UK Census Records
UK census records online, United Kingdom, England and Wales, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921, 1939 register, 1939 Census, Scotland, Northern Ireland.

UK Census Records 1841-1921 and the 1939 Register 

Household and institutional census records are an invaluable primary resource for researching your family history. They deliver a wealth of information for tracing your family tree, including ancestors' names, ages, marital status, professions, addresses, and parish and county of birth. 


1. How to Access UK Census Records:

England and Wales 

You can search and view digitised images
of the 1841-1921 censuses (plus the 1939 census-like Register) of England and Wales through a subscription to Findmypast, 'The home of British and Irish family history'.

* Until at least 2025, it will be the only site where you can access and search the 1921 census online - available through their 'Premium' package (3 or 12 months) or via micropayments on other packages. 

Due to fire loss of the 1931 census and wartime cancellation of the 1941 census, the invaluable 1939 Register helps bridge a 30-year census gap. 

If you don't specifically need to access the 1921 census of England and Wales, you could join Ancestry - they hold the 1841-1911 censuses and the 1939 Register.

Censuses of the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) and the Isle of Man, which are British Crown Dependencies, are available for 1841-1921 on Findmypast and 1841-1911 on Ancestry.

Scotland

For information on accessing Scottish census records visit our Scotland Census page.

Northern Ireland

As the first census from 1926 is lost, the next is 1936. This will be made available in 2036.


2. An Introduction to UK Census Records

  • Since 1801 a census has been taken in England and Wales, and separately for Scotland, every ten years (save for the wartime year of 1941 and Covid-delayed census of 2022). 
  • Those from 1841-1921 provide a rich mine of information when investigating your family tree; the first four censuses (1801, 1811, 1821, 1831) being essentially statistical headcounts.
  • The questions posed have changed over the years; the 1841 census being the most basic, whilst the two most recently available, 1911 and 1921, are notably more investigative.   
  • Founded in 1837, the General Register Office for England and Wales (GRO) was charged with conducting each subsequent census. It utilized the administrative framework in place for the the registration of births, deaths and marriages. 
  • In Scotland, The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) was founded in 1855 and commenced their census-taking duties in 1861.  
  • The Census Act 1920 established the census as a regular decennial event. Prior to this date each had required a separate Act of Parliament.
  • Due to their personal content, they are not publicly released until 100 years after the date they were conducted. Consequently, 1921 is the most recent year available online. 
  • Later censuses (1951 to date) are in the custody of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

3. Our Guide to Census Records and the 1939 Register

The 1841-1921 page links in the left-hand menu (or above right on a mobile) provide a description of the headings to be found in each census schedule for England and Wales, plus a decade-on-decade overview. They also outline what you might expect to find and how to interpret census records, including commonly employed abbreviations. Other pages concern the 1939 Register, a much-valued census substitute, and the censuses of Scotland and Northern Ireland. We regularly publish UK-related articles on our Census Blog.


4. Top Tips for Searching UK Census Records 1841-1921

Census records are a crucial and revelatory resource when researching your family history. Uniquely they can tell us how our ancestors lives changed over time; their homes, relationships, children, and work. They are the only documents which present us with so much collective information in one go; to be helpfully followed by an update ten years later. 

Knowing ages on a specific date can help in the tracking down of birth and baptism records. Whilst an individual's absence in subsequent censuses can narrow down possible death years, the appearance of children and a change in a woman's surname indicate a marriage (or remarriage) between dates; hence birth, marriage and death records can be pursued.

Here are our Top Tips to aid you in your research:

a) Work your way backwards

Start with the most recently available census and work backwards. Presently that means 1921, available for England and Wales via Findmypast (Premium package) or for Scotland via ScotlandsPeople. Most likely a grandparent or great grandparent were listed in that year. Follow your families back through time every ten years until you reach the 1841 census. Check everything tallies at each stage. Be careful - if you skip a step, you could easily end researching a family tree other than your own. If looking to search prior to 1841 you will need to turn to parish registers. 

b) Understand how the censuses developed

The 1841 census is vastly different from that of 1921, whilst those from 1851-1901 saw little fundamental change. To understand both the similarities and changes, use the left-hand menu (or above right on a mobile) to view the headings and related notes by year.  

c) Allow for the human element

Poor memory, familiarity and vanity can find themselves expressed through the records. Added to this mix is a fair share of good old human error.

