England Statistics Commentary

England And County Tables - Commentary

This page complements our weekly statistics by adding commentary to the tables and highlighting some of our collective achievements.

Commentary 28 May 2024 (data download to week ending 25 May 2024)

The week before last was our best this year for resolving Suggestions - over 3,300 were sorted. That pales into relative insignificance with last week’s improvement – a staggering 4,633 Suggestions fixed! Over 9,800 new profiles were added and we had a steady week for Connecting, while we ticked along with Sourcing and resolving Unknowns.

A significant number of Link Errors (over 1,000) were added to our Suggestions last week; and over 1,100 new Unsourced profiles were identified as members highlight profiles that need more attention.

The ‘Unknown County’ total stands at 302, 349. The England Project Challenge for June targets a significant reduction in this number. We are hoping for good levels of participation from our members. Every little helps!

The ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Suffolk, Worcestershire and Herefordshire
• Connections: Leicestershire, Wiltshire and Hampshire
• Suggestions: Somerset, City of London and Cornwall
• Unknowns: Northumberland, Staffordshire and Worcestershire

Thank you to all members who have been working to improve the tree.

Commentary 21 May 2024 (data download to week ending 18 May 2024)

Last week was our best so far this year for resolving Suggestions with over 3,300 fixed, beating our previous ‘record’ by over 250. We had one of our quieter weeks for adding new profiles and for Sourcing but made steady progress in identifying Unknowns and Connecting.

Each week, more England ‘Unknown County’ profiles are added to our total. We now have over 302,000 profiles which contain a location field that can’t be allocated to one of our counties. The Challenge in June will target a significant reduction in this number.

The ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Suffolk, Leicestershire and Gloucestershire
• Connections: Yorkshire, Cheshire and Northamptonshire
• Suggestions: City of London, Warwickshire and Somerset
• Unknowns: Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Herefordshire

Thanks to everyone for their contributions.

Commentary 14 May 2024 (data download to week ending 11 May 2024)

Outside the Connect-A-Thon weeks, we had our best week so far this year for adding profiles (10,529 new England profiles created). We made steady progress in all the quality measures, although ‘Unsourcing’ continues at a faster rate than we are sourcing and we again saw an overall percentage increase in this category.

The ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Cheshire, Middlesex and Gloucestershire
• Connections: Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire
• Suggestions: City of London, London and County Durham
• Unknowns: Worcestershire, Cheshire and Huntingdonshire

Thanks to everyone for their efforts to grow and improve the tree.

Commentary 7 May 2024 (data download to week ending 4 May 2024)

Another good week in which almost 10,000 new profiles were created. We had a steady week for Connecting, fixing Suggestions and identifying Unknowns; and the overall percentages in these three categories are at record lows. Our ‘Unknown County’ profiles increased but the percentage of these profiles is now under 7.3% of total England profiles, down from 7.5% at the start of the year.

With over 850 profiles improved, this was our third best week of the year for sourcing. As last week, some members have been ‘Unsourcing’ profiles (highlighting them as inadequately sourced so that they are will receive attention); so we again saw an overall percentage increase in this category.

The ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Bedfordshire, City of London and Herefordshire
• Connections: Lancashire, Buckinghamshire and City of London
• Suggestions: City of London, Herefordshire and London
• Unknowns: Bristol, Shropshire and Lancashire

We continue to make good progress; everyone’s contributions are appreciated.

Commentary 23 Apr 2024 (data download to week ending 20 April 2024)

The second week of the Connect-a-Thon was another excellent week. Over 15,200 profiles were created and we again sourced over 1000 ‘Unsourced’ profiles (beating the previous week by 2!). We connected almost 2,000 profiles and identified over 60 ‘Unknowns’.

Typically during a Thon, we see the creation of issues that need resolving as contributors who aren’t familiar with England Profile Standards or English locations add profiles that need attention. It is encouraging that, despite this, the overall measures of quality that we track continued to improve last week to new record levels.

The ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories again had particularly good weeks in improving their position:

• Profiles Sourced: Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire and Middlesex
• Connections: Herefordshire, Lancashire and Devon
• Suggestions: Herefordshire, Rutland and Northamptonshire
• Unknowns: Cheshire, Northumberland and Buckinghamshire

Commentary 10 Apr 2024 (data download to week ending 6 April 2024)

Last week was our best week so far this year for ‘Unknowns’ with 99 identified. We saw net reductions in Unsourced, Suggestions and Unknowns; and there was also a welcome net decrease in the ‘England Unknown County’ figure. As explained last week, properly formatted ‘Great Britain’ (1707-1800) profiles are now allocated to the correct county.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Middlesex, Worcestershire and Cheshire
• Connections: Devon, Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire
• Suggestions: Sussex, Buckinghamshire and (County of) London
• Unknowns: Devon, Berkshire and Shropshire

Onwards and upwards! Thanks to everyone for their efforts.

Commentary 3 Apr 2024 (data download to week ending 30 March 2024)

We had our best week so far this year for Suggestions with an impressive 3,077 fixed. Total England Suggestions expressed as a percentage of England profiles is now under 3.4%, a record low, having stood at 4.7% last July after a number of new Suggestion types had been added.

We had a solid week for new profiles with almost 9,300 created and continue to make steady improvements in the other categories.

The ‘England Unknown County’ figure increases by a few hundred most weeks, but is declining as a percentage of total profiles. Changes have been made so that, from next week, properly formatted ‘Great Britain’ (1707-1800) profiles will now be allocated to the correct county. The overall numbers of affected profiles are relatively small but the amendment is very welcome as we strive to improve the quality of the database.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Northumberland, Middlesex and Worcestershire
• Connections: Buckinghamshire, County Durham and Surrey
• Suggestions: Leicestershire, (County of) London and County Durham
• Unknowns: Cheshire, Worcestershire and Derbyshire

It is inspiring to see the so many improvements being made to the England branch of the tree. Thanks to all our members.

Commentary 27 March 2024 (data download to week ending 23 March 2024)

Another good week for new profiles with almost 10,000 created. The percentages of Unsourced profiles, Suggestions and Unknowns are at record lows, although the percentage of Unconnected profiles slipped slightly.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Northumberland, Middlesex and Westmorland
• Connections: Buckinghamshire, Northumberland and Somerset
• Suggestions: Berkshire. (County of) London and Nottinghamshire
• Unknowns: Leicestershire, Northumberland and Westmorland

Thanks to all our members for their ongoing efforts to grow and improve the tree.

