The National Census is a head count of everyone in the country on a given day. A census has been taken in England and Wales, and separately for Scotland, every ten years since 1801, with the exception of 1941.
In the censuses of 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 lists of names were not collected centrally, although some are held in local record offices. Other lists were sometimes compiled which are often referred to as census ‘substitutes’. The Brigham Young University Early British Census Project has some information on a few places in Norfolk, and is searchable. Unfortunately, the 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942, and no census was taken in 1941 because of the Second World War.
The British government undertakes the census for policy and planning purposes, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the results in printed reports. Public access to individual census returns in England and Wales is usually restricted under the terms of the 100-year rule (latest available census to view is 1921). The object of the census was not to obtain detailed information about individuals, but to provide information about the population as a whole; listing everyone by name, wherever they happened to be on a single night, the most efficient way to count everybody once, and nobody twice.
The national decennial censuses of the general population started in 1801, championed by the statistician John Rickman. The censuses were initially conducted partly to ascertain the number of men able to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Additionally, it was hoped to provide a measure of the industrious population, show the numbers of men who were required for conscription reflecting the area’s population, count the number of seamen, produce a plan for the production of corn and to know the number of people it had feed, and to indicate the Government’s intention to promote the public good.
The dates the censuses (for the currently available data to view) were held are: 6 June 1841, 30 March 1851, 7 April 1861, 2 April 1871, 3 April 1881, 5 April 1891, 31 March 1901, 2 April 1911, and 19 June 1921.
The intended date for the 1921 census was 24 April, but was postponed due to industrial unrest
In every census year a form was delivered 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 were collected a few days later, and defaulters ‘chased’. From 1841 to 1901 the information from the schedules was then copied into enumeration books. Once the enumeration books had been completed, most household schedules were destroyed, although there are some rare survivals.
The 1841 census was the first to list the names of every individual, which makes it the earliest useful census for family historians. However, less information was collected in 1841 than in later census years.
On 24 April 1966, the UK trialled an alternative method of enumeration - long form/short form. Every household was given a form to complete, while a sample of the population was given a long form to collect more detailed information. The short form was used for the population count and to collect basic information such as usual address, sex, age and relationships to other household members. This was the first and only time that a five-yearly census was carried out in the UK
The General Register Office was responsible for taking the census, and it used the administrative framework already in place for the registration of births, marriages and deaths.
Unlike earlier censuses, the 1921 census (and later censuses) are subject to the Census Act 1920, as amended by the Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991 which makes it an offence to disclose personal information held in them until 100 years after the date they were conducted, but statistical information from these censuses is openly available. The Act of 1920 also legislates a fine of up to £1,000 for those who refuse to complete their census forms.
Special enumeration books were completed for institutions such as workhouses, armed forces barracks and hospitals in every census year from 1851, including 1911. Special schedules for vessels were introduced in 1851, although none are known to survive from that year, so 1861 was the first year to include returns from the Royal Navy and merchant shipping, at sea and in ports at home and abroad. In 1861 all returns from the RN and merchant vessels are at the end of the series, but after that vessels in home ports are listed at the end of the districts where they were moored, and only those in foreign waters are grouped together at the end.
Take care: When transcribing any documents the results should always be what is actually there, not what the transcriber thinks/guesses/knows what it should be. Please note that there are many ways of spelling the same name by spelling what it sounds like, as well as written errors! For example: a family called Mears is sometimes written as Mear, and Chapple is written as Chapel, Chaple or Chappell.