  • Not all occupants could recall their place of birth or precise age, so inevitably 'guess-timates' were put down or simply what they believed to be true. For many, birthdays were not an occasion of note.
  • Ages might be massaged down for vanity reasons; a habit practiced by both sexes.
    On the other hand, someone who had entered into a rental contract and been underage would provide a higher age. 
  • In large families it might have been a struggle to recall the true ages of a dozen or more offspring.
  • Family members might have grown up with names quite different from their christened names. As a result, middle names may have supplanted first names or nicknames may have stuck. For example, you may find an Elizabeth in one year who is Betty ten years later; a child baptised John may have lived his life known only as Jack. See our choice list of names and their alternatives.
  • If the head of the household was illiterate, the local enumerator or a neighbour etc. may have completed their schedule. Misheard or misspelt entries could therefore arise. Surnames might vary between different censuses, e.g. 'Robertson' in one, then 'Robinson'.
  • Poor spelling and handwriting quality also impact interpretation. Transcription errors are frustratingly common. This might have occurred when household returns were entered in the enumerator's books or more recently, when records were transcribed for online access.
    Consequently, it is best practice to refer to the digital images and not rely solely on  electronic transcriptions.

d) Don't be too specific

Due to the variances mentioned above, allow for some leeway in your searches. Matching all search terms exactly is often over-limiting. This is especially true when it comes to birth dates. According to the returns, quite often people do not appear to age by the anticipated 9/10 years. Select +/- year variations around your chosen birth date and when it comes 1841 choose five years due to the rounding down of those over 15 (see Tip i). 

e) Play a wildcard

If you are struggling to locate someone, use wildcards in your online search terms. These can account for misspellings, incorrect transcriptions and evolving surnames. Both Findmypast and Ancestry use an asterisk (*) and question mark (?) as wildcards. They are used as follows:

  • * replaces up to five characters. For example, typing McN**l will return McNeil, McNiel, McNeal, McNell and more.
  • ? replaces a single character. For example, typing Ander?on will return Anderson and Anderton.

f) Search by address

An Address search option is available on Findmypast for the 1841-1921 censuses and the 1939 Register. You can search by street name and town. There is a spelling variant option available for street names. 

g) Do check on the neighbours

Compared to today, families were less likely to venture beyond their birth county. Parents, siblings and older offspring might live in the same street or neighbourhood. Do check the same page and those either side for blood relatives or in-laws. 

h) Don't forget to turn the page

An easily made error is not checking the subsequent page when your found entry lies at the foot of a page. Simply by clicking over you may find a far larger family.

i) Tread carefully with the 1841 census

Whilst 1841 is the first genealogically useful census, one must be wary when interpreting it.

  • For those over aged 15 and above, ages were meant to be rounded down to the nearest five years. As an example, anyone aged 21 to 24 would be recorded as 20. 
  • Household relationships were not recorded until 1851, so be careful of making assumptions. In reality an apparent 'couple' could be a brother and sister or a supposed son may be a nephew. Checking later censuses may well help clarify interrelationships.
  • Family '/' and dwelling '//' divisions are sometimes wrongly marked. 
  • 1841 was recorded in pencil, which can hinder legibility.
  • For more information read our blog article 1841: The 'First Modern Modern Census' of the United Kingdom.

j) Remember, censuses are a moment in time

Each census was taken on a specified Sunday night, approximately ten years after the last. Generally the date fell in March or April, to avoid data distortions caused by seasonal movements during the summer. Your ancestors were not always static. Consequently, you may not find them in the location anticipated from ten years prior. As throughout history, factors such as work, marriage, divorce and finances all impacted where they resided. Poorer families, especially in crowded towns and cities, changed home more frequently, due to short-term lets and the pursuit of work. Leisure and relationships could also determine their location - maybe they were on holiday or staying over with relatives or friends. 

k) Institutions

You may well find a relative or indeed relatives in what was termed an institution. If over a certain 'inmate' size it was enumerated separately by the chief residing master or keeper. Institutions included barracks, prisons, prison hulks (ships), hospitals, lunatic asylums, workhouses and orphanages. Details in special institutional books are often minimal though, with initials rather than forenames and broad or missing birthplace entries. For more information read our blog article Special Census Returns: Institutions, the British Army, Royal Navy and Merchant Marine Vessels.

l) All under one roof

Particularly in the nineteenth century households might include live-in relatives, such as a widowed parent. Non-family members were also common, such as boarders, lodgers, visitors, servants and apprentices. They are normally identified in the 'Relation to Head of Family' column, which was first required in 1851.  

m) Relationship to head of family

The head of the household was normally the oldest adult male. Nineteenth century terminology for kin relationships can vary from today. A brother-in-law may be described as a 'brother' and a son-in-law as a 'son'. A stepdaughter might appear as a 'daughter-in-law'. Errors occur where children are referred to in relation to a younger adult present, such as 'son' rather than grandson. Some entries might disguise a true relationship, for example an infant 'daughter' of elderly parents whose unmarried daughter may have borne an illegitimate grandchild.

n) A job by any other name

To aid in hard to read or perhaps understand job titles check our Glossary of Trades and Professions. For more information read our blog article Trades and Professions in the Census 1841-1901

o) Missing persons and lost pieces

Some purposefully avoided being accounted for, perhaps furnished false names or were simply missed off.

  • In 1911 some suffragettes evaded enumerators by staying in non-residential properties or out in the open air. For more information read our blog article 'No vote, No Census': the Suffragette Boycott of 1911 
  • Co-habiting unmarried couples may have provided alternative names and persons evading the law were likely to invent names or hide from officialdom.
  • 6 June 1841 was a fine harvest night and as a result not all agricultural labourers (and those assisting them) were accounted for.