Commentary 20 March 2024 (data download to week ending 16 March 2024)

The number of profiles created in the week rose yet again, with over 10,400 created. In addition, we continued to improve the percentages of Unconnected profiles, Suggestions, Unknowns, and Unsourced profiles.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Leicestershire, Lancashire and Westmorland
• Connections: Buckinghamshire, Devon and Berkshire
• Suggestions: City of London, Lancashire and Cumberland
• Unknowns: Devon, Leicestershire and Herefordshire

Thanks to our members for ongoing contributions.

Commentary 12 March 2024 (data download to week ending 9 March 2024)

Note Wendy’s comment on latest challenge

Another good week for new profiles with over 10,000 created. We continued to improve the percentages of Unconnected profiles, Suggestions and Unknowns, although the percentage of Unsourced profiles slipped slightly.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Yorkshire, Westmorland and Cheshire
• Connections: Devon, Cheshire and Staffordshire
• Suggestions: City of London, Northumberland and Bristol
• Unknowns: Devon, Westmorland and Cumberland

Thanks to our members for ongoing contributions.

Commentary 5 March 2024 (data download to week ending 2 March 2024)

A good week for new profiles with over 9,800 created. The percentages of Unconnected profiles, Suggestions and Unknowns are at record low levels; and with a good week this week, we may see a similarly impressive figure for the percentage of Unsourced profiles. The percentage of ‘England Unknown County’ profiles is also at an all-time low.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Leicestershire, Lancashire and Cheshire
• Connections: Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire and Leicestershire
• Suggestions: Worcestershire, City of London and Cambridgeshire
• Unknowns: Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire and Westmorland

Thanks to our members for the ongoing improvements they are making to the tree.

Commentary 28 February 2024 (data download to week ending 24 February 2024)

One of our quitter weeks for the creation of new profiles, although we fixed over 3,000 Suggestions, our best week this year (by several hundred!)

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Leicestershire, Lancashire and Derbyshire
• Connections: Devon, Leicestershire and Staffordshire
• Suggestions: Cumberland, City of London and Herefordshire
• Unknowns: Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire and Buckinghamshire

Thanks to everyone for their efforts. The England branch of the tree continues to improve.

Commentary 21 February 2024 (data download to week ending 17 February 2024)

An excellent week for adding new profiles; almost 10,300 were added. Although we sourced almost 600 profiles, even more were created/tagged as unsourced, resulting in another week in which our percentage of ‘unsourced’ increased. All the other metrics continue to show improvement.

Last week’s ‘top counties’ (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Leicestershire, Westmorland and Cheshire
• Connections: Sussex, Hampshire and County Durham
• Suggestions: Lancashire, City of London and Cambridgeshire
• Unknowns: Oxfordshire, Cheshire and County Durham

Thanks to our members for all their contributions. You are playing your part on the ongoing improvement to the England branch of the tree.

Commentary 13 February 2024 (data download to week ending 10 February 2024)

Another good week for new profiles with almost 10,000 added. There was a rather high number of unsourced profiles created/tagged which coincided with one of our quieter weeks for sourcing, taking our percentage of profiles unsourced in the wrong direction. All the other percentages continue to improve.

The top counties last week (in percentage terms) in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Yorkshire
• Connections: Lancashire, Sussex and Gloucestershire
• Suggestions: Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire
• Unknowns: Lancashire, Cumberland and Staffordshire

Thanks to everyone for the improvements they make to the tree.

Commentary 8 February 2024 (data download to week ending 3 February 2024)

Last week, over 10,000 England profiles were added on Wikitree and we passed the impressive milestone of 4,000,000!

We identified more ‘Unknowns’ over the 7 day period than in any week since the end of October, so well done to anyone who has been working on them. Expressed as a percentage of total profiles, all 4 categories are now at their lowest levels since we started collating the statistics in their current format, illustrating the positive impact that we are having on the quality of England profiles.

The top counties in percentage terms in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Westmorland, Cheshire and Oxfordshire.
• Connections: Cambridgeshire, Cheshire and Lancashire
• Suggestions: City of London, Cambridgeshire and (County of) London
• Unknowns: Oxfordshire, Bristol and Northamptonshire

Thanks to all members for their contributions.

Commentary 31 January 2024 (data download to week ending 27 January 2024)

Last week’s figures include the second week of the January Connect-a-Thon. Almost 15,000 England profiles were added over the course of the week.

Thanks to some great development work by Roy Walmsley, we now have a significantly better way of tracking improvements for ‘Profiles Sourced’ and ‘Profiles Connected’. (‘Unknowns Identified’ has always been correct.) There are still some concerns about the occasional ‘Suggestions Fixed’ number, but we are monitoring this closely.

Even though there was a focus on the Thon at the start of the week, we achieved a net reduction in Unsourced and Suggestions. Unconnected profiles and Unknowns increased, which is not unusual in a Connect-a-Thon week. All 4 measures are now below the start of year levels in percentage terms.

The figures in the tables for improvements made in the first four weeks of this year are now correct. The lists below show the historical counties where the greatest improvements have been delivered in each of the different categories when expressed as a percentage of the county's total profiles.

Profiles Sourced		Connections Made		Suggestions Fixed		Unknowns Identified
Lancashire		Cheshire		City of London		Westmorland
Huntingdonshire		Lancashire		Cambridgeshire		Rutland
Westmorland		Bristol		Northamptonshire		Northamptonshire
Cheshire		Suffolk		Westmorland		Lancashire
Leicestershire		Yorkshire		Rutland		Buckinghamshire
Berkshire		County Durham		(County of) London		County Durham

Thanks to all members for their ongoing efforts to improve the England branch of the tree.

Commentary 17 January 2024 (data download to week ending 13 January 2024)

We are into the second week of 2024. After last week’s spike in new location issues, we did particularly well in tackling over 2,500 Suggestions; and we also achieved a net reduction in Unsourced profiles. Unconnected and Unknowns as a percentage of total England profiles are at their lowest levels ever; and the same applies to our ‘Unknown County’ profiles.

With the exception of Unknowns, the figures in the ‘Improvements’ section of the table are misleading and should be disregarded. We are working on an alternative method of generating reliable numbers. We appreciate your continued patience as we work towards an improved system.

