To say that the launch of the 1921 Census of England and Wales with Findmypast was highly anticipated would be an understatement.
The next Census won’t be released until 2052 as the 1931 Census was destroyed in a fire and the 1941 Census didn’t happen due to the Second World War. The 1921 Census records have been under wraps for 100 years and we were lucky enough to reveal them to the world.
Covering everyone from The King and Alan Turing to the likes of Beatrix Potter and Sir Captain Tom Moore, the Census is a treasure trove of information and provides a fascinating snapshot of the nation.
Covid scuppered our in person event but this didn’t hamper media interest from rolling in and we achieved blanket coverage across the board, covering every single national title.
We kicked off the morning with dedicated segments on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, Radio 4’s Today programme and the 5Live breakfast show, working with historian David Olusoga to land our key messages and get the nation excited to delve into their family histories.
Our story dominated the airwaves throughout the day with pieces on BBC News, Channel 5 News, ITV London, Radio 4 You & Yours and Woman’s Hour to name a few! And then we enjoyed clean sweep of regional radio coverage the following day.
The day the embargo lifted, we landed over 900 pieces of coverage with every single national covering stories from the Census at least once: Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Times, Daily Telegraph, BBC homepage, Daily Mirror, Metro, iNews, Independent and Evening Standard with a couple of double page spreads in the Daily Mail and Daily Express to boot, ensuring we got the nation talking about how to get their hands on this fascinating piece of history.
