Things you should know about the English census

With the exception of 1941, there has been a census taken every ten  years in England and Wales since 1801. For the genealogist, the ones taken before 1841 have no use as they do not contain names.

From 1851, the census contains extremely useful genealogical  information, including the relationships of everyone in the  household, ages, occupations and place of birth. In the 1911  census you can also see how long a couple have been married, and  how many children have survived and/or died.

The census provides essential statistical information for the  Government, and was never intended for genealogical purposes.   However, the information contained within the census has become  vitally important for anyone searching their family history.

For reasons of public privacy, the census remains confidential for  100 years. However, a loophole in the 1911 census regulations  allowed it to be published early, and it has been available on some  websites for the last two years.

How was the information collected?

It is vital that you understand how information was collected for  the census – especially the 19th century – as it will help you to  understand why some information seems to be inaccurate, or not  agree with other documentation you may have.

One thing that it is important to know is that the information you  are seeing is often a copy of a copy of a copy! This naturally  leads to many mistakes, misinterpretations and mis-spellings, which  can result in mis-information and sometimes not being able to find  your ancestor at all.

In each registration district enumerators were sent out to each  household with forms that were usually left for the householder to  fill in. If the householder was illiterate (very often the case,  especially in the early part of the century) the form would be  completed by the enumerator by asking questions. This of course  leads of variations of spellings, and frequent mis-hearing of a  name or place.

The enumerator then copied the information from these schedules  into enumerators’ books. These are the records that are available  to the public, so are not the original document (which I believe  were destroyed). This copying again led to various mistakes.

In latter years, these enumerators’ books have been indexed and  transcibed, both for use in archives, and, even more recently, for  internet use. Once again, the act of transcribing has resulted in  further mistakes, and the indexers’ interpretation of often difficult Victorianhandwriting has led to some names and places being so badly mis-transcribed that they do not show up when  searching the indexes.

But don’t be put off! Yes, there are many mistakes and mis-spellings on the census – but it is still an absolutely vital and  fascinating resource for family historians.

How to search the census.

Nowadays, it is very easy to search the census online if you have a  subscription to Ancestry.co.uk or one of the other big genealogy  websites.   You can usually start by doing a name search, putting in as much  information as you can into the other search criteria boxes (e.g.  year of birth, place of birth etc). Even if you are sure of the  date of birth, it is best to give a range of at least 2 years each  side, as the age may not have been given accurately when the  information was taken.   If you do not get a satisfactory result – or you get too many  possibilities, then you need to start taking out some of the search criteria, and then see what comes up.

Search the UK Census collection

I have sometimes found an ancestor whose (for example) surname has  been completely mis-transcribed, by leaving the surname blank, and  marking every other piece of criteria as being “exact”. You could  also do this the other way round by using the surname only without  the Christian name. I found my own grandfather this way. His name  was Francis Manley. But it was only when I entered “Manley” into  the search criteria – with place of birth, age etc all marked as  “exact”, that I found him. His Christian name had been written by  the enumerator as “Fracis”, which is why he had not shown up in the  earlier searches.

In theory, everyone who was living in England during the night of  each census, should be on the census. So if you cannot find your  ancestor, my advice is to just keep trying. Of course, there are  circumstances which may explain a person’s absence. They may be  out of the country (unusual for Victorian working classes – unless  they have an occupation which would involve them travelling, such  as sailor or army officer).

Another reason why your ancestor may not turn up is because they  have changed their name for some reason. I have seen this  particularly happen where the subject was illegitimate, and may  have been baptized with his father’s surname, but used his mother’s  surname later on (or vice versa).

My grandfather (again), was actually baptized Francis McEwen – but  after his parents’ early demise, he was brought up by his married  sister and her husband, John Manley. Hence from then on my  grandfather was known as a Manley – and all his children were named  Manley. This caused some complications in my searches I can tell  you!

Oh – and if you had a suffragette in your ancestry, then she may  not turn up on the 1911 census. Many suffragettes stayed away from  home – often sleeping rough – on the night of the census as a form  of protest against the Government.

As with all genealogical searches, you often have to use your  imagination. Remember, you are dealing with human beings, and  human beings can be tricksy!

And just because something is written down does not mean it is 100%  true. Every record you look at must be backed up by other  resources where possible.

Despite its difficulties, the English census remains one of the  most interesting and useful resources for the family historian, and  provides essential details about your ancestors lives and  lifestyles.