Thanks to all members for their ongoing efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 13 January 2024 (data download to week ending 6 January 2024)

Our start of year counter has been reset; we have completed our first week of the new year. The end of year 2023 figures give a new benchmark against which we can assess progress over the course of 2024. (Note, however, that the figures for the last 4 weeks are still shown in the tables to give perspective to this week’s performance.)

We made a strong start to the year with over 10,000 new England profiles added. Unsourced and Unconnected profile counts both saw net reductions. There was an influx of new location Suggestions after a large number of profiles were orphaned.

Several of the figures in the ‘Improvements’ section of the table are still misleading and should be disregarded. We are considering an alternative method of generating more reliable numbers. We appreciate your patience as we consider our options for doing this.

Thanks to all our members for their contributions.

Commentary 2 January 2024 (data download to week ending 23 December 2023)

Another solid week in which over 9,000 new England profiles were added. We had a net reduction in Suggestions and small percentage improvements in Unknowns and Unconnected profiles.

The three ‘London’ tables and Middlesex now look settled and will give us a solid base for tracking movements in 2024.

The ‘Improvement - Profiles Sourced’ process continues to throw up some misleading numbers. We continue to investigate.

• Connections: Top connector for the week was Yorkshire, followed by London. Somerset (the top county in percentage terms), County Durham and Lancashire all connected over 70.
• Suggestions: London cleared 230 Suggestions; Lancashire 157. The new ‘City of London’ was the top performer in percentage terms. It is great to see members looking at these profiles.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire was again the clear leader in percentage terms.

Thank you to our members for all their contributions during 2023 and very best wishes for 2024.

Commentary 29 December 2023 (data download to week ending 23 December)

Another week of steady progress with over 9,600 new England profiles added and slight percentage improvements made in all 4 ‘quality’ categories.

Thanks to Ales and Roy Walmsley, the former county we loosely called ‘Greater London’ has now been split into three separate tables: The City of London; (the County of) London; and Greater London. The location fields of many profiles currently in these counties need attention. For example, although Greater London was created in 1965, there are over 2000 profiles incorrectly assigned to Greater London based on a person’s birth before 1965. The correct way of entering London and Middlesex locations is explained in the England Profile Standards.

The splitting of profiles into the new London locations make some of this week’s movements somewhat meaningless. Commentary has been added to the relevant county tables.

The ‘Improvement - Profiles Sourced’ figures continue to be misleading. They are being investigated and should be ignored at present.

• Connections: Top connectors for the week were County Durham and Middlesex, followed by Northumberland, Sussex and Yorkshire.
• Suggestions: Middlesex cleared over 350 Suggestions. Devon, Yorkshire and Kent all cleared 150. Huntingdonshire was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire was leader in percentage terms.

Thank you to our members for all their contributions.

Commentary 13 December 2023 (data download to week ending 9 December)

Almost 8,200 new England profiles were created. We had an excellent week improving the quality of the tree with net reductions in Unsourced, Unconnected and Suggestions, with only a minimal increase in Unknowns.

• Unknown County once again reduced slightly as a percentage of the total of England profiles.
• Almost 550 profiles were Sourced
• 2,124 profiles were Connected, our second best performance of the year
• Almost 2,900 Suggestions were fixed. There was a concerted effort during the week to attack the previous week's spike in ‘Template Errors’ for which the algorithm had been rewritten. Well done to everyone working on this; over 1,500 of these errors were fixed!
• 67 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire continues to make inroads into its numbers with over 150 profiles sourced; Yorkshire exceeded 50. Northamptonshire, sourcing 84 profiles had a very impressive week with the greatest impact in percentage terms.
• Connections: Three counties connected over 250 profiles: Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cornwall (the top performer in percentage terms). Devon connected 144; and Essex, Middlesex and Hampshire all connected over 80.
• Suggestions: Greater London was the clear leader in resolving Suggestions with a fantastic 454 fixed. Yorkshire, Middlesex, County Durham and Cornwall all resolved over 150. Once again, there'll be fistbumps in Herefordshire which was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Sussex was the clear leader for Unknowns with 12 profiles identified.

Thanks to everyone for their ongoing efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 6 December 2023 (data download to week ending 2 December)

Over 8,700 new profiles were added in the week. We saw net reductions in Unsourced and Unconnected and made good progress in Suggestions, offset by a new search routine that identified over 2000 new profiles.

Last week

• Unknown County reduced slightly as a percentage of the total of England profiles.
• Over 750 profiles were Sourced
• Over 1500 profiles were Connected
• Over 16,00 Suggestions were fixed
• 56 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was the top performing county for sourcing with 169 profiles sourced. Yorkshire sourced 93; and Devon, Middlesex, Kent and Westmorland all sourced over 40. Westmorland had the greatest impact in percentage terms.
• Connections: Yorkshire again led the way, connecting 225 profiles. Greater London, Lancashire, Cumberland and Norfolk all connected over 100 profiles. Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex connected over 70. Cumberland was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Suggestions: Lancashire resolved 136 Suggestions. Herefordshire was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Cumberland identified 8 Unknowns and was the top performer in percentage terms.

Thanks to everyone for their ongoing efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 28 November 2023 (data download to week ending 25 November)

Further progress made with over 8,500 new profiles added and net reductions in Unsourced and Suggestions.

Last week

• Unknown County continues to reduce as a percentage of the total of England profiles.
• 965 profiles were Sourced
• 1,386 profiles were Connected
• Almost 1,800 Suggestions were fixed
• 71 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was again the top performing county for sourcing with 439 profiles sourced. Yorkshire sourced 153. Cambridgeshire and Greater London both sourced 49.
• Connections: Yorkshire led the way connecting 298 profiles. Lancashire and Nottinghamshire (the top county in percentage terms) connected over 100 profiles; Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Greater London connected over 70.
• Suggestions: Yorkshire cleared 171 suggestions. Bedfordshire was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Overall we had a good week, with small improvements in many of our counties.

Thanks to all our members for their efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 21 November 2023 (data download to week ending 18 November)

A good week with almost 9,300 profiles created and a net reduction in Unsourced profiles and Suggestions.

