continuing on from the latest 1911 threads... - Genealogists' Forum

Val in Oz · #1 07-01-10, 03:59

what was the ruling on filling in the census form?

I have a lady who filled in a beautifully written census form and then signed it. However at the time of her marriage years before she had made her mark X

Assuming a lot of people were illiterate in 1911 they must have asked others to fill the form in for them, was it then okay for that person to sign the form in the name of the household head?

Merry · #2 07-01-10, 05:56

I bet that did happen (and no, it wasn't OK! Not sure of the actual rules, but I bet it didn't say 'and forge the householders signature at the bottom right of the form'!!). But how many people were truly illiterate in 1911? Anyone under the age of about 45 would have been subject to compulsory education - not necesserily making them all literate, I realise - and for oder people -I think a lot more were literate when the powers-that-be allowed them to be. I have several people on my tree who sometimes put a cross and sometimes signed, but it has to be said they all had rather poor handwriting, as if writing wasn't a common occupation for them!

Kit · #3 07-01-10, 11:00

I've heard it said before that some marriage certs have a mark rather than a signature even though they could write. Sometimes the priest just assumed and wasn't corrected.

Michael · #4 07-01-10, 14:44

I think sometimes if only one party in a marriage could write, that one would still mark rather than sign the certificate so as not to "show up" the one who couldn't.

Nell · #5 07-01-10, 18:09

Who knows? I did find a chap who'd signed with a mark was blind so maybe that's why he didn't write his name.

But by 1911 elementary education had been compulsory for a while and form-filling was increasing. I suppose you can only find out if you have another signature to compare with what's on the form.

Val in Oz · #6 09-01-10, 04:01

Thank you all for those comments, I do think that in my particular case she must have asked someone to fill it in for her as the writing was so uniform. Had she had such a good hand at the time of her marriage I am sure she would have signed her own name. Her husband signed his name on the marriage entry but was deceased by the time of the 1911 census.

Merry · #7 09-01-10, 09:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Val in Oz

Thank you all for those comments, I do think that in my particular case she must have asked someone to fill it in for her as the writing was so uniform. Had she had such a good hand at the time of her marriage I am sure she would have signed her own name. Her husband signed his name on the marriage entry but was deceased by the time of the 1911 census.

It would be interesting to know if anyone else in their street had the same distinctive handwriting!

kiterunner · #8 09-01-10, 09:12

It was perfectly o.k. for them to get someone to fill it in for them, by the way, but if so then either the householder should have signed their own name, or the person who filled it in should have signed it (i.e. not forged the householder's signature).