Census, 2 places at once??

[skyshot1990]

Is it uncommon or even possible for people to be on more then one census in the same year???

[rosie99]

No it is not uncommon.  There would be no way of checking whether someone had been entered in two different locations. We have to remember it was a record of where someone was staying for one night in a year so could be listed at their home address though staying elsewhere (or similar.)

[HughC]

I have one naval man who was aboard ship in harbour and also at home with his wife.
It's possible he spent part of the night in each place, depending on the times of his duty watch.

A great-uncle was at home; at first sight he appears also to have been with his regiment, but against his name it says "on leave".  One wonders why they listed him at all.  Perhaps the officer detailed to fill in the forms just wrote down all the names, then held a roll-call.

A great-aunt and her sons were at home in GB and also apparently in India with her husband.  However, he was soon afterwards discharged from the army as insane: shall we say the heat got at him?

We were counted twice in 1961: on holiday in the Republic of Ireland and at home a week later.  One would think there could have been more coordination between the countries, but perhaps an equal number went in the other direction and slipped through the net altogether.

[goldie61]

As Rosie says, it's is not uncommon as all. It happened for various reasons, and there was no way to check if it had happened.
I have come across it several times, and there have been posts about it here on Rootschat before.

[Darnity]

I can't remember without checking my notes which family it is but I seem to remember finding members of the same Travelling group recorded twice, in 1851 in Buckinghamshire IIRC.

They were enumerated at place one and then it looks like some of the group - because there are less of them on the other entry - moved on to place two a few miles away and the second enumerator sent to local constable down to the camp to collect the information, as it says something like "information obtain by PC someone" if you look at the image.

I only found this because I always go to the end of an enumerator's section and see if he's enumerated any interesting people there. Doing that I've recently found a couple of suffragettes who were trying to legally defy the enumerator in 1911 by not being in a building on Census night but he found them "wandering on the highway" and so each is enumerated with that information for the address.

[Redroger]

 I remember that at the time of the 1951 census when we were staying with my aunt and uncle in Cambridge, my uncle insisted that we should be recorded there, and added us to the list, while Dad correctly pointed out to no avail, that the rules had been changed from earlier censuses and that people on holiday now registered at their home addresses.

So, my descendants may find that the family is registered twice in 1951, once at Boston (correct) and once at Cambridge.

[stanmapstone]

Is it uncommon or even possible for people to be on more then one census in the same year???

As the census forms were distributed in the week before the census day, it could have been filled in at anytime assuming who would be in the "house" at midnight on the Sunday. Therefore you sometimes get people enumerated twice, at their usual "home",  and at a "house" they happened to be visiting. This is a fairly common event and has been mentioned many times before on RootsChat.
Stan

[iluleah]

I have a great great uncle, his wife and their two servant/lodger on the 1881 census  on two separate census returns living in different villages ( about 5 miles apart)

[skyshot1990]

Thank you all for the information, sorry for late reply... I believe this 1911 Census to have a great number of Wiltshire I have been researching, I find many of them all in other places tho, which had me a bit confused, thank you for clearing up.


Civil parish
Chesterfield

Search Photos
Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

County/Island
Derbyshire

Country
England

Street Address
Fair Ground Brampton Chesterfield

Registration district
Chesterfield

Registration District Number
438

Sub-registration district
Chesterfield
ED, institution, or vessel
9

Piece
21088

Household Members
Name
Age

Name
Sarah Smith
Age 28

Name
Florence Ann Woodward
Age 15

Name
Selina Woodward
Age 12

Name
Joseph Wiltshire
Age 69

Name
Ryah Wiltshire
Age 60

Name
Joseph Wiltshire
Age 42

Name
Joseph Wiltshire
Age 26

Name
Tom Wiltshire
Age 40

Name
Fred Wiltshire
Age 38

Name
Frank Wiltshire
Age 36

Name
Henry Wiltshire
Age 34

Name
Jim Wiltshire
Age 32

Name
Billy Wiltshire
Age 30

Name
Walter Wiltshire
Age 28

Name
Henry Wiltshire
Age 26

Name
Emma Wiltshire
Age 24

Name
William Smith
Age 26

Name
Madaline Smith
Age 29

Name
Mareny Smith

Name
John Smith
Age
30

Name
Leanor Smith
Age
23

Name
Spencer Smith