Last week

• Unknown County remains at under 1% of the total of England profiles.
• 687 profiles were Sourced
• 1,339 profiles were Connected
• 1,874 Suggestions were fixed
• 39 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was again the top performing county for sourcing with 199 profiles sourced. Yorkshire sourced 134. County Durham and Greater London both sourced over 40. Rutland was the top county in percentage terms.
• Connections: Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Greater London all connected over 100 profiles; Surrey and Middlesex connected over 70. Nottinghamshire was again the top county in percentage terms.
• Suggestions: Yorkshire cleared 283 suggestions and Greater London 206. Westmorland had a particularly good week and was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: No counties made double figures; but Herefordshire had a good week in percentage terms.

Thanks to all our members for their contributions.

Commentary 15 November 2023 (data download to week ending 11 November)

A good week with over 10,000 profiles created and a net reduction in Unsourced, Unconnected and Suggestions. Our Unknowns are now less then 1% of total England profiles.

Last week

• Unknown County reduced slightly as a percentage of total England profiles.
• 1,119 profiles were Sourced
• 1,655 profiles were Connected
• Almost 2,500 Suggestions were fixed
• 68 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was the top performing county for sourcing with almost 400 profiles sourced. Yorkshire sourced 168. Greater London, Middlesex and Lincolnshire all sourced over 40.
• Connections: Yorkshire connected 275 profiles. Nottinghamshire, Sussex Greater London and Surrey all connected over 100; Kent and Middlesex both connected 70 or more. Nottinghamshire was the top county in percentage terms.
• Suggestions: 6 counties cleared over 150 suggestions; Yorkshire, Greater London, Middlesex, County Durham, Lancashire and Cornwall. Somerset was the top county in percentage terms
• Unknowns: Yorkshire was the only county to make double figures with 19 Unknowns identified.

Thank you to everyone for their efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 8 November 2023 (data download to week ending 4 November)

A relatively quiet week on all fronts. Automated re-naming of a category appears to have caused a spike in Suggestions.

Last week

• Unknown County reduced slightly as a percentage of total England profiles.
• 237 profiles were Sourced
• Over 1,000 profiles were Connected
• Over 1,500 Suggestions were fixed
• 69 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lincolnshire was the top performing county for sourcing. Lancashire sourced 100. Herefordshire was again the top performer in percentage terms.
• Connections: Lancashire and Yorkshire connected 214 and 195 profiles respectively. Cheshire, the top ‘percentage’ performer, connected 85; and Greater London 73.
• Suggestions: Cheshire (244 suggestions fixed) was the top performer in both absolute and percentage terms. Lancashire (174) was the only other county to make treble figures.
• Unknowns: Yorkshire again led the way identifying 22 Unknowns, the only county to make double figures; Nottinghamshire was the top performer in percentage terms.

Thank you to everyone for their contributions.

Commentary 2 November 2023 (data download to week ending 28 October)

For the second successive week, over 10,000 new England profiles were added. We saw another good reduction in Suggestions.

Last week

• Unknown County reduced slightly as a percentage of total England profiles.
• Over 1,000 profiles were Sourced
• Over 1,000 profiles were Connected
• Over 4,500 Suggestions were fixed
• Just under 100 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Yorkshire and Devon were the top three counties for sourcing. Lincolnshire and Kent both sourced more than 40 profiles. Herefordshire was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Connections: Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire and Kent all connected 70 or more profiles. Rutland was the top ‘percentage’ performer.
• Suggestions: Greater London, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire all fixed over 300 suggestions. Cheshire, Devon, Somerset, Middlesex, Cornwall, Derbyshire and Kent all addressed over 150. Cheshire was an impressive top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Yorkshire again led the way identifying 22 Unknowns; Buckinghamshire made double figures and was the top performer in percentage terms.

Thank you to everyone for their efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 12 October 2023 (data download to week ending 7 October)

This week’s statistics include the second week of the Source-a-Thon, but the headline ‘England’ Sourced number is lower than expected and is considerably below the total of the sum of each county’s improvements. The reasons are being investigated.

Regardless of the outcome, the Source-a-Thon was a great success. Not only were sources added to almost 10,000 England profiles that had been marked as Unsourced but numerous other profiles were also sourced that aren’t included in the count. Last week we saw net reductions in the Unconnected, Suggestions and Unknowns figures. The England Monthly Challenge is having a positive impact on our Suggestions count.

Last week

• Our Unknown County improved slightly as a percentage of England profiles.
• 891 profiles were shown as Sourced (but the sum of each county’s improvements was 3,677)
• 1,451 profiles were Connected
• 4,979 Suggestions were fixed
• 103 Unknowns were identified

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: 14 counties exceeded 100 profiles sourced with Staffordshire leading the way at 402 profiles. 11 more counties sourced over 40. The top performers in percentage terms were Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Northumberland, Somerset and Devon.
• Connections: Yorkshire made an impressive impact on its Unconnected figure connecting 728 profiles. Greater London connected over 70.
• Suggestions: Yorkshire and Lancashire and Greater London all fixed over 300 suggestions. Devon, Middlesex, Norfolk, Kent and Surrey all tackled over 200. Cornwall, Somerset, Staffordshire and Warwickshire all exceeded 150. Bristol was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Cumberland was top performer in both percentage and in absolute terms) Yorkshire and Lancashire made double figure.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions.

Commentary 3 October 2023 (data download to week ending 30 September)

This week’s statistics include the first week of the Source-a-Thon, a fantastic team effort in which over 8,800 England profiles were sourced. Our previous best week for sourcing was at the end of August when we sourced just over 2,000 profiles….. and despite the focus on sourcing, we also reduced the net number of Suggestions and Unknowns.

Last week

• Our Unknown County total again increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it improved slightly.
• 8,838 profiles were Sourced
• 942 profiles were Connected
• 2,712 Suggestions were fixed
• 108 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: 23 counties exceeded 100 profiles sourced. 5 more sourced over 40. The top performers in percentage terms were Lincolnshire, Rutland, Somerset, Northumberland and Lancashire. Sussex remains our best sourced county by some distance; only 40 of its 154,000 profiles are labelled Unsourced!
• Connections: Yorkshire connected over 100 profiles; Greater London over 70. In percentage terms, Suffolk led the way.
• Suggestions: Greater London and Yorkshire fixed over 300 suggestions. Lancashire, Kent and Middlesex all tackled over 150.
• Unknowns: Yorkshire, Lancashire and Devon all identified at least Unknowns. Cumberland was top performer in percentage terms.

