on the Censuses of England and Wales

Sources of Census Data

Errors and mis-transcriptions
It is very possible that there are errors in the census data present on Jacomb.com. It is best practice to check the details of the transcriptions on Jacomb.com with the original census image at a library or record office. Jacomb.com is currently checking both the transcriptions on the site for errors and checking the censuses for Jacombs & variants which have slipped through the net by having been mis-spelt.

Names included for completeness are Jacomb, Jacombs, Jacombe, Jacom and Jacomb-Hood. Mis-spelt entries such as JACOMBER which appears in 1881 London and has identified as a JACOMB have been included. JEACOMBS is a mispelling of JACOMBS which appears in the 1881 Warwickshire census transcription. There is always the very real possibility that a surname has been misspelt and therefore has slipped into the sea of JACOBs or JACOBS'. This is known to have happened with at least a few Jacombs in the 1881 Census.

Returns for surnames incorporating the stem 'Jacob' are not provided, being far too numerous, although it has been discovered that people named Jacomb have slipped into this group. This is either through contemporary transcription of the records into county books, or in the recent transcriptions.

How the 1901 Census has been arranged on Jacomb.com
The PRO 1901 Census Online website gives you a certain amount of information for free when you search its index. However it doesn't give you a full address, middle names/initials, other household members or the relationships therein. For this information you need to either pay online to access it or search microform for it yourself at a record office.

However, the PRO Census website does gives more information than is obvious to the eye.
You are able to click on an individual's name to buy a trancription giving that person's details and address. You are also able to click a small image button to buy a copy of the image of the actual census taker's page on which an individual appears. This is possible because each individual in the census has been given a 'Person ID' no. and a 'Page ID' no. by the PRO when they began putting the census online. The 'Person ID' no. is unique to an individual however many people may have the same 'Page ID' no. People with the same 'Page ID' no. are listed on the same page of the census taker's booklet - including whole households. 'Person ID's were issued sequentially as people are listed in the census. For example, in a particular (made-up) household:

• Dad Smith who is Head of the household is listed first may be given person ID '2870001'
• then Mum Smith who is listed second may be ID '2870002'
• then Baby Smith who is third, and last of the household, may be ID '2870003'.

  Mr Phelps next door would then Head his household with ID '2870004'.

The whole household appears on the same page which has been given 'Page ID' 4587234 and as such all three Smith family members have 'Page ID' 4587234. These ID numbers are not visible on the webpages of the PRO Census site but are part of the underlying hyperlink of the HTML programming which ensures when you click the link you are taken to the right image/ transcription. Programmes are available to extract these ID no.s from the webpages of the PRO site and which also predict the full PRO reference number for each individual, given their particular person and Page IDs. Armed with ID numbers it is possible to deduce who, from a list of people of the same surname, may be of the same household by: (1) spotting those with the same 'Page ID' and hence who are listed on the same page of the census taker's booklet, and (2) spotting sequential 'Person ID' no.s.

This process has been carried out here on Jacomb.com and instead of having alphabetical lists of Jacombs by county, people within a county who appear to be of the same household are grouped together. From practice I can vouch that this works, however I wouldn't guarantee it outright and always suggest examining the census images themselves either by cost at the PRO website or potentially free at a local or national record office.