Is Ancestry removing census reference information from the index?

[avm228]

Apologies if this has been raised before.

On three recent occasions (all in the last week) I've gone to a 1901 census entry on Ancestry to find that the "source citation" information on the summary page has been removed and is blank.

To check this (and provide examples) I've done quick searches on members of my own family in different parts of the country in 1901:

Celia Markham b 1833 Framlingham, Suffolk (in Lambeth in 1901)
Mary J Pierce b 1836 Redditch, Worcs (in Danbury, Essex in 1901)
Victor Milward b 1841 Redditch (in Wellesbourne Mountford, Warwickshire in 1901)

Random I know, and a small sample, but as it turns out none of them yields an indexed reference. Obviously one can find out the reference, but if it's not in the index it's not searchable.

So, e.g., Victor Milward's reference is RG13 piece 2937 folio 80 page 21, but that yields no results in the Ancestry reference search box under "Old Search".

Any thoughts? Are Ancestry simply going to abandon reference-based searching when they do away with Old Search?

[DannieB]

There was a short discussion on this same topic on an ancestry message board a few days ago.
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/13246/mb.ashx

I don't do much searching in the English census, since most of my family came from Ireland, so I'm not an expert, by any stretch.

There have been numerous glitches in the census reference information on ancestry.com in the recent past. The 1870-1900 US census lost all citation information for many months.

[JenB]

The source citations only appear to be absent on the 1901 census 

[josey]

I can see the 1901 census reference by going to 'Tools' in the top right next to 'Related Content' then 'View source'. As you say though, the reference is not on the index page & the source citation has been removed from the 'old viewer'.

I struggle to find a dialogue section where you can search for census reference on ancestry anyway! I wonder if removing that option is a ploy to prevent people helping or checking census sheets for others?

 

[avm228]

I struggle to find a dialogue section where you can search for census reference on ancestry anyway! I wonder if removing that option is a ploy to prevent people helping or checking census sheets for others?

The dialogue is in the advanced search form under "old search". As I've said, it is unfortunately rendered useless when the reference info has been deleted from the index.

[avm228]

There was a short discussion on this same topic on an ancestry message board a few days ago.
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/13246/mb.ashx

Thanks for the link.  That's interesting - the OP on that thread has also picked up (which I hadn't) that the registration district and subdistrict have also gone AWOL.  If that is a permanent development it will be seriously irritating - I find it hugely helpful to have an "at-a-glance" indication of what registration district covers the address, so as to help with BMD searches.

[avm228]

The source citations only appear to be absent on the 1901 census 

Weird isn't it

[JenB]

that the registration district and subdistrict have also gone AWOL. 

Again, as far as I can see, only on the 1901 

[Gadget]

Am I missing something or am I blessed - I have reg and sub district on the 1901 and census refs on all

Gadget