A phenomenal effort to improve the tree (with the second part of the Thon not included in the statistics until next week). Thanks to all for their contributions.

Commentary 26 September 2023 (data download to week ending 23 September)

One of the strongest weeks this year for connecting, with almost 1,900 profiles connected to the main tree. This week, we we achieved net improvements in our Unconnected figure, Suggestions and Unknowns.

Over the week

• Our Unknown County total increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it improved slightly.
• 635 profiles were Sourced
• 1,897 profiles were Connected
• 4,842 Suggestions were fixed
• 94 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Middlesex, Warwickshire and Greater London all sourced over 40 profiles. Rutland (again) had the biggest impact on its numbers in percentage terms.
• Connections: Lancashire, Greater London, Yorkshire, Middlesex, Devon, Staffordshire, County Durham and Dorset all connected 100 or more profiles. Warwickshire and Wiltshire both connected over 70. In percentage terms, Dorset led the way.
• Suggestions: Greater London, Middlesex and Cornwall all fixed over 300 suggestions. Sussex, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Kent, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Surrey, Devon, Essex and Lincolnshire all tackled over 150. Shropshire was the top performer in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Yorkshire and Lancashire both identified 16 Unknowns.

As a team we are continuing to improve the England branch of the tree. Thanks to everyone for their efforts.

Commentary 19 September 2023 (data download to week ending 16 September)

One of the quieter weeks in terms of creating new profiles but we a particularly strong week fixing suggestions, with almost over 7,000 sorted, our second highest week of the year.

• Our Unknown County total continues to increase each week, but as a percentage of England profiles, it remains steady.
• Over 800 profiles were Sourced
• Over 1,600 profiles were Connected
• 7,015 Suggestions were fixed
• 119 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire and Warwickshire both sourced over 100 profiles; Devon and Greater London were both over 40. Rutland had the biggest impact on its numbers in percentage terms.
• Connections: Lancashire, Greater London, Kent and Dorset all connected over 100 profiles. Middlesex, Essex, Yorkshire, Suffolk and Cheshire all connected over 70.
• Suggestions: Greater London lead the way, sorting over 1000! Yorkshire, Devon, Somerset, Kent, Middlesex, Sussex and Cornwall all fixed over 300. Lancashire, Warwickshire, Surrey, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Hampshire, Essex, Dorset, Wiltshire and County Durham all tackled over 150.
• Unknowns: Yorkshire identified 38 Unknowns. Staffordshire and Lancashire both made double figures.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts to improve the tree.

Commentary 12 September 2023 (data download to week ending 9 September)

Last week was a relatively quiet one for creating new profiles but we did particularly well fixing suggestions, with almost 5,500 sorted (our second highest of the year).

• Our Unknown County total increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it remains steady.
• 387 profiles were Sourced
• Almost 1,500 profiles were Connected
• Almost 5,500 Suggestions were fixed
• 63 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, and Greater London both sourced over 40 profiles. Oxfordshire had the biggest impact on its numbers in percentage terms.
• Connections: Dorset lead the way last week with over 300 profiles connected. Durham and Lancashire both connected over 100. Northumberland, Greater London, Middlesex, Devon and Gloucestershire all connected over 70.
• Suggestions: 5 counties fixed over 300 suggestions. Yorkshire lead the way with 647, followed by Greater London, Lancashire, Cumberland (the top performing county in percentage terms) and Devon. Essex, Kent, Somerset, Middlesex and Cornwall all sorted over 150.
• Unknowns: Lancashire was the only county to make double figures. Herefordshire was the top performer in percentage terms.

Thanks to everyone working to improve the tree.

Commentary 5 September 2023 (data download to week ending 2 September)

Another strong week for new profiles with 10,551 created. Our net suggestion figure continues to reduce week on week. For the first time in 13 weeks, our Unknowns increased (albeit only by one.)

• As usual, our Unknown County total has again increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it continues to decline slightly each week
• Over 500 profiles were Sourced
• Almost 1,000 profiles were Connected
• Over 2,500 Suggestions were fixed
• 91 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire all sourced 40 or more profiles.
• Connections: Oxfordshire, Greater London and Kent were the top connectors in the week.
• Suggestions: Greater London resolved an impressive 451 suggestions. Yorkshire, Middlesex and Cornwall all had good weeks.
• Unknowns: Lancashire was the only county to make double figures. Nottinghamshire was the top performer in percentage terms.

Thanks to all members who have made improvements to the tree over the last week.

Commentary 30 August 2023 (data download to week ending 26 August)

An excellent week with over 10,000 new profiles created. We sourced over 2,000 profiles, the highest figure this year by a considerable amount.

• Our Unknown County total has again increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it continues to decline slightly each week
• 2,019 profiles were Sourced (Our highest week prior to this week was 1,214 profiles sourced)
• Over 1,000 profiles were Connected
• 2,337 Suggestions were fixed
• 223 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Devon and Lancashire both had bumper weeks sourcing 383 and 326 profiles respectively. Lincolnshire and Hampshire both sourced over 90. In percentage terms, Rutland, our smallest county had a marked impact on its numbers.
• Connections: Lancashire connected 169 profiles. Devon, Sussex and Greater London all connected 70 or more. Bristol was the top performing county in percentage terms.
• Suggestions: The top three counties for addressing suggestions were Yorkshire, Greater London and Lincolnshire. In percentage terms, Rutland and Bedfordshire both had good weeks.
• Unknowns: The top two counties were again Staffordshire and Lancashire. Yorkshire and Devon both made double figures.

A big thank you to everyone working to improve the England branch of the tree.

Commentary 23 August 2023 (data download to week ending 19 August)

A quieter week but we continue to make progress and there were net reductions in Suggestions and Unknowns.

• Our Unknown County total has again increased, but as a percentage of England profiles, it continues to decline
• 449 profiles were Sourced
• Almost 1,000 profiles were Connected
• 2,346 Suggestions were fixed
• 129 Unknowns were identified.

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was the top county for sourcing at 153 profiles. Middlesex sourced over 40.
• Connections: Yorkshire connected 166 profiles. County Durham, Northumberland and Greater London all connected 70 or more.
• Suggestions: In percentage terms, Huntingdonshire and Rutland both had a considerable impact in reducing their suggestions. In volume terms, Lancashire and Yorkshire both addressed more than 300; Greater London sorted over 150.
• Unknowns: The top two counties were again Staffordshire and Lancashire. Yorkshire and Devon all made double figures. A special mention this week for Buckinghamshire where all the 1800s and 1900s have been sorted or reviewed.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts.

