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Astonishing 1911 census find – Emily Davison in Parliament's crypt

This morning, after months of searching, we finally came across an astonishing historical document in the 1911 census. Emily Davison, the suffragette who was to die in 1913 after throwing herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom derby, is famously said to have secreted herself in the House of Commons at the time of the 1911 Census in order to have herself enumerated within Westminster.

We have now uncovered the actual historical documents that prove this is the case and will perhaps throw some more light on this key moment in parliamentary history. The event is considered to be such a landmark event in British politics that a plaque was secretly installed in Parliament in honour of her rebellious act  by Tony Benn, with the aid of Helena Kennedy QC and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.

We had already found Emily Davison on the census listed at her boarding house, but had wanted for some time to discover how much truth there was in the parliament story. Thinking laterally, we realised that there was a possibility that she had been incorrectly recorded, and decided to try searching for her using the “variants” search on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 Census search. This search not only looks at exact names searched for, but also looks for common variants of names.

Sure enough, when we repeated the search with the surname variants search on and allowing a few more years flexibility than her actual age at the time of the census, she immediately appeared listed as Emily Wilding Davidson (note the extra D in her surname). Most astonishingly, her address was listed on the census transcript as “Found Hiding in Crypt of Westminster Hall Westminster”.

Emily Davison on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 census

Click here to view the full size image

Intrigued, we decided to look at the original documents. First of all, we looked at the RG14 Household page – this has been signed by the Clerk of Works at the House of Commons, a Mr Percy Ridge (for a bit of fun, you can also find him in the 1911 census, living in South London).

1911 census Household form filled in by the Clerk of Works

Click here to view the full size image.

We can see that Ridge’s handwriting only records Emily’s name (spelt wrongly), age (3 or 4 years off her actual age) and marital status. Somebody else (likely to be the enumerator – the handwriting looks very similar) has filled in her occupation and place of birth. It is notable that both of these bits of information are wrong too – Davison had given up full-time teaching in 1909 to concentrate on her work for the Women’s Social and Political Union and her birth was registered in Greenwich, not Northumberland (Davison’s mother, however, had been born in Morpeth, Northumberland).

So now on to the back of the household form, to see where this extraordinary address from the transcription had come from.

address panel from the household form

Click here for full size image

Sure enough, Ridge has put her address as “found hiding in the crypt of Westminster Hall since Saturday” There’s also a note at the top which says “apply Common Row police station for more information”.

So finally, a quick look at the Enumerator’s Summary to see whether she succeeded in her aim of being enumerated at Westminster.

The enumerator's summary listing her as sole occupant of the crypt

Click here for full size image

Sure enough, she has been enumerated as the sole occupant of the Crypt in the “Houses of Parliament”.

A few interesting lessons for family historians in this discovery:

1. Think laterally when searching for names and dates of birth and allow for wide margins of error even if you think you have the exact information
2. Use the “variants” search on findmypast.co.uk – it really is a powerful piece of technology!

Emily Davison, we salute you, and are proud and humbled to have found the documents that record your astonishing census night 99 years later.

If any of our readers can shed any further light on this astonishing find, we’d be delighted for you to add notes and observations in the comments below.

Astonishing 1911 census find – Emily Davison in Parliament’s crypt

This morning, after months of searching, we finally came across an astonishing historical document in the 1911 census. Emily Davison, the suffragette who was to die in 1913 after throwing herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom derby, is famously said to have secreted herself in the House of Commons at the time of the 1911 Census in order to have herself enumerated within Westminster.

We have now uncovered the actual historical documents that prove this is the case and will perhaps throw some more light on this key moment in parliamentary history. The event is considered to be such a landmark event in British politics that a plaque was secretly installed in Parliament in honour of her rebellious act  by Tony Benn, with the aid of Helena Kennedy QC and Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.

We had already found Emily Davison on the census listed at her boarding house, but had wanted for some time to discover how much truth there was in the parliament story. Thinking laterally, we realised that there was a possibility that she had been incorrectly recorded, and decided to try searching for her using the “variants” search on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 Census search. This search not only looks at exact names searched for, but also looks for common variants of names.

