Census
Much of the information I gained is from the United Kingdom Census. These were taken every 10 years from 1801 but the first complete and available census was in 1841. One thing to remember about the early census was that they were recorded by hand in the old script of the 1800’s so sometimes it can be very hard to read and interpret.
‘In every census year an enumerator delivered a form to each household in the country for them to complete. The heads of household were instructed to give details of everyone who slept in that dwelling on census night, which was always a Sunday. The completed forms, known as schedules, were collected by the enumerator. From 1841 to 1901 the information from the schedules was then copied into enumeration books, and when completed, most household schedules were destroyed. It is the enumeration books that we consult today online or on microfilm’.1 Because the schedules were copied into books, often there could be mistakes with spelling etc., of peoples names or where they were born, even ages.
1841 Census
The first online census was taken on 6 June, 1841. This census is quite restricting in what information it provides. It gives you the parish, the household and the people in it with their names, whether male or female with their age, occupation and whether born in the county. However, people’s ages up to 15 years were listed exactly as reported but ages over 15 were rounded to the nearest 5 years (rounded down). So, a person aged 63 would be listed on the census as age 60 years, while someone aged 69 would be recorded as 65 years. So if the person was listed as 45 years – then they were born between 1792 to 1796. And, also if a person was born in the county where the census was taken, there would be a ‘Y’ (yes) but, if not, there would be a ‘N’ (no). So, this makes it very difficult to find the birth year of a person and where they were born if they do not appear in later census.
1851 and 1861 Census
The 1851 census taken on the night of 30 March and the 1861 census on 7 April. They give more information including ‘relation to head of family’ – like wife, daughter, son, servant etc. Also there was more information about the occupation of the person and the town and county where they were born. There was now a street address and number or name of house. But best of all, the ages were recorded more correctly. Interestingly, a new column had also been added for ‘whether blind, or deaf and dumb’.
1871 and 1881 Census
The 1871 census was taken on night of 2 April and 1881 on 3 April. The census was similar to 1851 and 1861 census except for the following difference. The last column heading is now: 1.Blind; 2 Deaf and Dumb; 3.Imbecile or Idiot; 4.Lunatic.
1891 Census
The 1891 census was taken on the night of 5 April. Again very similar to the 1881 census with columns added for ‘Employer’; “Employed; ‘Neither Employer or Employed’.
1901 Census
The 1901 census was taken on the night of 5 April. There were a few changed columns from 1891 to 1901. Instead of ‘Employer’; ‘Employed’;’Neither employer or Employed”, there was two columns for “Employer, Worker or Own Account’ and ‘If Working at Home’.
An example of the 1901 census and similar previous census’ can be found here. This is the census for Mary A Codd, the daughter of Samuel Cold and Martha Rhodes and sister of Sabina who married John Johnson (my ancestor). Mary Ann also married a Johnson – Thomas – I’m not sure if he is related to John but has different parents. Looking at this census page, you can see that there is no Mary Ann , no Mary A or Mary Johnson. However there is a Mary A Midgley aged 81 years (5th person on page). To find Mary Ann Johnson, I did a search on her name and didn’t come up with any results. However, Mary Ann Johnson had been staying with her married daughter Louisa in 1881. So I looked for her daughter Louisa and found Mary (listed with surname Midgley) this way in the 1901 census. Often, you have to do a bit of detective work to find people on the census.
1911 Census
The 1911 census was taken on the night of 2 April. In 1911 all the household schedules were kept for the first time, and were not copied into enumeration books. This also shows the handwriting of the person – usually the head of household – who fills out the schedule. An example of the 1911 schedule where Mary Ann Johnson is staying with her son Tom can be found here. if you are interested, Mary Ann died between July and September, 1912 aged about 94 years.
Civil Registration
Prior to Civil Registration in 1837, the only recording of births and marriages were written by the local parish church. These records were often woefully inadequate for genealogists with sometimes, just a few nearly illegible scrawls written in the book, often with no mention of the actual birth date and no maiden name for the mother. Also the old parish records for marriages rarely mentioned the parents’ names so it could be hard to trace back further than that generation. And very few deaths were recorded by the parish.
The Civil or Government Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales did not begin until 1837 , and in the early years, some children were not registered. This registration took place at the Register Office in the district where the event took place, not the village or town. In Scotland, such registration became compulsory for all three occurrences in 1855. For Ireland, marriages started in 1845 and births and deaths began in 1864. So many records are not available online before 1837. However, this is improving each year with more parish records being online.