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Topic: A GUIDE TO ENGLISH CENSUSES (Read 127 times)
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Valda
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9725
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A GUIDE TO ENGLISH CENSUSES
PART 2
ENGLISH CENSUSES 1841-1911
THE PROCESS
For every census each area of the country was divided into DIVISIONS. Within each division there were COUNTIES. Each division was divided into SUPERINTENDENT REGISTRAR'S DISTRICTS which were based on the poor law unions that extended over county boundaries. ‘Whenever a District or Union extends into more than one County, it is assigned wholly to the County in which the greater portion of the population of such District is located’. Each SR District was divided into SUB-DISTRICTS. Each Sub-District was divided into PARISHES, TOWNSHIPS OR PLACES. These 'parishes' were then divided into ENUMERATION DISTRICTS e.g. 1a, 1b, 1c. Each Enumeration District comprised a number of pages in the census enumerators' books which varied in size e.g. in 1851 from 16 pages to 72.
In the days leading up to a census night an enumerator delivered individually numbered household schedules to each household in his district. On the morning after census night, the enumerator went round to each house and collected the forms. He had a duty to ensure that all the forms were completed properly and collected, even if this meant going back to some houses many times. In the London area with many accents, dialects and languages spoken, illiteracy and even just a lack of teeth, reading and writing the information onto the household schedules was a mammoth task for the census enumerator. Spellings can be very ‘flexible’. Once all the forms were gathered in what could then be a tired enumerator working in candlelight copied the information from them onto large sheets which were bound into volumes with a folio number stamped on the top corner of each right hand page. These volumes were then delivered to government statisticians whose job it was to extract important data about the population as a whole. In the course of this process, they often made marks and notes on the pages which can cause confusion when we try to decipher the information. The original household schedules were destroyed.
The 1911 census was the first census where the household schedules were kept and not copied.
It is understandable how errors crept into the system. Added to that people, for various reasons, were not always accurate with the information they gave, sometimes intentionally, but also because ages and dates of birth were much less important then and children had to rely on what they were told by their parents or what they remembered about where they were born, confusing where they grew up with where they were actually born.
The date of census nights for each year of the nationally released censuses were
1841 6th June 1851 30th March 1861 7th April 1871 2nd April 1881 3rd April
1891 5th April 1901 31st March 1911 2nd April
The population of England and Wales at the time of each census was
1841 - 15,914,148 (London 1,948,417) 1851 - 17,927,609 (London 2,362,236)
1861 - 20,066,224 (London 2,803,989) 1871 - 22,712,266 (London 3,254,266)
1881 - 25,974,439 (Greater London 4,776,661) 1891 - 29,002,525 (Greater London 5,633,332)
1901 - 32,527,843 (Greater London 6,506,889) 1911 - 36,070,492 (Greater London 7,160,441)
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES NUMBERING SYSTEM
The TNA has a numbering system to identify the censuses. 1841 and 1851 have the CALL letters, HO - Home Office and the 1861-1911 censuses, RG - Registrar General. These initials then have a CLASS number for each census:
1841 HO 107 1851 HO 107 1861 RG 9 1871 RG 10 1881 RG 11 1891 RG 12 1901 RG 13 1911 RG 14
The number after this code is known as a PIECE NUMBER and refers to a particular bound volume of enumerators' books. The FOLIO number comprises two pages within each book.
INFORMATION ON EACH CENSUS
The 1841 census gives the names of each person at an address on census night and their ages rounded down to the nearest 5 for all those over 15. Children under 15 are shown with their age and occasionally exact ages are given for everyone. Gender and occupations are given, but not the relationships between each person in a house hold. Exact places of birth are not given, only whether a person was born in the county or not or whether born in Ireland (I), Scotland (S) or Foreign parts (F). County birth information can be unreliable.
From 1851 onwards, there is more detail included. Everyone had their age shown (from their last birthday). The relationship to the head of the household is given, marital status, the place of birth and whether the person had a disability. From 1861 onwards the censuses have sections for people on board ships. The 1911 census includes length of present marriage and children born to that marriage, living or deceased.
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Valda
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9725
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A GUIDE TO ENGLISH CENSUSES
PART 3
ACCESS TO CENSUS RECORDS 1841-1911
The surviving national census returns are not entirely complete.
See GENUKI’s webpages for further details: http://tinyurl.com/3xrhl
Genuki information specifically for London and Middlesex: http://tinyurl.com/lmjnt9
The following parts of the censuses for the London area are known to be lost.
1841
HO107/668 covering St Luke, West Finsbury, Golden-Lane, Old Street and Whitecross-Street
HO107/680 covering Paddington
HO107/690 covering part of Kensington, Brompton and part of Kensal Green
Surrey
HO107/74 covering Walton-on-Thames, Hersham and Weybridge
HO107/75 covering Malden
1861
CITY OF LONDON
RG9/212 part of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, and Houndsditch
RG9/217 part of St Bartholomew the Less
RG9/219 part of St Dunstan in the West – Barnard’s Inn
RG9/220 part of St Gregory by St Paul - St Augustine Watling Street
RG9/221 part of Cliffords Inn and Serjeants Inn, St Bride and part of the Inner Temple
RG9/222 part of St Mary Staining
RG9/223 part of St Michael-le-Quern
RG9/229 part of St Christopher le Stock
MIDDLESEX
RG9/145 part of Islington East
Only 34.7% surviving of St George's Hanover Square survives with nothing for the Belgravia sub-district surviving; Chelsea sub-districts 1 (RG9 30-32) is 92.8% complete, 2 (RG9 33-35) is 89.2% complete, 3(RG9 36-39) is 95.1% complete and 6 (RG9/30 ff.143-152), is missing a number of streets.