Sure enough, when we repeated the search with the surname variants search on and allowing a few more years flexibility than her actual age at the time of the census, she immediately appeared listed as Emily Wilding Davidson (note the extra D in her surname). Most astonishingly, her address was listed on the census transcript as “Found Hiding in Crypt of Westminster Hall Westminster”.

Emily Davison on the findmypast.co.uk 1911 census

Click here to view the full size image

Intrigued, we decided to look at the original documents. First of all, we looked at the RG14 Household page – this has been signed by the Clerk of Works at the House of Commons, a Mr Percy Ridge (for a bit of fun, you can also find him in the 1911 census, living in South London).

1911 census Household form filled in by the Clerk of Works

Click here to view the full size image.

We can see that Ridge’s handwriting only records Emily’s name (spelt wrongly), age (3 or 4 years off her actual age) and marital status. Somebody else (likely to be the enumerator – the handwriting looks very similar) has filled in her occupation and place of birth. It is notable that both of these bits of information are wrong too – Davison had given up full-time teaching in 1909 to concentrate on her work for the Women’s Social and Political Union and her birth was registered in Greenwich, not Northumberland (Davison’s mother, however, had been born in Morpeth, Northumberland).

So now on to the back of the household form, to see where this extraordinary address from the transcription had come from.

address panel from the household form

Click here for full size image

Sure enough, Ridge has put her address as “found hiding in the crypt of Westminster Hall since Saturday” There’s also a note at the top which says “apply Common Row police station for more information”.

So finally, a quick look at the Enumerator’s Summary to see whether she succeeded in her aim of being enumerated at Westminster.

The enumerator's summary listing her as sole occupant of the crypt

Click here for full size image

Sure enough, she has been enumerated as the sole occupant of the Crypt in the “Houses of Parliament”.

A few interesting lessons for family historians in this discovery:

1. Think laterally when searching for names and dates of birth and allow for wide margins of error even if you think you have the exact information
2. Use the “variants” search on findmypast.co.uk – it really is a powerful piece of technology!

Emily Davison, we salute you, and are proud and humbled to have found the documents that record your astonishing census night 99 years later.

If any of our readers can shed any further light on this astonishing find, we’d be delighted for you to add notes and observations in the comments below.

Credit pricing change for census records

We have increased the amount of credits you will be charged to view an 1841-1901 census record from 3 to 5. This is the first time we’ve increased our credit pricing in 4 years and we hope you’ll understand our need to reflect the current market rates in our pricing. The 1881 census transcript images will remain free to view.

Findmypast.co.uk has complete census records 1841-1911 – more records than anyone else. We also have more searchable fields than anyone else which makes finding your ancestors as straightforward as possible.

PayAsYouGo credits can be a great way to start your family history research, but with a subscription you can enjoy unlimited usage of our records without having to worry about running out of credits. Visit our ‘Subscribe‘ page for more information about subscribing to findmypast.co.uk.

Family histories of the political party leaders – not as different as you might think…

We’ve researched the political party leaders’ family histories, using our family history records and other public records, and found some fascinating details.

The Tory and Labour party leaders are commonly thought to have wildly opposing backgrounds. Genealogical research, however, has found that the family histories of David Cameron and Gordon Brown are not so different after all.

David Cameron – blue blood, ‘White Mischief’ and Scottish lineage

David William Donald Cameron was born in 1966 in London to Ian Cameron and Mary Mount. The well-heeled Tory leader is a fifth cousin twice removed of the Queen and a seventh cousin of Princes William and Harry, and a descendant of William IV.

David’s paternal great-great-great-grandmother, Lady Agnes Hay and her parents, the Earl and Countess of Erroll can be found in the 1841 census. Here you can see Lady Agnes Hay’s 1841 census return:

The Countess is David’s royal link – Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence, the illegitimate daughter of William IV.

Through Elizabeth, he is also related to Josslyn Victor Hay, 22nd Earl of Errol whose dramatic murder in Kenya in 1941 was depicted in the film ‘White Mischief’.

Perhaps the least known element of Cameron’s background, however, is that he is also a distant cousin of Boris Johnson, the Tory Mayor of London. Both descend from King George II (1683-1760) – albeit by illegitimate lines.

