Government Petition to Release Census data after 70 years

Yay! The power of democracy. Someone started an E-petition to get the PM to release Census data after just 70 years instead of the current 100 year rule.

This would allow census information from 1911, 1921 and 1931 to be used by the general public researching their family history in the absense (or failing memories) of their elderly relatives. Birth, Marriage and Death information is already available so why is information about where people lived hidden."

Add your signature at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CensusInfoFreed/

Whoa! Some Investigating To Do

I finally stumbled upon a family of significance.

It seems possible that I'm descended from the Sydenham family of Dorset, wealthy landowners some of which fought in the Civil war in the 17th century. Records in the tree on www.familysearch.org reach back as far as 1087.

Links to investigate:

http://www.thedorsetpage.com/history/Sydenhams/Sydenhams.htm

http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/de-hungerford.htm

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/gettextimage.php?id=7765 Royal connections and murder?

Howick's of Sussex

On 21 September 1828, Edith Howick married William Bundy in Bosham, Sussex, according to the Parish register transcripts I have.

Thus far, I've been unable to establish the parents of Edith Howick.

I did start a small study of the Howicks in the Bosham area through the Census records, anticipating the small number of them to be related. www.familysearch.org includes unverified records submitted by users, some of which list:

Edith Howick, born 3 July 1812 in Bosham, Sussex. Her parents are listed as
John Howick born 10 July 1781 in Stoughton, Sussex and
Mary Ann Sydenham born 1791 in Bosham.

Whilst I concur with the John and Mary Ann, the Sydenham bit just doesn't quite fit.

1. There are two Mary Ann Sydenham records in my Bosham Parish register transcriptions: Mary Anne Sydingham born to William and Elizabeth in 1791 in Bosham and Mary Ann Sydenham born 1803 to John and Ann (Summers, I'm pretty sure), also in Bosham. I'm pretty confident that this John is the son of William and Elizabeth anyhow, should that be important.
2. My parish record transcriptions don't list a Bosham marriage for John Howick marrying anyone, let alone Mary Ann Sydenham. However, they do list Mary Ann Sydenham marrying Francis Stephens from Birdham on 21 February 1809.
3. I can't find Francis Stephens from Birdham in the 1841 or 1851 Census records, or a Mary Ann Stephens for that matter either.
4. There is a marriage of John Howick and Mary Ann Sydenham on 4th July 1811 in Westbourne, with a William Sydenham as a Witness (see point 1). This looks like a much more likely candidate. Westbourne is just 4.1 miles from Stoughton and 6.1 miles (on current roads) from Bosham.

So, it's pretty likely that the familysearch records are correct on the parentage, but wrong on their marriage date and location. Which means that my small Howick study has not been in vain either! :D