Hampstead is the most complete London and Middlesex parish for the 1861 census with 98.5% surviving.
See http://tinyurl.com/lvu5gx for an example of individual streets or parts of streets and places missing from one London district – Lambeth.
KENT
RG9/407 part of Greenwich – Woolwich arsenal
1901
The 1901 census was held at the time of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) when many men volunteered and were enlisted into the military and in consequence may have been out of the country at the time the census was taken.
1911
The Women's Freedom League, a suffragette organization campaigning for female suffrage in the United Kingdom, organized a boycott of the 1911 census.
Subscription or pay to view websites which hold some or all of the censuses 1841-1901 are (in alphabetical order)
ANCESTRY: http://tinyurl.com/3mows
BRITISH ORIGINS: http://tinyurl.com/kw52gx
FINDMYPAST: http://tinyurl.com/yq8ed8
THE GENEALOGIST: http://tinyurl.com/mtod2h
1901 census only - THE OFFICIAL 1901 CENSUS WEBSITE: http://tinyurl.com/l2k5cf
The 1911 census only – FINDMYPAST: http://tinyurl.com/99vmxy
Because of copyright reasons you cannot at present request a search of the 1911 census on Rootschat. You must search yourself.
The 1881 census courtesy of the LDS is free to view at FAMILYSEARCH: http://tinyurl.com/25pq
Most local Family History Societies have indexes to some of the censuses in their areas
EAST OF LONDON FHS: http://tinyurl.com/mdfq3s
EAST SURREY FHS: http://tinyurl.com/kl7mdo
HILLINGDON FHS: http://tinyurl.com/kos46p
LONDON WESTMINSTER AND MIDDLESEX FHS: http://tinyurl.com/lfcwsv
NORTH WEST KENT FHS: http://tinyurl.com/mxoekr
WEST MIDDLESEX FHS: http://tinyurl.com/nbeuwt
WEST SURREY FHS: http://tinyurl.com/l7ykn3
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Valda
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Posts: 9725
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1921- 2001 CENSUSES
1921
The 1921 census like all subsequent surviving censuses is still held by the Office for National Statistics and was conducted under the regulations enacted by the 1920 census Act. This act is still in force and contains a statutory prohibition on disclosure. This means that if any Freedom of Information requests are received by the ONS for the 1921 census, the exemption found in S44 of the FOI Act will be invoked to maintain census confidentiality.
The stated government position from the ONS is "its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory '100 year rule' which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality".
The dates of the next two censuses were
19th June 1921 26th April 1931
The population of England and Wales at the time of each census was
1921 - 37,886,699 (Greater London 7,553,526) 1931 - 39,952,377 (Greater London 8,098,942)
1931
On the night of 19th December 1942, there was a fire at a store in Hayes, Middlesex the responsibility of the Office of Works. The storehouse contained a large amount of furniture but in addition it also contained the census records for England & Wales for 1931.They were all completely destroyed. The fire was not caused by enemy action.
The 1939 National Identity Card
A census of the United Kingdom was due to be taken in early 1941 but this never happened because of World War Two. At the outbreak of the war in 1939, National Identity Cards were issued to everyone resident in the United Kingdom and this information was recorded and retained. National Registration Day was 29th September 1939. The information gathered for each person was more basic than that required for a twentieth century census just the name, gender, date of birth, marital condition, occupation and whether the person was a member of the armed forces or the reserves.
At present it is believed the 100 years rule will apply to this information and it will not be released to the public until the end of 2039. Technically there could be an earlier release since the information is not covered by the 1920 Census Act and only basic information was held about people. In the case of the 1911 census that could only be released early because sensitive information about disabilities in the final column will remain hidden until 2012. However national identity cards were not abolished until February 1952 and it is unclear whether the initial information collected in 1939 can in anyway be separated, or is separated, from the subsequent updates which occurred during the following 13 years.
1991
Some people avoided the 1991 census because it was held during the year the government tried to introduce a poll tax. It was estimated that up to one million people were not counted in 1991 as there was a widespread belief the government would use the census information to enforce the tax.
2001
Though a fine of up to £1,000 was put in place for this census it is estimated only about 94% of the population complied and filled in a census form.
Dates of the remaining censuses
8th April 1951 23rd April 1961 25th April 1971 5th April 1981 21st April 1991 29th April 2001
The proposed date for the census of 2011 - 27th March
The population of England and Wales at the time of each census was
1951 – 43,639,050 (Greater London 8,164,416) 1961 – 46,627,323 (Greater London 7,781,342)
1971 – 48,601,304 (Greater London 7,449,184) 1981 – 49,414,000 (Greater London 6,608,513)
1991 – 50,879,165 (Greater London 6,887,280) 2001 - 52,041,916 (Greater London 7,172,036)
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