The Scottish Cameron side of the family has also not been commonly explored. While Gordon Brown’s ancestors were farming in Fife in the early 1800s, the Camerons were also tilling the land around Inverness. William Cameron, David’s great-great-great-grandfather was recorded in the 1851 census as a farmer at Upper Muckovy, just outside Inverness. William’s son Ewen then went into finance, and beginning a tradition of financiers that continued until David Cameron entered politics.

Gordon Brown – Scottish farmers and a family secret

The current Labour leader’s background is well-known and often discussed; he descends from a line of hard-working and upwardly mobile Scottish farmers and stonemasons. The prime minister was born James Gordon Brown in 1951 in Renfrewshire, the son of a Minister in the Church of Scotland, John Brown. Before that, the Browns were farmers in Fife for three traceable generations.

There is, however, a little-known family secret in Gordon Brown’s family’s past, discovered by extensive searches through online records. One of Brown’s great-grandfathers was born illegitimate in the late 1840s as a result of a relationship between a farmer’s teenage daughter and a man 20 years her senior – a doctor of medicine who became a wealthy GP.

Francis Troup Manson, a great-grandfather of Gordon Brown on his maternal line, was born illegitimate to Jessie Cruickshank, a farmer’s daughter of about 16 years old. It is quite probable that the affair would have caused people to gossip in their small Highland village.

Gordon’s paternal grandfather was called Ebenezer Brown and his parents, Brown’s great-grandparents, John and Mary Brown are recorded in the 1891 Scottish census living at Brigghills Farm House in Auchterderran, where John was a farmer. Here is Ebenezer Brown’s 1891 census return:

Nick Clegg – an intriguing multi-cultural family

Nicholas William Peter Clegg is the youngest of the three leaders and was born in 1967 at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire to a Dutch mother and a half-English, half-Russian father. He speaks five languages and has by far the most cosmopolitan background of the three, with a Russian baroness as a grandmother and a Dutch mother who was once a Japanese prisoner of war in WWII. He is also currently married to a Spanish lawyer.

Nick Clegg’s paternal grandfather is Hugh Clegg, whose 1911 census return you can see here:

Hugh Clegg married a baroness who was the granddaughter of the Russian nobleman Ignaty Zakrevsky. This nobleman had a daughter called Maria Ignatievna Zakrevskaya, born in St Petersburg in 1891, and Nick Clegg’s great-great-aunt. She became a countess through her first marriage and then a baroness through her second.

She was suspected of being a double agent, spying for both the Soviet Union and British Intelligence, leading to her being called the Russian Mata Hari. She was known to be a heavy drinker, and also had affairs with the writer HG Wells and the Russian literary giant, Maxim Gorky. She also wrote books and film scripts, including ‘Three Sisters’ directed by Laurence Olivier in 1970.

Like both Brown and Cameron, Clegg also has a more ordinary side to his family tree. In his direct paternal line, his great-grandfather was a schoolteacher and clergyman from Leeds who married a master mariner’s daughter from Hull called Gertrude. John Clegg ran schools in Suffolk and Huntingdonshire.

Nick’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Simeon and Mary Clegg, can also be found in the 1871 census. The couple were living at 3 Grange Street in Leeds and Simeon was employed as a butcher.

Ask the expert – Irish ancestors

This month a guest expert answers your questions. John Hanson is a lecturer and teacher on family history, census fanatic and author of How To Get The Best From The 1911 Census.

From Lesley:

‘I have been tracing various lines of my family for the past 40 years, and I have found perseverance generally solves most problems. My grandmother’s family, however, have tested my expertise and I really am stuck.

The family just seem to ‘appear’ on the 1881 census which shows the following people living at 41a Gordon Street, Everton:

• Mary McDonald, widow, aged 48, born Fermanagh
• daughter Emily aged 22 born Liverpool
• son Albert (my great grandfather) aged 17 born Liverpool
• Robert aged 1 who could be son or grandson

I have obtained Albert’s marriage certificate. On that he gives his name as James Albert McDonald and names his father as James McDonald.

Because James McDonald is a fairly common name, I have tried tracing Emily’s birth (in the hope of finding her mother’s maiden name) without any success.

