About England & Wales Census 1841   Accuracy and Completeness of 1841 Census Data

A Comparison between Origins.net and Ancestry.co.uk

A comparison of searches on a selection of random names, including those in the table below, indicates that searching on Origins.net 1841 census index returns an average of over 20% more names and is more accurate than that of Ancestry. We shall be extending this comparison and welcome independent input.

			No. of records
Surname	Forename	County	Origins.net	Ancestry	Comments
FAIRBROTHER	JOHN	Cheshire	7	7
FORBES		Cheshire	20	20
HACKER		Cheshire	7	7
ATHERTON	JOHN	Cheshire	18	15
DEAN	ALICE	Cheshire	10	5
GEE	JOEL	Cheshire	11	11
LEIGH	GEORGE	Cheshire	34	28
OLIPHANT		Cheshire	4	4
OLLIER	WILLIAM	Cheshire	9	9
PIMBLET	all	Cheshire	8	4
SPROSTON	NOAH	Cheshire	2	2
WAINWRIGHT	MARTHA	Cheshire	16	15
ABBOTT	CHARLES	Middx	22	21
EADES	JOHN	Middx	6	6
EVANS	ALFRED	Middx	17	15
FAIRBROTHER	JOHN	Middx	5	3
FORBES		Middx (St Pancras)	32	24	2 Ancestry forenames are incorrect: (eg “SERCHAS” for “Sir Chas”)
GALE	JOHN	Middx	40	35
HACKER	WILLIAM	Middx	4	4
TEAPE	all	Middx	12	6
ABBOTT	CHARLES	Staffs	2	0
EADES	JOHN	Staffs	6	5
EVANS	ALFRED	Staffs	2	2
FAIRBROTHER	JOHN	Staffs	2	2
FORBES		Staffs	21	20
HACKER		Staffs	8	7
KEAN	all	Staffs	33	23
LABAN	all	Staffs	7	5
RAMSEY	JOHN	Staffs	1	0
SADLER	JAMES	Staffs	10	8
TAILOR	all	Staffs	38	22
ABBOTT	CHARLES	Surrey	5	5
EADES	JOHN	Surrey	7	6
EVANS	ALFRED	Surrey	12	12
FAIRBROTHER	JOHN	Surrey	0	0*	*Ancestry has one “FAIRBROTHER”, but the original is clearly FAREBROTHER
FORBES		Surrey	71	55
HACKER		Surrey	25	20	Ancestry returns 27 HACKERs, but 4 of these are clearly HOCKER, and 3 should be (most likely) HAWKES
TEAPE	all	Surrey	4	2
Totals			538	435	20% more records on Origins.net

Origins.net, 2006

email: census@origins.net