A census is an official count or survey of a population of people which lists where people are residing on a specific date. Additional questions are asked, including regarding occupation, age and birth place. Census returns are used by the government to inform decisions on issues such as public services. The questions asked in a census have therefore changed each time according to what the government wants to know. A census was taken every ten years in England from 1801 onwards with the exception of 1941 due to World War II. The returns of 1931 for England and Wales were destroyed by fire, meaning the next census released will be the 1951 census. The 1939 Register can partially help to fill this gap. Under privacy laws in the country, full results cannot be published for 100 years. For the majority of parishes in England only the census returns of 1841 onwards survive. The most recent census in England took place in 2021.
There are many early examples where local officials have taken a population census of their own account. In some cases church officials and parish overseers made their own census to gain a better idea of their parishes' needs. These can date back many hundreds of years but are a rare find. Where they survive, they will be found in the relevant county archive. Some are simply a head count, some name only the householder and others give great detail. The latter are particularly rare but there are cases where the names, ages, occupations and relationship to each other are given so these are worth looking for.
In England, the government began ordering a dicennial census from 1801 onwards. The returns of 1801–1831 were normally headcounts per household or sometimes headcounts of each parish. In some cases, more details are given such as the head’s name and occupation. In some rare examples, the names and ages of everyone in the household is given along with the head's occupation. A majority of pre-1841 early census returns have not survived. Where they have been retained, they are normally held in the relevant county archive.
England Census records 1841-1921England Census records 1841-1921
Census returns were gathered every ten years between 1841-1921 in England. The dates they were taken are below:
6 June 1841
30 March 1851
1881 census return from Lambeth, London7 April 1861
2 April 1871
3 April 1881
5 April 1891
31 March 1901
2 April 1911
19 June 1921 (postponed from 24 April 1921)
The questions householders were asked varied between each census. The information you can discover for England is as follows:
1841 - City or parish of residence, names of people in the household, age rounded down to the nearest five years, sex, occupation, whether born in the county and whether born in Scotland, Ireland or ‘Foreign Parts’
1851 - City or parish, address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, place of birth and whether a person is ‘blind’ or ‘deaf-and-dumb’
1861 - City or parish, address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, place of birth and whether a person is ‘blind’ or ‘deaf-and-dumb’
1871 - City or parish, address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, place of birth and whether a person is ‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘blind’, ‘lunatic’ or ‘imbecile or idiot’
1881 - City or parish, address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, place of birth and whether a person is ‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘blind’, ‘lunatic’ or ‘imbecile or idiot’
1891 - City or parish, address, number of rooms occupied if less than five, names of people in the household, relation to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, whether an employer, employee or neither, place of birth and whether a person is ‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘blind’ or ‘lunatic, imbecile or idiot’
1901 - City or parish, address, number of rooms occupied if less than five, names of people in the household, relation to head, marital status, age, sex, occupation, whether an employer, a worker or living on own means, if working at home, place of birth and whether a person is ‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘blind’, ‘lunatic’ or ‘imbecile or feeble minded’
1911 - Address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, age, sex, marital status, for married woman the amount of years they have been married and how many children they have had and how many of these are still alive, occupation, industry, whether they work from home or not, place of birth, nationality if born abroad and whether a person is ‘totally deaf’ or ‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘totally blind’, ‘lunatic’ or ‘imbecile or feeble minded’ and at what age they first suffered from this, signature of head of household
1921 - Address, names of people in the household, relationship to head, age in years and months, sex, marital status, for children under 15 whether one or both of their parents are deceased, place of birth, nationality if born abroad, whether a child attends school full time or part time, occupation, employer’s details, work address, number of children aged under 16 and their ages, signature of head of household
Please note that terms relating to disability are written according to the question at the time.
Locating English census recordsLocating English census records
The original census returns and enumerators schedules for England are held at The National Archives in Kew. These original copies are generally not able to be viewed by the public. All census returns up until 1921 have been digitised. The easiest way to search for your ancestor in a census is online via a database search. MyHeritage has digitised images for the 1841-1911 census returns for England which you can search via their U.K. & Ireland Census collection.
Tips for using English census returnsTips for using English census returns
1871 census return from Bristol
A person may be recorded under their full name or under an abbrevation or nickname. For example, William John Dean may be recorded under that name or as William Dean, Willie Dean, W J Dean or the name could be misspelt such as William John Dene. Try searching for different variations. Some people, such as prison inmates and psychiatric inpatients were recorded by their initials only. William John Dean may therefore actually be recorded as WJD or WD, making identification very difficult.
A person's details may not be completely accurate. As previously mentioned, names and ages were not always accurately recorded. Additionally, people may not have known their true birth place or this may have been misspelt by the enumerator. The description of relationships have also changed over time. Someone recorded as a daughter-in-law may actually be known as a step-daughter in todays terms.
A huge majority of the UK population were recorded in the UK census returns, however some people were missed. This is often due to a misunderstanding or an error on the enumerator's part. The travelling communities were the most frequently missed, including those living on canal boats and in vardoes. The most common reason for being unable to find a person in census returns however is down to user error. You may need to change your search terms in order to find a person. For example, if you are searching for a person born in 1851, allow for five year flexibility either side when searching. People were less aware of their ages in the past and would often make a best guess.
Note that the relationship column refers to the person's relationship to the head of the household. If the head is a man living with his wife and a child is present listed as his daughter, she may be the product of an earlier marriage. Further sources such as birth certificates and baptism registers should be viewed to confirm parentage.
Full addresses including house number and street name are normally given for large towns and cities in later censuses. Early census returns, especially for villages and rural areas are unlikely to give a full address. Note that if a number is given this is likely to be the schedule number rather than a house number.
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