I would have expected the family to appear in both the 1861 and 1871 census, but I cannot find any trace of them. Albert continues to appear in all the census returns after 1881 with his family, but I cannot find Mary again. I suspect Emily may have married in 1882, so would need to check her married name before following her through.

Can you offer any assistance/suggestions as to how I might trace my McDonald family further back?’

John says:

‘Irish ancestors are never easy, due partly to the lack of Irish returns prior to 1901, but the name starting with Mc makes it even harder. The problem is that it could of course have been put down as Mac rather than Mc.

There is another problem with surnames that start with Mc and unfortunately one that crops up all too often in census transcripts. It is caused by the c in the Mc appearing in superscript and looking like ‘Mc’ and often appearing to be separated from the rest of the surname. This can lead to the surname in this case going down as Donald with Mc appearing as part of the “given names”. It would be worth checking the previous and later censuses that way.

Bear in mind that many entries for Liverpool will appear in the West Derby registration district. The 1881 census shows Mary as a ‘shopkeeper’ and as such she should appear in a trade directory. Assuming that you find her in one then you need to check each of the subsequent trade directories for the area until she disappears. At that point start looking for death entries or a possible second marriage.

You need to ensure that the marriage that you have for James Albert McDonald is in fact the same as your James by ensuring that you can’t find him anywhere else. The marriage of Emily should be checked and I suspect that Robert is in fact her son and if she did marry then he is likely to appear on a later census under her married name, rather than McDonald.’

We hope this is useful to your research. If you would like to pose a question for our expert, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account.

Ask the expert – lost great-great grandfather

This month a guest expert answers your questions. John Hanson is a lecturer and teacher on family history, census fanatic and author of How To Get The Best From The 1911 Census.

From Andy:

‘I am looking for my great, great grandfather Simon Howcroft.

• He appears as the father on his daughter Hannah Elizabeth Howcroft’s marriage to James Frederick Bowling in the March quarter of 1876 in Tendring Registration District.
• From the 1881 census onwards Hannah appears as the wife of James (born 1854 Harwich) and born 1852 in Fakenham, Norfolk.
• I can find no record of Hannah prior to her marriage, nor can I find any record of Simon.

Can you suggest where to go next?’

John says:

‘This is one of those problems that many people face and is often a major stumbling block for many new to family history. I am not sure that I can provide an answer but can hopefully point you in the right direction.

You haven’t said whether the marriage certificate says that Simon is deceased or not, or what his occupation was. We do need to remember, however, the information there is which the bride will have told the person performing the marriage. The fact that he was stated as being deceased doesn’t guarantee that he was – I have seen certificates that say that the father is dead and he isn’t, or imply that he is alive and he is deceased – so take it with a pinch of salt.

When looking at problems like this my first port of call is to check all of the census entries for the family looking for clues. You need to check that the place of birth is consistent – in this case on all the censuses to 1911 she says that she was born in 1852 in Fakenham (or Fakham), Norfolk. You also need to look at the names of children – here we are looking for clues as to the mother’s maiden name – often used as a name on its own or as a second first name. In this case though there are no such clues with the names of the children.

A check on the GRO indexes for the period shows no birth registration of a Hannah Elizabeth, just Hannah, just Elizabeth or even a “female” Howcroft in the Norfolk area. Now it is always possible that in 1852 the birth wasn’t registered, the onus in those days being on the Registrar to go and find the births rather than the person registering them (the change in the law took place in 1874). One thing I did notice is that the name appeared to be mainly in the Lancashire/Yorkshire area so this could be a route to explore.

I can find no obvious death either for Hannah, Hannah Elizabeth Bowling or a Simon Howcroft. I would also suggest checking a surname dictionary, usually available in the reference section of your local library, as these will often suggest alternative spellings of a name.

It may be worth checking with the Local Registrar for the Fakenham area to see if they have their own index to births – some are more helpful than others. It would also be worth checking with the churches that are local to Fakenham to see if you can find a baptism. To broaden the area of baptisms further I would suggest checking with the local family history society to see if they have produced one. Alternatively searching the internet with a search term of something like ‘parish register Fakenham’ will often produce dividends.’

We hope this is useful to your research. If you would like to pose a question for our expert, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account.

