The man who wasn't there

Photographic pioneer Benjamin J Edwards, the first British manufacturer of orthochromatic plates, operated from Ealing in 1901. He had moved there from east London. The census shows that his daughter Kate and son Samuel worked with him. In 1909, he retired to Wistowe House, Church Road, Hayes and established a factory there.

The 1910 and 1911 electoral registers show him at Wistowe. But an online search of the 1911 census for the same address brings up the name Jane Cay instead - and only on the enumeration book's index. Her name does not appear on any census return.

So where is Benjamin Edwards, and who was Jane Cay? The answer lies 10  years earlier. Edwards' sister-in-law Jennie Clay was living with him at the time. Searching the 1911 census under her name reveals her as 'head' of household at Wistowe. Jane Cay, it turns out, is no more than a misspelling, however misleading.

As for Edwards - like many people missing in the census, he was probably away from home on the day the census was taken.