Pre-1841 Census

Censuses were taken from 1801 to 1831; however, these were statistical in nature and did not contain lists of names. Some areas did collect names as part of the process, but those records survive for only a very small number of locations.

How the census forms are organised

England and Wales

The General Register Office was responsible for taking the census, so it used the registration districts already in place for the registration of births, marriages and deaths. These were then divided into smaller enumeration districts (EDs), for which enumerators were recruited.

Scotland

Until 1855, Scotland did not have a law requiring the registration of births, marriages and deaths. Therefore, for the 1841 and 1851 censuses, the civil parish was used as the district.

In 1855, Scotland was divided into 1,028 registration districts (RDs). While these were based closely on the civil parishes, some parishes had to be divided and others united to form the new districts. Each district was given a unique reference number, often with a suffix to subdivide larger areas.

Enumeration districts usually covered about 200 families in towns, or an overall journey of 15 miles for an enumerator in the countryside. They included smaller institutions, boats and barges on inland waterways, tents, caravans and barns.

Larger public institutions, such as barracks, prisons and hospitals, as well as hotels and inns, had their own special schedules. The head of the institution acted as the enumerator. In 1861, this applied to establishments with 50 or more people usually resident. In 1871, the number increased to 135, and in 1881 to 200. From 1891 to 1911, it was revised again to more than 100.

How the census was taken

In every census year, an enumerator delivered a form to each household in the country for completion. Heads of household were instructed to give details of everyone who slept in the dwelling on census night, which was always a Sunday. The forms completed by each household, known as schedules, were collected a few days later by the enumerator.

From 1841 to 1901, the information from the schedules was copied into enumeration books. Once the enumeration books had been completed, most household schedules were destroyed.

In 1911, all household schedules were retained for the first time and were not copied into enumeration books.

1841

The census was taken on Sunday, 6 June 1841 and was the first to list the name of every individual, making it the earliest generally useful census for family historians. However, less information was collected than in later census years.

Questions

• Forename and surname

• Age, rounded down to the nearest five years for those aged 15 or over, although this instruction was not always followed

• Sex

• Occupation

• Whether the person was born in the county where they were enumerated:

  • Yes (Y)
  • No (N)

• If born elsewhere:

  • Ireland (I)
  • Foreign Parts (P)
  • Scotland (S) in the England and Wales census
  • England (E) in the Scotland census

Notably, questions were not asked about marital status, the head of household or a person’s relationship to the head of household.

1851 and 1861

The censuses were taken on Sunday, 30 March 1851 and Sunday, 7 April 1861.

Questions

• Forename, middle names—often recorded only as initials—and surname

• Relationship to the head of household

• Marital status

• Age at last birthday

• Sex

• Rank, profession or occupation

• Place of birth:

  • County and parish if born in England or Wales
  • Country only if born outside England and Wales

• Whether blind, or deaf and dumb

• Scotland only:

  • Number of children aged between five and 15 attending school or being educated at home
  • Number of rooms with one or more windows

1871 and 1881

The censuses were taken on Sunday, 2 April 1871 and Sunday, 3 April 1881.

Questions

• As in 1851 and 1861, except for the following changes:

• The final column now recorded:

  1. Blind
  2. Deaf and dumb
  3. Imbecile or idiot
  4. Lunatic

• 1871 Scotland only:

  • “Unemployed” could be added to the occupation field when someone in a particular trade or profession was out of work
  • The question about children attending school or being educated at home was amended to cover children aged between five and 13

• 1881 Scotland only:

  • Number of Gaelic speakers

1891

The census was taken on Sunday, 5 April 1891.

Questions

• As in 1871 and 1881, with the following additional employment details:

• Whether the person was:

  • An employer
  • Employed
  • Neither an employer nor employed

• Scotland only:

  • The Gaelic question was changed to record whether a person spoke Gaelic (G) or Gaelic and English (G & E)

• Wales only:

  • Language spoken

1901

The census was taken on Sunday, 31 March 1901.

Questions

• As in 1891, with occupation details changed to:

  • Employer
  • Worker
  • Own account

• A new column: “If working at home”

• Scotland only:

  • The Gaelic question was restricted to people aged three years and over
  • People born abroad were asked to indicate whether they were “foreign subjects”

• Isle of Man only:

  • Language spoken

1911

The census was taken on Sunday, 2 April 1911.

Questions

• For married women only:

  • Number of years of the present marriage
  • Number of children born during that marriage
  • Number of children still living
  • Number of children who had died

• As well as occupation, the industry in which the person was employed

• If employed by a government, municipal or other public body, the name of that body

• Parish and county of birth for anyone born in the United Kingdom, which then included all of Ireland

• If born elsewhere in the British Empire, the colony or dependency and the state or province

• For anyone born outside England and Wales, whether they were a resident or visitor

• Nationality of anyone born overseas:

  • British by parentage
  • British by naturalisation, including the year of naturalisation
  • If a foreign national, the country of nationality

• In the infirmity column, the age at which the person became afflicted