Your experiences – Chelsea Pensioner success

In our previous newsletters we asked you to send us your experiences of researching your ancestors. Thanks to all of you who got in touch – we love reading your stories. Read on for how Pat Trewin is getting on with her family tree research:

Pat’s story:

Many years ago, when I first started my family history and was interviewing my mum’s mum (both have now passed away) Nana told me that her father had been in the British Army for about 10 years prior to being married. She was their third child, born in 1901, so I was working back from that time. Until now I had never been able to find any evidence of this, so decided to try my luck with the new listing of Chelsea Pensioners. Imagine my delight when I found him straight away, including 7 items of his service records available for downloading.

He was in the East Surrey Regiment and served 4 years in India as well as 6 years in England. Poor chap would probably be mortified to know that his descendants now know he had a large brown birthmark/mole on his penis! More interesting to me though was a notation at the end of his Statement of Service saying he was ‘convicted of a felony by the Civil Power’ and sentenced to 15 months hard labour! They provided a date of arrest and also a date when he was discharged because of the crime.

So then I set about to find what he had done – and I found that too! He was sentenced at the Old Bailey for ‘Stealing a letter containing a gold ring while working at the Post Office’. So I even have a convict in my past – of sorts. A year later he got married and a couple of years later, with the three children, they emigrated to Australia on the SS Osterley, settling in Brisbane. So it’s nice that he was able to make a fresh start. Punishment was pretty heavy though, I thought.

Many thanks to findmypast – what wonderful luck I had finding him straight away!

Your experiences – mystery man

In our previous newsletters we asked you to send us your experiences of researching your ancestors. Thanks to all of you who got in touch – we love reading your stories. Read on for how Shirley Pizziferri is getting on with her family tree research:

Shirley’s story:

My great-grandfather, Michael White, was said to have come from Co. Cork, Ireland. He shows up in Maine, USA in the 1850 census with a young family and then dies before the 1860 census. The cemetery record shows his birth about 1812, but that is all I have been able to learn about him for the 30 years I have been researching my family.

The oral history is that he ‘jumped ship’, and I’ve accepted this as the reason his arrival in the US has been so hard to find. However, a search for him on your site reveals a record of a Michael White, born 1813 in Wicklow (County Cork) Ireland, who deserted from the UK Army! This has to be him and would explain the mystery surrounding his identity in the US.  Thank you!

March’s competition winner

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the competition we featured in our March newsletter is Donald Hurd from Canada. Donald correctly answered that the youngest person with ‘Easter’ as a surname on the 1851 census in Lancashire was Mary Easter, aged just 4 months. Donald wins a copy of Nick Barratt’s Guide To Your Ancestors’ Lives.

Thanks very much to all of you who entered…keep an eye out for our next competition which will appear on our Facebook page tomorrow!

Proof of Titanic letter-writer's fated trip found in our passenger records

A letter from a first class passenger aboard the Titanic to his wife fetched a reported £55,000 at auction on Saturday 17th April at Devizes, Wiltshire, and we’ve found the author in our passenger lists.

The letter was written by an Adolphe Saalfeld, a 47-year old German manufacturer of perfumes living in London and was dated 10th April 1912, the first day of the ill-fated trip. He described in detail a near collision with another liner at Southampton, the lunches and dinner he enjoyed, and the comfort on board. According to the auctioneers, it is the most detailed first person account of life aboard the Titanic in existence.

Mr Saalfeld’s passenger records, along with all those who travelled on the Titanic, can only be found on our site. Saalfeld’s passenger transcript states details of his port of departure at Southampton, and expected port of arrival, effectively verifying the letter. He did in fact arrive at his expected destination of New York, having boarded a lifeboat and been rescued when the ship hit the iceberg.

Here you can see the passenger list for the Titanic:

Titanic passenger list

Debra Chatfield

Debra Chatfield, our marketing manager, said: “When we heard about this amazing letter, we were keen to look up the original passenger record for Adolphe Saalfeld online at findmypast.co.uk. Passenger lists are so useful for finding out when people travelled and to where, for example when and where they emigrated or travelled on business. There are so many details you can see in the records, from who travelled with the passenger, to exactly when they left, their year of birth and their occupation. In this case it proved an important historic document as it meant the letter was hugely likely to be the genuine article.”

Search our 1890-1960 passenger lists today.