Was there a problem with the 1881 census?

[Tinker]

I seem to find people on 1871 one ok but not 1881. Is there a reason for that?

I haven't heard of any problems with data on the 1881 census, I have had ancesters dissapear for one then reappear on the next one though.

Weird isn't it. Can see who might be my great granddad as a baby on 1871 and then he disappears but reappears in 1901 with my grandad as a baby

I haven't heard so, but sometimes there is a local problem - e.g. my ancestors were all in Whitstable, Kent, and I know that the records for the 1841 census for Whitstable were all destroyed. Maybe it's something like that.

Although some of my relatives come out fine in one census but not another. The other thing is , have you checked for mis-spellings of the surname? I have found several relatives that way.

Yes, have found I need to tamper with spellings.

what about 1891?

I don't think 1891 was any different - again i found some of my relatives under alternative spellings. My family name is very rare and unusual, and quite susceptible to spelling variation!

Yes - spellings can be a challenge in all the censuses. And people changed spellings of names etc. Plus if the handwriting of the original census taker was bad, it can be a nightmare for the people who transcribed it. (And you have to bear in mind they might have got a bit bored and not always given it their fullest attention.....Did you know they wanted to outsource some of this to india - can you imagine?)

Is there anyone you are looking for specifically in 1881? I'm always willing...

And me, I'm on ancestry, so can check things out.

Thanks both. Am using Ancestry. Strangely though, some nights I'll put what I think is the same search that I have used previously but will get different results.

Tinker - some times ancestry left out whole parishes, and in the 1901 census the NA left out a whole parish aswell - so there is no way it would be on any subscription website either.

Try searching on another pay view website as it could be that they have transcribed the pages and names better than ancestry.
Or have a look on the 1881 census here www.familysearch.org it is free to use and cover the whole of england and wales.

You can alos search for baptisms and marriages on the IGI n the above website, that is also ree to use.