Commentary 15 August 2023 (data download to week ending 12 August)

An excellent week in which our net Unconnected, Suggestions and Unknowns figures all reduced.

• Our Unknown County total increased, but the overall percentage showed another slight decline
• Over 150 Unknowns were identified.
• Over 3,700 Suggestions were fixed
• Almost 1,900 profiles were Connected
• 687 profiles were Sourced

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Cambridgeshire was the top county for sourcing at 92 profiles, an impressive total for one of our smaller counties. Middlesex, Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Greater London and Oxfordshire all exceeded 40.
• Connections: Herefordshire was the county that had the greatest impact in percentage terms on its connections with Buckinghamshire, Staffordshire, Northumberland and Norfolk also having good weeks. Yorkshire Lancashire and Hampshire all connected over 100 profiles.
• Suggestions: Hertfordshire had the greatest percentage impact on its numbers. For the fifth week in a row, Yorkshire led the way in overall volumes with another 672 suggestions fixed, with Lancashire fixing 462. Cheshire, Staffordshire, Greater London, Kent and Cornwall and Devon all fixed over 150.
• Unknowns: The top two counties were Staffordshire and Lancashire. Cheshire, Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire all made double figures.

Thanks to everyone in the project who has been making improvements to the England branch of the tree.

8 August 2023 (data downloaded to 5 August)

We continue to make good progress. Unknowns net totals again reduced, with this week’s figures including the last 2 days of highly successful July challenge.

• Our ‘Unknown County’ total increased, but the overall proportion of Unknown County profiles in England continues to decline, now standing at 7.7% of England profiles. (We started the year at 9.27%.)
• Over 200 Unknowns was were identified.
• Almost 2,500 Suggestions were fixed
• Over 1,000 profiles were Connected
• 733 profiles were Sourced

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire was the top performer sourcing 109 profiles. Hampshire, Greater London and Cambridgeshire all sourced 40 or more. In percentage terms, Cumberland outperformed all other counties.
• Connections: Lancashire, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey and Devon all connected over 70 profiles. Somerset, Wiltshire and Staffordshire were all over 50.
• Suggestions: For the fourth week in a row, Yorkshire led the way, with another 688 suggestions fixed; with Staffordshire also having a considerable impact on its numbers. Greater London. Cheshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Greater London, Middlesex, Kent and Sussex all exceeded 75.
• Unknowns: The top two counties were Lancashire and Staffordshire. Cheshire, Yorkshire and Hampshire and Devon all made double figures.

Well done to everyone who has been working to improve the tree– your efforts are very much appreciated.

1 August 2023 (data downloaded to 29 July)

This week’s numbers continue to show the great strides being made. The net reductions in both our Suggestions and Unknowns totals we saw last week continued even more impressively this week. With two days still to go for our ‘Unknowns’ Challenge, the total number resolved is now 1,310. At the same time we had an impressive week sourcing profiles, almost doubling our weekly average, with a total of over 1200 profiles sourced.

• Our ‘Unknown County’ resolutions far exceeded last weeks total, reducing by 836 as more precise England locations were found and location field formatting issues were addressed.
• Last week’s 323 Unknowns Identified was our second highest week of the year.
• Over 2,125 Suggestions were fixed
• 1204 profiles were Connected
• 580 profiles were Sourced

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Greater London, and Middlesex all sourced over 100 profiles. Lincolnshire, Sussex and Kent all sourced 70 or more.
• Connections: Lancashire, Greater London and Devon connected more than 100; Cheshire, Essex, Middlesex, and Wiltshire all exceeded 60.
• Suggestions: For the third week in a row, Yorkshire led the way, this week with an impressive 759 suggestions fixed. Lincolnshire and Suffolk both addressed over 200 suggestions.
• Unknowns: Devon resolved a massive 88 unknowns; Lancashire, Yorkshire and Hampshire all identified 20 or more Unknowns. Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Norfolk and Sussex all made double figures.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts to improve the tree.

26 July 2023 (data downloaded to 22 July)

This week’s numbers includes the second half of the July Connect-a-Thon. 14,062 new England profiles were added over the week, which was our fourth highest of the year. Usually in the week of the Thon, we see our quality measures decline, partly because non-members are adding England profiles, so it was very encouraging to see continued net reductions in both our Suggestions and Unknowns totals. As we enter our final full week of the ‘Unknowns’ Challenge, the numbers continue to fall impressively.

• Our ‘Unknown County’ total reduced by over 500 as more precise England locations were found and location field formatting issues were addressed.
• Last week’s 246 Unknowns Identified was our third highest week of the year.
• Over 4,250 Suggestions were fixed
• 1657 profiles were Connected
• 580 profiles were Sourced

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Bristol sourced an impressive 102 profiles. Devon, Middlesex, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire all sourced 60 or more.
• Connections: Lancashire had a particularly good week connecting 298 profiles; Greater London and Devon both connected more than 100; Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire all exceeded 60.
• Suggestions: For the second week in a row, Yorkshire led the way, this week with a staggering 900 suggestions fixed. Sussex, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Greater London, Cheshire and Lincolnshire all addressed over 200 suggestions.
• Unknowns: Devon, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire all identified 20 or more Unknowns. Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire and Cheshire all made double figures.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts to improve the tree.

19 July 2023 (data downloaded to 15 July)

This week’s numbers include the first half of the Connect-a-Thon. The Mighty Oaks secured an impressive first place and the England total was boosted by our smaller second team, The Mighty Oak Branches. Over 16,300 new England profiles were added over the 7 day period, our third highest week of the year.

Usually in the week of the Thon, we see our quality measures decline, partly because non-members are adding England profiles, so it was very encouraging to see net reductions in both our cumulative Suggestions and Unknowns totals. Our Unknowns Challenge is going particularly well.

