Reading census handwriting

[beanpole]

I know I've seen a useful link somewhere on this... Having almost finished a scrapbook LO for the potters in the family, it looks like I've misread it a bit. What I thought was a preper seems to have been a presser. The first s is a long letter more like an f. The two letters are close together so I'd misread it. Anyone come across a double ss written like that? It looks a bit weird but from the list of jobs on the Stoke potteries website it seems that a potter presser is far more likely.

[Lucie]

Ancestry.co.uk have a chart with old handwriting on so you can try and decipher it. Otherwise can you scan a copy in for us to see if we can work it out for you?

[beanpole]

Thanks Lucie, will scan it in tomorrow.
I think there's another mix-up on the 1881 Swansea census as they seem to have the head of household, William, as a potter, as well as his brother lodging with them... called William, a potter. Both born in Stafford, Stoke on Trent, and 11 years apart! I don't think there was a working pottery in Swansea then. The 2 main ones had already closed.

[MrsH]

I know I've seen a useful link somewhere on this... Having almost finished a scrapbook LO for the potters in the family, it looks like I've misread it a bit. What I thought was a preper seems to have been a presser. The first s is a long letter more like an f. The two letters are close together so I'd misread it. Anyone come across a double ss written like that? It looks a bit weird but from the list of jobs on the Stoke potteries website it seems that a potter presser is far more likely.

"ss" written as "fs" is quite common especially on the earlier censuses ... my Prosser line are down on Ancestry as Profser in a couple of places. It's the old style of writing and anyone searching for people with "ss" in their surname should try typing in "fs" instead and you'll be amazed at what comes up.

If the old handwriting is difficult to read, two tips I was given ...
- tilt your head to one side and read at an angle
- invert the image (so black becomes white and vice-versa - Ctrl-I in an image editting package is a common short cut) as sometimes it's easier to read, especially if the writing is faint.

[beanpole]

Sorry it took me so long... only just got the scanner fixed up again after moving the rooms round as DS has come home to live for a while. There are two 'pressers' listed which I had thought were prepers...