A GUIDE TO CENSUSES IN ENGLAND AND WALES
KNOWN ISSUES WITH CENSUS RECORDS 1841-1911
1841-1871
The surviving national census returns are not entirely complete for the earlier censuses.
See
FINDMYPAST for further details.
Information on the
UNFILMED 1851 CENSUS section for Manchester can be found on the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society website.
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. In consequence of the war in South Africa, more men were out of the country and not included on the census.
1911
The Women's Freedom League, a suffragist organization campaigning for female suffrage in the United Kingdom, organized a boycott of the 1911 census.
The 1911 census was released two years early as it was conducted before the passing of the 1920 Census Act which restricts access to censuses for a hundred years. Sensitive information about disabilities in the final column of the 1911 census will remain hidden until 2012.
Details of the ruling on the early release of the 1911 census can be found here on
YOUR ARCHIVES
ACCESS TO CENSUS RECORDS 1841-1911
The Historical Street Project at
YOUR ARCHIVES has online street indexes to the censuses of England and Wales for 1841-1871 and 1891. The indexes indicate where sections of the censuses 1841-1871 are missing (have not survived).
The 1881 census and 1911 censuses can be searched by street addresses, as can the 1901 census (The Official 1901 Census Website only). The 1881 and the 1901 censuses (The Official 1901 Census Website only) can be searched by occupation.
Subscription or pay to view websites which hold some or all of the censuses 1841-1911 including coverage of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are (in alphabetical order)
ANCESTRYBRITISH ORIGINSFINDMYPAST GenesReunitedTHE GENEALOGIST 1901 census only -
THE OFFICIAL 1901 CENSUS WEBSITEThe 1911 census is fully indexed on
FINDMYPAST and
GenesReunited (both owned by the same company)
The 1911 census summary books can be found on
ANCESTRY The summary books provide the surname and title of the head household – Mr, Mrs etc., the address and type of property and the number of males and females living in the household.
The indexed census images are on
ANCESTRY and
THE GENEALOGIST Because of copyright reasons you cannot at present request a search of the 1911 census on Rootschat. You must search for yourself.
Free access websites
The 1881 census courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is free to view at
FAMILYSEARCH where there are also indexes to the other censuses 1841, 1851, 1861, 1891, 1901 and 1911 supplied by Findmypast
FREECEN is a project where volunteers are transcribing census returns 1841-1891. The ultimate aim is to provide a ‘free-to-view’ online searchable database of the nineteenth century United Kingdom census returns including
COVERAGE so far.
Most local Family History Societies have indexes to some of the censuses in their areas
See
FEDERATION OF FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES webpages for further details and links.
Scotland and Ireland
SCOTSLANDPEOPLE holds the Scottish censuses 1841-1901. On 5th April 2011 the 1911 census will be released.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND holds the Irish censuses 1901 and 1911.