• Last week’s 267 Unknowns Identified was our second highest week of the year.
• Almost 3,000 Suggestions were fixed
• Over 1500 Profiles were Connected
• 300 profiles were Sourced

Our top performing counties in the different categories were:

• Profiles Sourced: Greater London sourced 140 profiles; Lancashire, Bristol and Leicestershire all sourced more than 60.
• Connections: Lancashire, Greater London, Cheshire and Yorkshire all connected over 125 profiles, County Durham, Leicestershire Middlesex and Hampshire all exceeded 60.
• Suggestions: Yorkshire led the way last week with 609 suggestions. Cheshire, Greater London and Lancashire all fixed over 200.
• Unknowns: Devon and Lancashire both identified 50 or more Unknowns and Yorkshire exceeded 20. Herefordshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire all identified 10 or more. Rutland, our smallest county also gets a mention. In percentage terms, they had the greatest impact on their overall percentage of Unknowns of any of our counties.

Thanks to everyone across our team for their efforts to improve the tree.

12 July 2023 (tables for week ending 8 july)

Last week, at England level, the run of impressive weeks continued yet again. This months project challenge is, of course, resolving unknowns. The data, which covers the first full week of this challenge:

• The tremendous effort made by you all during the first week of the challenge let to a fantastic 471 Unknowns Identified. It bodes really well for a very successful monthly challenge.
• Despite, or perhaps because of, other improvements, namely Profiles Connected (1157), Suggestions Resolved (3162), and Profiles Sourced (868) were all up on last week.

Underpinning these impressive results are performances across several counties that deserve mention:

• Profiles Sourced: Kent and Leicestershire sourced over 100 profiles each, with Greater London and Surrey sourcing more than 65 each.
• Connections: Devon connected 130 profiles, with County Durham, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, and Greater London doing more than 60.
• Suggestions: Lancashire and Yorkshire both resolved a massive 1687 suggestions between them. Staffordshire, and Greater London fixed over 200 each.
• Unknowns: Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire, Devon, and Dorset all identified 20 or more Unknowns. However, almost every county contributed to this weeks tremendous total.
• In amongst all the above work on the Unknown Counties profiles continued unabated, resulting in very high numbers resolved across all four areas.

Thanks to everyone in the project for their fantastic efforts.

5 July 2023 (tables for week ending 1 july)

The programme of checking external citation links had no major impact on any county this week, although suggestions still rose significantly again.

Last week, at England level, the run of impressive weeks continued. It was:

• Yet another week when the record for Unknowns Identified was shattered (194). The monthly challenge for July is identifying unknowns, but we would have been only one day into the challenge when the data was cut off for the week.
• Continued improvements on both Profiles Connected (1155) and Suggestions Resolved (2880)

Underpinning these impressive results are performances across several counties that deserve mention:

• Profiles Sourced: Leicestershire and Greater London sourced over 65 profiles.
• Connections: Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Greater London connected over 100 profiles, with Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey doing more than 50.
• Suggestions: Yorkshire resolved a massive 802 suggestions. Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Greater London fixed over 150 each.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire identified the most Unknowns, but the record total was achieved by contributions spread across most counties.
• In amongst this work on the Unknown Counties profiles resulted in very high numbers resolved across all four areas.

Thanks to everyone in the project for their fantastic efforts.

27 June 2023 (tables for week ending 24 June)

An ongoing programme of checking external citation links continues to add considerable numbers of suggestions to the figures, with Yorkshire and Staffordshire being particularly affected.

Last week, at England level, the run of impressive weeks continued. It was:

• Another week when the record for Unknowns Identified was shattered again (158)
• An improvement on both Profiles Connected (1066) and Suggestions Resolved (2877)
• Only a relatively small reduction in the number of Profiles Sourced (847)

Underpinning these impressive results are performances across several counties that deserve mention:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Cambridgeshire, and Cornwall all sourced over 65 profiles. Sussex resolved a high percentage of their unsourced profiles.
• Connections: Staffordshire, Greater London, and Cornwall connected at least 65 profiles, with Norfolk, Sussex, Dorset, and Somerset all doing more than 50.
• Suggestions: Lancashire and Kent both resolved more that 250 suggestions.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, and Devon identified the most Unknowns, but the record total was achieved by contributions spread across most counties.

Thanks to everyone in the project for their fantastic efforts.

22 June 2023 (tables for week ending 17 June)

Last week, at England level, we had another impressive week. It was:

• Our second highest week of the year for Profiles Sourced (1004).
• Our highest week of the year for Unknowns Identified (141)

Both of these surpassed last weeks impressive totals.

Underpinning these impressive results are performances across several counties that deserve mention:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Greater London, Middlesex, Cornwall, and Bristol all sourced over 50 profiles.
• Connections: Greater London and Lancashire (in both counties at least 65 profiles were connected)
• Suggestions: Although suggestions resolved were down on last weeks impressive totals, Greater London and Cornwall both resolved more that 250 suggestions.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire, Devon, and Lancashire all identified more than 20 or more Unknowns.

Thanks to everyone in the project for their fantastic efforts.

14 June 2023 (tables for week ending 10 June)

The weekly statistics have been updated. At England level, we had a particularly impressive week. It was:

• Our second highest week of the year for Profiles Sourced (962).
• Our highest week of the year for Suggestions Fixed (7,299)
• Our highest week of the year for Unknowns Identified (120)

Underpinning these impressive results are performances across several counties that deserve mention:

• Profiles Sourced: Lancashire, Greater London, Middlesex, Suffolk, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Bristol all sourced over 50 profiles; Worcestershire and Northamptonshire also had a strong week when looking at the figures in percentage terms
• Connections: Greater London and Surrey (in both counties at least 80 profiles were connected)
• Suggestions: Yorkshire; Greater London, Middlesex, Kent, Lancashire (over 400 suggestions were fixed in these counties); Buckinghamshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Cumberland and Lincolnshire performed well in percentage terms.
• Unknowns: Buckinghamshire and Devon both identified more than 20 Unknowns.

Thanks to everyone in the project for their fantastic efforts.

8 June 2023 (tables for week ending 3 June)

The highlights from last week include

• 400 profiles sourced with a particularly strong week for Cambridgeshire, Bristol, Middlesex/Greater London and Northamptonshire
• a decline in our Unconnected Profiles figure for a second consecutive week with County Durham, Yorkshire and Wiltshire all showing impressive reductions
• over 4700 England Suggestions fixed with our Middlesex, Yorkshire and Kent teams leading the way
• considerable reductions in Unknowns in Buckinghamshire and Lancashire
• over 200 reductions in our “Unknown County” profiles (it’s difficult to identify from our data which counties have been behind this initiative to identify and properly format birth, marriage and death locations, but whoever has been working on these profiles, thank you!)

Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to deliver improvements across our project.

1 June 2023 (tables for week ending 27 May)

At country level we have had a very good week:

• Both our Unsourced and Unconnected counts reduced
• The Unknowns count increased slightly but, as a percentage of total profiles, continues to decline each week
• The Suggestions figure continues to grow each week due to an ongoing Wikitree initiative to check broken links that is generating several thousand additional suggestions. This is affecting all counties and is obscuring good progress being made in several important areas. Last week over 4,200 suggestions were fixed, significantly higher than the average weekly figure (2,590) this year to date.

Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to deliver improvements across our project.

23 May 2023 (tables for week ending 20 May)

Despite the usual addition of over 8,700 new profiles in England, our net Unknown County figure has again reduced, this week by 462, bringing the percentage of these profiles to under 8% of the total for the first time since we started measuring these figures.

The rate at which we have been sourcing, connecting and identifying Unknowns over the last 4 weeks is very encouraging. The Unconnected and Unknowns percentages are currently below the levels we saw at the start of the year; and if we can maintain the momentum of the last 4 weeks, we will also soon see the Unsourced percentage below the end 2022 figure.

The people working on suggestions are doing a great job having fixed an average of over 2,500 England suggestions per week since the start of the year and on a like-for-like basis, our suggestions percentage would also be considerably improved. However, a new routine was added to the suggestions checks 3 weeks ago with a scan of external citation links on older profiles. In the weeks ending 6, 13 and 20 May, over 11,000 new suggestions were added to the England count as about 5% of these old links were found to be broken. The total for the equivalent suggestions in the prior 3 weeks was under 300. This dramatic increase has affected the suggestions counts for all our counties.

Thanks to the efforts of members across the project, the England branch of Wikitree is improving considerably.

17 May 2023 (tables for week ending 13 May)

This week's highlight is a marked reduction in our Unknown County figure by over 1,200 (the average in the previous 3 weeks was under 250). There is no easy way of identifying precisely which counties drove this reduction but the table below shows the counties that grew their profile counts disproportionately, which is a good indicator.

Bristol

Yorkshire

Staffordshire

Nottinghamshire

Derbyshire

Cheshire

Worcestershire

County Durham

Herefordshire

The green font in our tables, used to represent improvements in a statistic, has been changed to blue following feedback that a significant number of people are affected by red/green colour-blindness and cannot distinguish the colours we were using.

Thanks to our members who have been working to amend poorly formatted location fields and to everyone in our project who has been contributing to improve our tree.

9 May 2023 (tables for week ending 6 May)

Experienced members of the project have remarked to me this week how much they feel Wikitree has improved in England over recent years.

Our tables highlight some of the fantastic work carried on in our team to maintain this momentum as the tree grows.

So far this year, within the England Project

• we have sourced almost 11,000 previously unsourced profiles;
• over 28,000 unconnected profiles have been connected;
• more than 45,000 suggestions have been fixed (over 2,500 per week!)
• over 900 ‘Unknowns’ have been identified.
• we have reduced our ‘Unknown County’ profiles by more than 25,000 net profiles

The county tables highlight the teams who are leading the way in delivering these improvements. Even though significant numbers of profiles have been added to the tree since the start of the calendar year (almost 200,000 England profiles) these counties have reduced their profile count in one or more categories.

Thanks to everyone in our project who has been contributing to improve our tree.

Unsourced		Unconnected		Suggestions		Unknowns
Northamptonshire		Nottinghamshire		Dorset		Devon
Huntingdonshire		Devon		Westmorland		Suffolk
Suffolk		Dorset		Sussex		Essex
Cambridgeshire		County Durham		Oxfordshire		Rutland
Kent		Hertfordshire		County Durham		Greater London
Hertfordshire		Derbyshire		Derbyshire		Middlesex
Sussex				Cheshire		Lancashire
				Huntingdonshire		Hampshire
				Wiltshire		Norfolk
				Cambridgeshire		Nottinghamshire
				Nottinghamshire		County Durham
						Westmorland
						Shropshire
						Buckinghamshire
						Wiltshire

3 May 2023 (tables for week ending 29 April)

The last 2 weeks’ activity includes the Connect-a-Thon, which generated a welcome boost in England activity. Many but not all counties saw an above-average increase in profiles over the fortnight.

Against this backdrop, the reduction in ‘Unknown County’ of over 400 profiles is particularly impressive, as we would have normally seen an increase during the Thon. At the start of 2023, ‘Unknown County’ represented 9.27% of England profiles. That figure now stands at slightly over 8%.

At England level, the percentages of Unconnected profiles, Suggestions and Unknowns have all reduced since the start of the year. (The reduction in Suggestions is remarkable given that a significant new search recently added over 14,000 new suggestions to the count.)

The percentage of Unsourced profiles has increased slightly, but this can be reversed. We are discussing with the Challenges Team Leaders a number of initatives to encourage our members to work together to improve different aspects of our tree.

The limitations of our various measures need to be appreciated when looking at the various statistics we report; there is important work being carried on by members to improve profiles that doesn’t get measured here.

That said, the statistics do give an indication of our progress in improving the quality of our database. To illustrate what can be achieved, the tables below highlight our top-performing (traditional) counties. The figures in these counties are particularly impressive and show what we can aspire to. The average figures are across all counties, excluding the Unknown County numbers.

We know that not everyone can devote as much time to Wikitree as they would like but whatever you do to improve profiles in your county or for the tree in general is very much appreciated.

Top 3 Unsourced	% of total profiles
Sussex	0.02%
Bedfordshire	0.41%
Nottinghamshire	0.77%
Average - traditional counties	1.73%
Top 3 Unconnected	% of total profiles
Sussex	3.86%
Cornwall	4.98%
Hertfordshire	5.71%
Average - traditional counties	9.08%
Top 3 Suggestions	% of total profiles
Nottinghamshire	0.19%
Oxfordshire	0.86%
Sussex	1.82%
Average - traditional counties	3.88%
Top 4 Unknowns	% of total profiles
County Durham	0.50%
London	0.50%
Lancashire	0.51%
Middlesex	0.51%
Average - traditional counties	0.83%