English Census Links - Census are Essential for research
Major Update Jan 2007 and news on 1911 Dec 2008 - census data on the web keeps improving - previously I listed sites with census by decade but now many fee sites have all or most census so I am listing by site
Census Dates and Other Information
Excellent help files CENSUS FAQ
and CENSUS
Resources and UK Census - various sites with useful information
Abbreviations Used On Census Returns England & Wales 1841-1891
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/index.html#HOME1851 Enumerator Instructions
Places to look at the records - I am looking at a England wide position - if I am missing a source please write to me
Basically the available Census fall into blocks
1831 and before
1841 to 1901 most of page is about there decades
1911 see bottom of page
| 1831 and Before |
| 1821 and 1831 census for some places such as Marylebone are around on fiche etc - basically a list of household - try a web search - |
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Westminster City Archives information sheet on Pre-1841 Censuses and Lists of Inhabitants relating to Westminster. <http://www.westminster.gov.uk/libraries/archives/family-history/upload/Info%20Sheet%2011%20Pre-1841%20Censuses-2.pdf>
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| Free census availability | |
| 1881
Census LDS - very useful - so quick to use - when I find possible
married couples I check 1881 census for them as in LDS you can put wife in
main box and head of household in special box - otherwise Ancestry 1881 is
probably easier to search as you can use wildcard and town of birth.
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Ancestry also has 1881 census with images (payment) the Index search and household details are free http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/census/ Ancestry search allows wildcard and also place born more easily than LDS - so I find in Ancestry and then switch to LDS for the transcription 1881 is also available on www.familyhistoryonline.net for free. This is the Federation of Family History Societies Pay per View site. You register and that is free and you can search 1881 free - an advantage over LDS is that you can search using a wildcard in the name - whereas LDS does not allow for wildcards and Ancestry wants 3 letters and then wildcard - FFHS also has 1891 index and Burial register etc and is well worth a check. |
| FreeCEN http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ UK Census - a volunteer effort to transcribe for surname lookup and it is free - (more volunteers welcome) | I don't know if you will find yours have been transcribed but worth a check - very good for Cornwall |
| http://www.census1891.com/ where 1891t is being transcribed by street in London - | well worth a check - the transcribed names do not come up in google I tried. - |
| Various local FHS and Parishes may have data available - try a web search say in www.google.com - especially some villages - try that first before paying other sites. | for example Oxford FHS will conduct a search for across all census and parish registers on their own transcription |
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If you have an interest outside London do web searches (google) and look at Genuki - I found census coverage for a Devon village
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try a search such as
nameofplace 1851 genuki |
| 1841-1901 on sites which are subscription or pay to
view
The main ones with an almost total coverage of England and usually Wales
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Sometimes Libraries and Societies have access to these
sites
The census for some areas are lost - see suggestion on PRO National Archive etc for how to find out which are missing |
| Census data has been around for some time on fiche and then CD - but you needed to know address or you spent ages browsing. Around 2004 following success of LDS 1881 and TNA 1901 other decades started to appear on line | 1841 does not have as much personal information as later decades - age is rounded and birth place is Yes/No in county see Other Information |
| Surname Variations - an excellent web site http://www.imagepartners.co.uk/Thesaurus also shows if variation is on 1881 | The sites below are in essence different to the CDs
because people have transcribed the names so we can search by name -
do you know how many spelling variations of my name there are. The
transcribers do a great job but the handwriting can be very
hard.
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| 1901 Census the original
Government site
The second census to appear in full on the web. It was a thrill to find my father at age 1. |
This 1901 can be difficult to search - it has
restrictions - it is not as easy as Ancestry's search and Ancestry
of course have a different index. But it can be low cost to
see a few images. And it allows occupation and address search
To overcome some problems with this 1901 search the 1901 Census Decoder - was written this program helps identify households on the TNA/ PRO 1901 census - this may help show you have the correct family etc before you pay for the image |
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Ancestry 1841 to 1901 http://www.ancestry.co.uk/Default.aspx
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I have a subscription and find it very good
You can usually search index for free - just looking at detail or image is a charge - they include LDS 1881 for free search and details and have Image for a charge and this is the only they have with address search Other census can be browsed by district - with enumerator control sheet with list of streets to be walked. The start of browse section also lists areas which may have been lost to us. Ancestry uncludes Wales and Channel Islands in census and some census of Scotland Their technical help is good - click Help in top corner to send email Discussion board can be found at http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.uk-ire/mb.ashx
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| 1841 to 1901 http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk | http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/index.php I have not used this site - and have not had much feedback either - their subscription plans are confusing - you have to subscribe to search but they say they have all census and other records as well. Re confusion from their census coverage page Jan 2007 Now does that mean you have to pay as you go for 1901 or is it included in a subscription. I suggest read about the subscription and ask them if you have any doubts yourself. I like the sound of some of their other data and may look at one day. |
| 1841 1861 1871 1891 http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet |
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/
or http://www.findmypast.com which
until end of 2006 was 1837online
yes same site that has GRO index images - searches are free but looking at
records is a charge. The search engine is very good and depending on how
many units you buy the cost for census is not expensive and they
allow address searches.
Some folk have found folk on their census which were not found on say Ancestry but I think the reverse applies also as when I have paid for credits I found several records with blank surnames. Their Help people are very responsive Ifranviewer .- very good for their Djvu files |
http://www.familyhistoryonline.net
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You register and that is free and you can search 1881 free but other data
is chargeable to view - quite inexpensive
It the FFHS site so the databases are shown by county but basically I can see 1841 and 1851 and 1861 also 1881 (free) and 1891 |
| 1841 and 1861 and 1871 http://www.britishorigins.com/ |
This is an interesting site - check the subscription offers - they are low cost short term ones. They have databases not available elsewhere Boyd's Marriage index and Licence lists and Apprentices - check them out a search re total numbers of a name is free |
| Mainly CD but Some census on line for different places http://www.stepping-stones.co.uk/htdocs/1841.cfm |
I have not used - good feedback on their CDs |
| British Census Indexes, Transcripts, and Images Available Online or on CD | a comprehensive list http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/census-chart.html |
| Archive CD Books http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/ also sell CDs of census | Some CDs available for small areas of London |
| 1911 |
| 1911 is held by http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ but only really for next of kin with a need |
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Findmypast now have 1911 http://www.1911census.co.uk/ and for coverage etc 1911census.co.uk blog Ancestry told me they would not have until 2012 |
| News http://www.sog.org.uk/latest.shtml#foi
and TNA http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/1911census/?homepage=news On line may be available 2009 - or you can obtain soon for 45 GBP a record |
| <http://www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk/resources/yft/1911page.jpg> a 1911 census return - big difference to enumerator books |
| 19th century Britain goes online http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/ Histpop - The Online Historical Population Reports Website does have samples census forms and you can see originals in colour whereas the versions we see are B&W which may make some data like ages hard to read. |
Some census transcriptions supplied by friends