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This week, we have significant additions to our National School Admissions Registers from the North of England, an entirely free-to-view photo collection, and a whole host of newspaper pages. Here's a rundown of everything that's new. National School Admissions Registers: If you have ancestors in Halifax, Yorkshire, then make sure to check out these new additions to our school registers.The four schools these records cover are Portland Road's Infant School between 1890-1904, Queens Road Boys Senior School 1904-1921, Queens Road Girls…

We've found some amazing things in the 1921 Census of England and Wales, there's no doubt about it. Unlike previous censuses, for the first time, the 1921 Census included a question on each individual's employer and place of work. This means that we can glean interesting occupational insights from the census returns. Learn more about the occupation codes used in the 1921 Census. From miners and transport workers to academics and writers, there is a massive array of jobs documented in this valuable…

Picture boots on cobbles, voices carrying down terraced streets, the scrape of a chair pulled up to the kitchen table as another man came in with the latest news. Word travelled fast in mining communities. By 1921, life was already on edge. The First World War had ended, but the relief never quite arrived. Work was uncertain. Prices were high. Across England and Wales, more than two million people were out of work.For families tied to the coal industry, things…

Female soccer players were having a ball in the early 1900s.During the First World War, women’s football hit a turning point. As women stepped up to the plate in the workplace, particularly in factories, they quickly turned their hands (or feet) to the beautiful game. Some would even argue women’s matches attracted more spectators than the men’s, detailed in newspaper reports of the time. But some were disturbed by the shining success of the women’s game and deemed it…

The 1921 Census of England & Wales is incredibly significant material for historians, family historians and genealogists. However, it's even more than that. The 1921 Census offers researchers around the world an opportunity to explore the movement, activities and occupations of English-speaking communities worldwide.One of the best ways to use the 1921 Census to make new discoveries is by comparing it to existing materials that have been accessible for years, such as the US 1920 Census and the 1921 and 1931 Censuses of Canada. Thanks to…

Officially almost 38 million people were enumerated in the 1921 Census. Its remit was England, Wales, the Isle of Man and a number of British Islands. But not all those recorded were natives of those places. In fact, more than 1.2 million (3.4%) citizens in the 1920s were born elsewhere. The chart below lists where the largest numbers who were born abroad came from: Of course, many more were of foreign heritage too, the children or grandchildren of immigrants. It's more difficult to identify…

The 1921 Census of England and Wales contains more than just information on the whereabouts of our ancestors. Often, people made political statements, doodled little pictures, or even listed their pets as family members. The beauty of an original, handwritten census return is in the details that a transcript doesn't contain.Take a look at the weird and wonderful things we discovered when digitising these records. 1. Find my pet?: If there was every any doubt that pets are as much a…

Ahead of the highly anticipated launch of the 1921 Census in 2021, we invited centenarians born in 1921 or before to come forward and be a part of the campaign to bring this piece of history to life. It was through this campaign that we met the wonderful Edwin Hunt. Born on 23 March 1920, Edwin was one year old when the 1921 Census was taken. He grew up as a child of the Golden Era, though his story perhaps weaves a different tale to the…

The 1921 Census of England & Wales is a detailed snapshot of 38 million lives that reveals where your relatives were, what they were doing and who they were with on one summer night in 1921.We want to help you make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to explore your past. So we've created an interactive checklist to help make sure you're geared up to get the best from it. Covering everything from where to start to how to dig deeper, this is…

By the time of the 1921 Census, Britain was a nation still recovering from the First World War (1914-18) and the global Spanish flu pandemic (1918-20). Millions of lives had been lost in those tragedies. The families and communities left behind were still picking up the pieces. Yet, life-changing progress was also happening around them to help them move forward in a world changed forever.The 1921 Census is available online exclusively at Findmypast, and you can get full access through our Premium subscription.…