were 5 single men, all agricultural labourers, between 31 and 50. It does almost sound as if they are hiding away.

 

[peter]

I believe I wrote about similar entries in the newsletter many years ago - possibly before 2009 when they went online. There were specific instructions to enumerators for dealing with people who staying in outbuildings, caravans, tents etc - perhaps because they would not have been sent a census form in advance, and wouldn't appear in the numbered list of households.

 

[At home in NZ]

Near where I lived during the second decade of my life was an area where the Romany (gypsies) had lived in their camps. There were 'settled gypsies' in the street I lived in.
Contrary to popular belief they were not thieves and liars, they were kindly people, hard working and willing to share tales of their previous lives in camp and caravan.
Reading this discussion has made me wonder if they were recorded in censuses and how their abode was described. I found some in the 1851 census, the entry under the heading of street name for some is Common and for others it is Common Air. The enumerator has made a note in the margin 'gypsies in the open air'. Among the occupations are entries for 'tinker and grinder'.
The variety of birth places is of note because it indicates how much they moved around.

 

[lindy]

A bit of an aside here.... What would you call the brother of a great grandmother? I was hoping someone might pick up on it as I would previously have said great great uncle. Then I googled and got conflicting advice!

 

[canadianbeth]

According to FTM, my great-grandmother's brother was my second great uncle.

 

[PhilGee]

"great great uncle" or "second great uncle" is correct in English, though Ancestry have "great-granduncle" as they use a "colonial" English variant. The OED refers to a "granduncle" by re-directing to a great-uncle (a mechanism to show the latter is the preferred usage) and mentions that the former is more common in "Irish English".

Usage can change over the years: for example, the 1953 shorter OED had an entry "connection see connexion" which is now expressed with the spellings reversed.