Hi Pat

I tried again to find Edward in 1841, and this time had success. I think that managing to find entries which are "lost" due to mistranscription boils down to perseverance and use of cunning techniques --- you have to "think outside the box". In this case, I was fortunate because the school where he was boarding had obligingly given the counties where the teachers and pupils were born, rather than just writing "N" for "not in this county".

So here he is:

HO 107 / 1182 / 5 / 44 / page 8
Wiltshire, Melksham, district 7, image 4
Shaws School, Melksham

2 schoolmasters and 3 teachers, 20 pupils and 4 servants.

Edward Macaulay 25 teacher b "Lacan"

Ancestry have transcribed it as MACANLAY

I don't agree with your daughter's assertion that "Ancestry doesn't give up everything at once, they hold back some things to keep you looking". The difficulty in finding some entries in most cases boils down to poor handwriting which the transcribers find difficult to decipher, and some weird guesswork on their part.

Jean C