Meaning

PCGEN · 04-03-2014 10:03pm #1

Does anyone know what 'R Sharp' means?

It's mentioned on Census Form A (last column) under the heading 'if deaf and dumb.......etc'

Menas · 05-03-2014 1:45pm

I have not heard of that. Can you give us a link to the doc? Perhaps you are misreading it?

PCGEN · 16-03-2014 11:27pm

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000847277/

Waitsian · 17-03-2014 12:36am

I've never come across that before, and I honestly can't even guess at an explanation.

The only phrase that springs to mind given the context is 'razor sharp' though why he would write that there is beyond me.

mickmackey1 · 17-03-2014 1:52am

He doesn't write it in 1911

L1011 · 17-03-2014 2:05am

Filled the form in in a very odd way otherwise -"can't read and write" as opposed to "cannot" for the literacy question for starters, then the illegible Where Born column. Can't say you can assume much at all from what's filled in that column other than it meaning that nothing was wrong.

CeannRua · 17-03-2014 8:53am

It might be the signature of a person who filled in the form for the family.

P. Breathnach · 17-03-2014 12:12pm

CeannRua wrote: »

It might be the signature of a person who filled in the form for the family.

It's possible, but I don't think it likely. Only the head of household was unable to read or write, so I imagine the form was filled in by another family member. In cases that I have seen where the form was completed by an outsider, it was the enumerator who did the writing.

The mistakes in the place of birth column suggest that whoever completed the return was not practised at form-filling. That makes it easier to believe that there is an error in the last column. One possibility is that it is a reference to the local doctor or somebody else who can attest that the members of the family are sound in mind and body. You might do a trawl of returns for the area, and see if there is anybody of that name in the locality.

I find it noteworthy that the family seemed to be bilingual, except for the youngest. Might it indicate a transition point, where English was taking over from Irish as the everyday language of the family?

Hermy · 17-03-2014 1:32pm

P. Breathnach wrote: »

You might do a trawl of returns for the area, and see if there is anybody of that name in the locality.

There aren't many R. Sharp's in Ireland and of those that appear none seem to have handwriting similar to that posted above.

L1011 · 17-03-2014 3:28pm

P. Breathnach wrote: »

I find it noteworthy that the family seemed to be bilingual, except for the youngest. Might it indicate a transition point, where English was taking over from Irish as the everyday language of the family?

In Dublin that happened well, well before 1901. Irish was effectively completely dead in urban areas, hence movements like the Gaelic League being formed for revival purposes.

Very very few of the people I've Irish census records for in my tree could speak Irish at all in 1901/1911, even those in apparent Gaeltachts,

Menas · 20-03-2014 2:19pm

I have had a look at other forms filled in by this enumerator and that is not his handwriting. So he just witnessed the X mark made by head of family.
Curiosity got the better of me so I looked at the returns from other households in that townland and surrounding ones and none have the R Sharp text.
So it is a mystery. Razor sharp is the best bet at this stage....but a strange thing to put in there! Was that term even known back then?

pedroeibar1 · 20-03-2014 3:41pm

In my opinion it has nothing to do with 'razor' and suggest that it was the name of the person who completed the form by filling in some blanks that had been left. The writing is different - look at the letter 'r' in the surname and also the difference in the uppercase C for Catholic and Co. - possibly the enumerator's boss?

(Avoiding mention of blindness, which would suggest C Sharp.)

Waitsian · 20-03-2014 9:40pm

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Razor sharp is the best bet at this stage....but a strange thing to put in there! Was that term even known back then?

Unless men were always shaving with blunt razors before the census...!

Meaning

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