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From: Cecil Verge <>
Subject: [UK-W&H] Early release 1911 Uk Census
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:24:00 -0400


There is a campaign taking place in the UK for the early release of
the 1911 UK Census. They are trying to have the census released in 2004
rather than have to wait until 2012 when the 100 year restriction
expires. This early release would be of tremendous importance to
Canadians who are descendants of British Home Children and who are
seeking information on their Home Child relatives.
Below is information from Denis McCready, Co-ordinator of FREE THE
1911 CENSUS. As well as a sample letter which Canadians may sent by
e-mail to Mr. Beith MP. of the UK parliament. Be sure to add your name
and full mailing address, including your postal code. I would encourage
everyone to e-mail Mr. Beith MP.
Denis McCready may by contacted at or
visit his web site ..http://home.clara.net/denis.mccready/index.htm
Kindly advise Denis McCready if you receive a reply from Mr. Beith
MP.
Thank you,

Cecil Verge, New Minas, Nova Scotia, Canada

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................

Welcome to Census e-NEWS BROADCAST No. 5 – December 2003

Seasonal good wishes to you.


A NEW BALL-GAME

Since 14 November 2003, when an official report was published on the
1901 CENSUS ONLINE,
campaigners have found themselves in a completely new ball-game.

The government has discovered that it could easily make at least £5m a
year by publishing the 1911
CENSUS ONLINE. So if ministers stubbornly stick to their plans to wait
until 2012 before releasing the
census, they will lose £5m every year in potential revenue. That would
be a loss of £40m by 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!



WHAT IF UK RESIDENTS CANNOT FIND MORE MPs WHO SUPPORT US?


We’re beginning to hear from pro-active UK campaigners who have won the
backing of their MPs. For
example, Ann Hunt has heard from her MP, Alistair Carmichael [LDem,
Orkney & Shetland], who has said:



I am happy to give this 1911 Census campaign my wholehearted
support.

We need at least a hundred UK campaigners who have contacted their MPs
since the end of October 2003.
But we haven’t heard recently from many of our registered UK members.
Does that suggest that the
campaign is running out of steam?

For the information of campaigners outside the UK, we have sent the
following message to UK supporters

If you are still keen to back the campaign, please write to your MP, at
the House of Commons, London SW1A
0AA, if you haven’t asked for his/her support since October 2003. To
email your MP, just go to
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/HCIOLISTS/ALMS.CFM to find a link.

Please be sure to let us know [a] that you have written to ask your MP
to urge the Lord Chancellor
to release the 1911 census [b] what your MP says in reply and [c]
whether your MP has sent you a
copy of the House of Commons Library STANDARD NOTE on 1911 census
records

We would be grateful if you could avoid sending attachments larger than
200KB, due to the resultant time and connection costs of
downloading such e-mails over an analogue modem. If you need to scan in
documents to send us, please choose GIF (or JPEG /
JPG) format, not BMP or TIFF formats, which tend to create very large
files.

Here’s a time-saving letter which you could consider using. Please feel
free to alter the wording.

**************** Beginning of letter ****************

Dear Mr. Beith MP.

I am a keen family historian and I am supporting a new campaign to
persuade the UK government to release the 1911 CENSUS
ONLINE next year – when the records for England & Wales are about 92
years old. We’ve attracted the interest of family
historians from all over the world.

I was wondering if you would spare a few minutes to read the letter
below which has been written by Denis McCready, Campaign
Co-ordinator, and let me know if you would be willing to urge the Lord
Chancellor to release the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5.

Yours sincerely

[Make sure to add your name and full address, including your postcode or
your MP won’t know whether you’re really one of
his/her constituents.]

Dear Member of Parliament

I am providing copies of this letter for use by any of your constituents
who are backing the CAMPAIGN TO FREE THE UK 1911
CENSUS, which is urging the government to release the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE
next year. We have a broad swathe of support
across the world from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Cyprus,
Eire, Finland, Germany, Holland, Malta, New Zealand,
Norway, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of
America and the UK.

At first sight, you may feel that there is little chance of the
government releasing the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5. However,
you may have heard that

· existing legislation would allow for the LAWFUL release of
the records in 2004

· informants were NOT guaranteed that the 1911 records would
be closed for 100 years

· the release of the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE under a Private
Finance Initiative [PFI] would cost the government nothing
and probably produce £50m in revenue during the next decade.

I hope that you share my feeling that it no longer makes commercial
sense for the government to delay the release of
the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE for another 8 years, until 2012.

It would be enormously helpful if you would urge the Lord Chancellor TO
MAXIMISE REVENUE FROM CENSUS RECORDS by
releasing the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5.

Yours sincerely

Denis McCready

Campaign Co-ordinator, Solihull


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