Need to correct the recomended use of "United Kingdom" from 1801 to 1922

StewartTM

For place names in England, Wales and Scotland - FamilySearch indicates the use of "United Kingdom" from 1801.

However - the 1801 version of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" was replaced in 1922 with the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

This results in the "United Kingdom" designation being attched to locations in England, Wales and Scotland from 1801 to the present . . . in fact, using the wrong lapsed version of the "United Kingdom".

Also results in no location in the whole of Ireland using the "United Kingdom" designation over the period 1801-1922 when such Irish locations were in fact part of the 1801 "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" - the same "United Kingdom" as FS recommends to apply to England, Wales and Scotland.

Simply put - I believe that FS has confused the lapsed 1801 "United Kingdom" - which should not be used - with the current 1922 "United Kindom" - and needs to revise the the recommeded use of "United Kingdom" from 1801 to 1922 (the start of the current re-constituted "United Kingdom").

See the attached handout I have produced for FHC visitors.

My personal interest in this - is that I am Irish and also British - and FS have clearly got their recommended dates for use of "United Kingdom" wrong.

Paul W

@StewartTM

I very much doubt if this is the time to have your issue addressed. As you may have read, FamilySearch has recently dropped American "Territories" from its standard names list, so "United States" has to be used even for the period before it existed!

I have never seen the need to add "United Kingdom" (or any variant) after the name of its constituent countries and, at one time, never selected this option. However, unlike with England, Scotland and Wales, the "Irish problem" arises when it comes to place name endings - as you have illustrated. True, this is a politically sensitive issue and - in spite of any "correctness"- I am sure many users might prefer to see just "Ireland" at the end of the six counties!

Nevertheless, I feel your proposals should be given serious consideration by the "Places" section of FamilySearch, so you might wish to add a post this to the "Places" Group in this Community forum, where it might be more likely to receive attention than it will by being posted here.

StewartTM

Thank You Paul W for your comment.

Similarily, I prefer not to use the "United Kingdom" standard place names - even for "Northern Ireland" entered place names - but so many contributors insist on changing the selected standard place name to select the "United Kingdom" version based on the incorrect recommendation of FamilySearch.