Taken on 2nd April 1911, the information contained in the 1911 British census for England and Wales includes the following:

• Place of residence
• Age on the night of the census
• Members of the household and their relationship to the head
• Place of birth
• Occupation
• Number and names of servants (if any)
• Whether employee or employer

All this information had been given in previous censuses, but in 1911 additional questions were asked and the following information is also available:

• Details of nationality
• Duration of  marriage
• The number of children born to that marriage, including children not at home or who died before 1911
• Extra occupational details, i.e. the particular branch of the profession or trade an individual worked in.

Another difference with the 1911 census is that you can now see the actual household schedules, which means you will see the documents which were filled out in your ancestors handwriting, as well as the enumerators’ summaries.   You will also be able to see any unsolicited comments they made.  Previously these schedules had been destroyed once the enumerators had transcribed the information.

What is not so good for the family historian (though of historical interest) is the missing details for many women who refused to fill in the census in protest of the government’s refusal to granvotes for women.

Arrest of Suffragette

These suffragettes (and often their husbands) protested in two ways. They either refused to fill in the form, in which case the refusal was noted in the records, or they stayed away from home for the whole night of the census thereby evading being counted at all.

However we may admire those women for their fight for women’s right to vote, this makes it very frustrating for family historians hoping to find their female ancestors!

At least if the protest was noted, you will know that there was a woman or women in the household, but if your suffragette ancestor stayed away that night, there is no way of finding her on this census.

It is not know exactly how many women boycotted the census in this way, but it could be up to several thousand.

If you wish to search the 1911 census uk index, you can do this for free, but to view the records you will need to register at Find My Past and buy credits. You will then be able to search and view records at www.1911census.co.uk.

The arrival of the internet has made it much easier to look at census details. All of the census reports from 1841 to 1901 are now online. It is also already possible to search the 1911 census on at least one website.

Normally it is not possible for the public to view census records until 100 years have passed, but a new ruling by the Information Commissioner in 2006 meant that the information could be made available earlier and so the 1911 census details were released in January 2009.

Searching the Census Records

There are various ways of searching online. If you have a subscription to www.ancestry.co.uk, this is probably the best place to use (they offer a two week free trial if you are not already a member). You can also carry out a name search for free at http://freecen.rootsweb.com. If you want access to the 1911 census, as well as all others, the place to go at present is: www.findmypast.com.

As always in family history, you should start with the most recent records and work backwards. Therefore, if you know your ancestor died in about 1903, you would start with the 1901 census, and after noting the details from that, you would go to the 1891 census and so on.

You can search online census records in two ways, either by using a name search, or by searching a single parish. The name search is the most useful because you do not need to know where they were resident at the time – but in this case you do need to have some idea of age. If your ancestor has a very common name, it can be very difficult if you only have a small amount of information to enter into the search engine, and you may find there are hundreds of results for that name. Try to get as much information as possible about your ancestor before doing a search.

Always give at least two years either way for a person’s age, as these details can often be inaccurate.

If you do not find your ancestor on the census straight away, try searching with the “exact spelling” switched off, but don’t rely on this. Try as many different spellings as you can. Name spellings were not always standardized, and there were also many errors made when transcribing the information to the indexes. I eventually found my grandfather, Francis Manley’s details in the 1881 census listed as “Fracis”!

What’s in the census?

1901 Census - Manchester

There is much exciting information to be found in the census records. As well as giving you information about your personal ancestors, they are a great social history resource and reveal fascinating information about how our ancestors lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The census started in 1801, but it is only since 1841 that the details became useful for family historians because that is the first time they used names. However, this particular census is limited in its information, and subsequent censuses gave more detailed information.

From 1851 the censuses gave the following information:

• Place (and sometimes the address) of individuals
• Their ages at the time of the census
• Who was living in the household
• How each person is related to the head of the household
• Place of birth of each individual
• Occupation

From this information, you can understand much about how your ancestor lived, what size of house they lived in and how many servants they had (if any). All these things can give clues to their income and status.

The 1841 census does not give information about relationships within the household, and the place of birth is only whether an individal was born within the county or not.  It is also important to remember that the ages given are to the nearest five, so if your ancestor was 23, his/her age would be given as 20.

By searching all the censuses that an individual was involved in during their lifetime, you can build up an idea of their life story, and also get information about spouses, children and any other relatives that were living with them. If the ancestor you are searching was a child during the census, you will usually be able to find details of their parents and thus go back another generation in your family tree.

You can also get an idea of how much ancestors have moved around the country by looking the places of birth of their children.

Being able to study the British Census online has been a major boon to genealogists in the past few years.  However, do be aware that there are many errors in the transcriptions, so keep trying if you do not find your ancestors straight away, and always try and back up the information through other sources.