11. The National Archives recommendations for censuses
Search machines on internet sites differ, as well as may also alter in the long run, however the National that is original archives never change. From a different site, or from some other source if you have a full reference, you can use it to find a page on Ancestry.co.uk or on Findmypast.co.uk, even if you have obtained it. This might be especially of good use whenever an individual can be located employing a true title search on a single web site, although not on another, because of variations in transcription.
You will probably find census sources quoted in publications and articles, and you’ll must also learn how to make use of them if you’re consulting our online and hard-copy road indexes (see part 4.2).
A census guide has three primary elements; a division (letter) rule, a set quantity, and an item quantity. The division and show codes for every census are year:
- 1841 and 1851: HO 107
- 1861: RG 9
- 1871: RG 10
- 1881: RG 11
- 1891: RG 12
- 1901: RG 13
- 1911: RG 14
A piece may contain hundreds of pages, so additional information is needed to get the place that is right a piece. The census returns for many years follow a format that is single but you will find somewhat various plans for 1841 and 1911.
Census returns from 1851 to 1901
The additional refererence is just a folio number and (optionally) a typical page number.
Each piece contains enumeration that is several with numbered pages. Later on, folio figures had been stamped at the top right corner each and every page that is right-hand beginning at the beginning of the piece and continuing through most of the enumeration publications. Each folio represents the page where it appears and the following page since folio numbers appear only on alternate pages. Consequently a string, piece and folio guide lets you find the most suitable set of pages but a typical page quantity may be put into the reference to determine a solitary web page, if needed, as with this instance through the 1891 census:
The nationwide Archives guide with this web web web page, through the 1891 census, is RG 12/1822, Folio 156, web Page 5.
Both Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk offer a reference that is exact center for every census 12 months.
The 1841 census
Each piece in 1841 is further divided in to books, so a full guide requires to incorporate a guide quantity following the piece quantity, as an example HO 107/1298/8. Each guide then contains its series that is own of numbers.
The 1911 census
For the time that is first home schedules had been held, in the place of asiandate being copied into enumeration publications. Each piece represents an enumeration region, and rather than folio figures, each household has an unique routine number within the top right-hand part, to make certain that a guide will likely be when you look at the format RG 14/26288 Sch 227.
Organizations and vessels would not have routine figures, rather the information had been recorded straight into unique enumeration books with numbered pages, like in past census years.
12. Censuses for Scotland and Ireland
Scotland, 1841-1911
Search and see the census returns for Scotland from 1841 to 1911 at Scotlandspeople (Ј).
Census returns for Scotland are nearly identical in structure to those for England and Wales, aside from 1911, when likewise detailed information had been collected but had been then copied into enumeration publications like in past years, so might there be no home schedules or enumerators’ summary books.
Indexes into the Scottish censuses 1841-1901 will also be available on Ancestry.co.uk (Ј) and Findmypast.co.uk (Ј). Neither of the indexes has links to images that are digitised.
Regrettably, few 19th-century Irish census returns have actually survived; many had been lost if the Public Record workplace had been damaged into the fire during the Four Courts in Dublin 1922. Only the 1901 and 1911 censuses survived, along side a tremendously little amount of early in the day comes back. View digitised and indexed images associated with Census of Ireland 1901/1911 and Census fragments and substitutes, 1821-51 (including north Ireland) on the National Archives of Ireland internet site.
13. Uk colonies and protectorates
Censuses had been additionally drawn in numerous British colonies on exactly the same times as with the uk. Surviving documents of those will usually be located into the national nation of beginning, rather than when you look at the National Archives. The only exceptions to this are:
- Census of settlers and convicts in brand New South Wales and Tasmania 1828 in HO 10/21-27. These documents could be installed free of charge as Digital microfilm. a version that is name-indexed additionally online at Ancestry.co.uk ( Ј )
- Census of Surinam 1811 in CO 278/15-25. A number of the documents have been in English, however the bulk have been in Dutch
- Census (associated with the white populace just) of Barbados 1715 in CO 28/16
- Census of Sierra Leone: ‘population and liberated Africans’ 1831 in CO 267/111
- Census of Heligoland 1881 in CO 122/37
14. Other useful online resources
Access census street indexes inside our online Archive. As with every content into the British Government online Archive, these are archived pages which can be not any longer modified or updated.
Learn about the fire that destroyed the 1931 Census for England and Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of guy. the Your Archives pages now held in britain Government online Archive.
Browse Vision of Britain for reports according to information from censuses as much as 1971, or look for census information associated with a city or district
Consult The on line Historical Population Reports for online usage of the population that is complete for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937 and substantial back ground information, including samples of papers.
15. Further reading
Use our collection catalogue to get a suggested guide list. The publications are for sale in The National Archives’ guide library. You may have the ability to locate them in a library that is local.
Go to the nationwide Archives’ bookshop for a selection of magazines relating to census documents.
Search our blog sites for articles regarding the census.
Watch the movie Census records: an introduction, by Audrey Collins.