1871 UK Census Followup
This is in response to the announcement made a few hours ago: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/120003/england-and-wales-census-1871
I assume that "general public" in that announcement refers to non-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints accessing the records from home.
When I (non-LDS) tried to access the 1871 UK census just before from home: there was no option to search an index, and images were accessible from a FHC/Affiliate Library only.
While this is a disappointing change, it is not inconsistent with what the record custodian, the UK National Archives (TNA) told me under the Freedom of Information Act in December 2021. I had asked about the contractual changes between FS and TNA in November 2021.
Despite the contractual changes, FamilySearch continued to own any indexes of UK censuses that they themselves had created or purchased. The fact that the index is no longer available would suggest that FS has either sold their index very recently (presumably to FindMyPast) or they were renting it from FMP and this arrangement has ceased. If I understand things correctly, TNA and their contract with FS had no effect on the withdrawal of the index from FS.
There is actually no change to image access for non-LDS. We were always restricted to FHC/AL access only. Under the new arrangements with TNA, FS retains the right to publish images of the UK censuses at these locations.
Best Answer
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My understanding has always been that the indexes for all England & Wales census collections were provided by (and regularly updated by) Find My Past. However, as stated, if these 1871 indexes are the property of FamilySearch, there seems to be no contractual reason for discontinuing their availability on the FamilySearch website.
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