What is a census and why is it useful?

A census is an official record of who lived where on a given date. There have been censuses in the UK since 1801 and the information recorded has increased over time, not all census returns have survived and some which have survived are damaged.

There have been censuses every 10 years since 1801 (with the exception of 1941 which was missed owing to the war). The early censuses were intended merely as headcounts and only in a very few isolated examples was a varying amount of individual detail recorded.

1841 was the first census to record limited information on individuals – an approximate age for those over 15 and whether or not someone was born in the county where they lived. Subsequent census returns are much more useful providing more precise ages, places of birth and details of relationships.

The extra detail can be of great use in tracing a family back in time. For example, you may have a marriage certificate for a couple and a birth certificate for a child – but no idea where the parents originated. If you can locate that family in a census from 1851 onwards, that should record the places of birth and so help you to locate their births/baptisms.

How was the census taken and where can it now be viewed?

The organisation of the census was very similar to modern times. Schedules were sent out to each household, to record who was resident at midnight on a given date. The enumerator collected the schedules and then transcribed the detail into a book which covered a set area. The area may be a whole parish, or a group of streets in a town.

The enumerator often followed a set path in handing out and collecting the census schedules; and details of this may be found at the front of the census book.

Before the 1911 census, individual schedules have only rarely survived.

Enumerators’ books were collected together in larger areas known as Registration Districts. These registration districts do not always correspond with geographic counties but do cover the same area as Civil Registration Districts for Births, Marriages and Deaths.

The enumerators' books are held at various locations. For England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands they are at The National Archives in Kew; for Scotland they are at the General Register Office for Scotland and for Ireland at the Public Record Office in Dublin.

The original census books are fragile and cannot be viewed; however they have been copied onto film and those films of the original census enumerators' books can be accessed in a number of ways.

The Parish Chest sells copies on CD. It can be really helpful for a local or family historian to have a copy to browse at anytime. Family History Societies may be able to supply indexes to help make use of these CDs.

There are many pay-per-view web-sites where the original census books can be viewed. ‘Scotland’s People’ is the online resource for Scottish census returns. The records online are indexed making searches easier.

National Archives/Public Record and County Record Offices allow access to census returns.

Wherever possible do not rely on solely on transcripts or indexes as they are subject to human error.