Innovative approaches to understanding more about your family history
On censuses, many young Victorian girls pretended that they had already reached the age of 15 in order to have a better chance of obtaining work as domestic servants and to command better wages when they did so. Sidney Paget, the Boscombe Valley Mystery, Illustration of 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery', in The Adventures of Sherlock... Continue Reading →
On the 1911 census, couples were asked for the first time how long they had been married. Many gave a falsely extended number of years – just enough to render all their children legitimate! Mr and Mrs M Young and their seven children, Waterloo House, Waterford, 1913. Via Wikimedia Commons. For Social History and Women's... Continue Reading →
Women of all classes fabricated their age on the nineteenth century censuses. The government report into the census of 1881 stated that many women ‘desirous of being thought younger than they really are, return themselves as under 25 or under 30 when their true age is considerably beyond these limits.’ Interestingly, there was also a... Continue Reading →
searchmyancestry - Ruth A. Symes 