‘Censuses provide snapshots of entire families at a particular moment in time.’
The censuses for 1801 to 1831 were simple headcounts, which were used to produce accurate population figures and trends for the country. Indeed, the census for 1801 was primarily conducted in response to the threat of invasion during the Napoleonic Wars as an attempt by the government to ascertain how many potential soldiers would be available for conscription. Interestingly, however, the census returns for 1821 and 1831 for a very small minority of places contain more detailed information other than simple headcounts, with the names of the head of each household included, as happened in Hackney, London, for example. This was for no other reason than the enthusiasm of the people who went round collecting the information – little-known men such as Richard Stopher, who lived in the Suffolk village of Saxmundham most of his life and added notes to his census returns based on his local knowledge of the village’s occupants.
In 1840 the responsibility for collecting census information became part of the remit of the General Register Office (GRO) and subsequent censuses contain more details. From 1841 the censuses started listing the names of everyone in each household, and after 1851 even more detailed information was provided, including exact place of birth (providing researchers with the vital clue to trace these people further back in time). For reasons of privacy, censuses are not released into the public domain for 100 years. Hence, it is currently possible to view all returns only up until 1901.
The census for 1911 was released to the public in its entirety on 3 January 2012. However, due to the passing of the Freedom of Information Act (2000), the Information Commissioner ruled in 2006 that people were entitled to view parts of the census information now upon request. Currently The National Archives (TNA) holds all census returns, and will answer specific requests relating to particular addresses (it is not possible to do a name search) using its paid research service. TNA also hopes to offer a comprehensive searchable service for the census from 2009 onwards. However, this will exclude certain personal information (such as mental deficiencies or handicaps) until 2012.
Ireland has also released its censuses for 1901 and 1911. Unfortunately, however, no full censuses exist for Ireland prior to 1901 as they were destroyed in 1922 by a fire in the General Register Office in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. Those wishing to trace their Irish ancestors will have to rely on other sources for the nineteenth century, such as the Griffiths’ Valuation.
How Census Information was Collected
Censuses record all residents living in a particular property on one specific night (which varied depending on which census is being viewed – see below). A week or sometimes a couple of days prior to the given date, census enumerators would deliver census forms to each household within their enumeration district. The head of the household was obliged to fill in the required information as accurately as possible and the enumerator would then collect the forms the day after census night. As illiteracy levels were high in the nineteenth century, the enumerator would often assist the head of the household in filling out the forms.
Making the Most of Census Returns
Most census returns show us the names of everybody in a household, usually including how they are related to one another, their ages, occupations, places of birth and where they lived. Combining this material with that of civil registration certificates and parish registers gives you a fuller picture of your family’s background, so that you can see how their occupations changed over time, how they migrated around the country, as well as giving you a better idea of how each generation interacted as a family. You might want to use the information gathered from these sources to locate the addresses where your ancestors lived and see if their houses still stand.
Research hints
The data found on census returns can be used to narrow down searches using other records:
1. If you know from your great-grandfather’s birth certificate that his parents must have married before 1899, you can immediately reduce the number of years you have to search for their marriage if you find the family on the 1901 census and work out that their eldest child was born around 1892. You can then start searching for their marriage back from 1892 rather than 1899.
2. Deaths can also be traced with the help of census returns. If you find a couple living together on one census but on a census return taken ten years later one spouse is missing and the other is listed as a widow or widower, you will know to conduct a ten-year death search for that period.
3. Use the details given on the census returns to corroborate information found on certificates. Check the addresses, ages and relationships on the returns to see if they match those given on civil registration certificates of a similar date. Equally, if you find part of your family living in a particular town on the census returns, you should find out what civil registration district that town was covered by so that you can look out for that place when locating those ancestors in the birth, marriage and death indexes.
The next step would be for the enumerator to use these ‘schedules’ and transfer the gathered information into his ‘enumerator’s book’. He would also record which houses lay uninhabited within his district. These completed books would be checked by a supervisor and then sent to London to allow the statisticians to compile the information they wished. It is these enumeration books that form the census records now available for the general public to view. Unfortunately, the original forms completed by each household were destroyed.
As the records are handwritten, the returns often have the enumerator’s notes alongside the entries, sometimes obscuring the actual information. An important notation to bear in mind is the practice of separating each household by slashes on the top left corner of the head of the household’s name. A single slash on top of the name would indicate a separate household within the same property and a double slash separate households in different properties. These slashes are particularly useful when individual house numbers have not been noted.
The information on the census was organized by distinct registration districts for England, Wales and Scotland. These were initially identical to the registration districts created in 1837 for civil registration purposes, based on existing Poor Law Unions that had been set up in 1834. Each registration district was a subdivision of a county and its size was dependent on population. These registration districts would be divided into smaller sub-districts and the sub-districts would be further divided into individual enumeration districts. The size of the enumeration district was an estimate of how many houses the enumerator could visit in one day. Inevitably, enumeration districts would be geographically larger in rural areas where the population was less dense. Additionally, each enumeration district book would have a cover page giving in detail the area and exact roads included in the district, along with parish, hamlet, village, town or county details.
These enumeration districts were roughly the same for the years 1841 to 1891 in order to make valid comparisons of data collected on specific censuses. However, the large increase in population and the industrialization of urban areas meant it was not always possible to adhere to this. Any such alteration would be recorded in the summaries of the returns, so it is worth looking at these cover pages if you want to find out more about the area in which your family lived – an important part of your work, if you remember the advice about historical context from Section One!
‘Census returns add real colour, as they provide additional information besides biographical data which allows you to investigate the social history surrounding your ancestors’ lives.’
England and Wales: Census Returns 1841–1901
Information Contained on the 1841 Census
The first detailed census was taken on Sunday, 6 June 1841, and recorded every individual that spent the night in a property; therefore family visitors and boarders would be recorded as living in that property,