Your ancestor may have been amongst some of the missing pieces from England, Wales and Scotland. There are parishes missing from eleven English counties in 1841, but with the passage of years this became less common - come 1891 only one street is 'lost'. Missing pieces for 1841-1901 are found on the following devoted page at Findmypast. 

p) The 'Fertility Census'

The so-called 'Fertility Census' of 1911 can prove revelatory. The requirement to provide the number of children (still alive or who had died) within the current marriage can alert researchers to offspring who were born or died over the passage of ten years. It can potentially reveal other relationships, marriages and stepchildren.

q) If you're struggling to find a relative

Then read out blog article Why Can't I Find My Ancestor in the Census?


5. How was the Census taken?

Starting in 1841, the first nominal (name-based) census was undertaken. A given Sunday night - prior to the working week - was selected, as this increased the chance of enumerating an individual at their normal place of residence. A one-night census also reduced the chance of duplication.

Households

The not inconsiderable task of providing an 'Account of the Population' fell to an army of temporary local enumerators. They were appointed by District Registrars, who had divided their sub-districts into enumeration districts; in 1841 these numbered 35,000.

In the week prior to the selected night, enumerators delivered forms (officially called schedules), with accompanying instructions, to households across the nation. Responsibility for providing the required details lay with the 'Head of Family'.

Come sunrise on Monday they returned to collect the (hopefully) completed schedules; if incomplete they assisted on the doorstep. They then set about entering the returns into census enumerator's books (CEBs). 

The completed CEBs and original schedules were then sent, after checking by the District Registrar and Superintendent Registrar, to the Census Office in London. 

Starting in 1911 original household schedules were retained, negating the need for CEBs. This means it is the first occasion where we see the penmanship and signature of an ancestor on a census record. 

For more information read our blog article The Work of a Census Enumerator.   

Institutions

From 1851, institutions (prisons, workhouses, hospitals, barracks etc.) above a specified 'inmate' size, were issued with special institutional enumerator's books. The 'master or keeper' became the designated enumerator and completed their allocated book. These were additionally forwarded, via the Superintendent Registrar, to London.

Royal Navy and Merchant Marine Vessels

Also from 1851 special schedules were issued for vessels in British ports, though none survive for that year. From 1861 naval schedules were issued to commanding officers of Royal Navy (RN) vessels. The Admiralty were responsible for co-ordinating these returns. 

Enumeration of merchant marine vessels was performed not solely on a single night; it included some who entered harbour during a period after (For example, in 1901 forms were handed to British and foreign vessels in the UK coasting trade arriving from 1 April to 30 June - the census date having been 31 March). 

The British Army 

British Army personnel in quarters and barracks were enumerated as inmates of institutions, with the resident quarter or barrack master acting as enumerator. Not until 1911 were men and their families stationed overseas enumerated by name. Prior to that date, the Census Office were simply informed as to the numbers of officers, other ranks, wives and children


6. Why were the Censuses created and how were they used?

The reasoning behind the censuses and their usage are multi-faceted.

  • The early numeric British censuses gave the government information useful for military recruitment during the Napoleonic Wars with France. They also monitored the shift away from family-based labour to industrial roles in expanding towns and cities.
  • Come the Victorian age, social and political changes highlighted the need for a more probing census to make sense of the modern industrial era. Since 1801 the population had almost doubled. There was a concern for the welfare of the growing urban inhabitants and the sanitary impact of overcrowding. 
  • The more detailed censuses of 1841 and after enabled the tracking of mortality and morbidity over time. In 1841 it was reported that 'of 100,000 children born in Liverpool, only 44,797 live to the age of 20,...'
  • In 1848 a Public Health Act was passed; its aim to improve the conditions of the urban poor and thereby reduce deaths. In 1853 an Act of Parliament made smallpox vaccination compulsory - 1851 having identified that one in every 979 people were blind.
  • Results from 1841 influenced the Mines Act of 1842, which banned the underground employment of females and males aged under 10.
  • Data influenced town planning, public sanitation and housing policy.

7. A History of the United Kingdom Census pre-1841

In 1890 the United States of America were the first country to introduce a regular (decennial) national census. Just eleven years later, in 1801, Britain followed. It was established by the Census (Population) Act of 1800, which aimed 'to take an Account of the total Number of Persons within the kingdom of Great Britain'. Named individuals and their personal information were not a feature of this or the subsequent three censuses. Summary data from 1801-1831 is stored at The National Archives (TNA), in Kew, London. The original records were unfortunately destroyed in 1904. 

10 March 1801

The first national 'Account' did not cover the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Ireland. It did not include men in the armed forces and militia, as well as merchant seamen. 

Overseers of the poor or 'other substantial householders' collected information for their respective parish, township, tithing or quarter. Each completed a 'Form of Answers by the Overseers', providing numbers for the following questions:

  • How many inhabited houses are in your parish, township or place; by how many families are they occupied; and how many houses therein are uninhabited?
  • How many persons (including children of whatever age) are there actually found within the limits of your parish, township, or place, at the time of taking of this account, distinguishing males and females, and exclusive of men actually serving in his majesty's regular forces or militia, and exclusive of seamen either in his majesty's service or belonging to registered vessels?
  • What number of person in your parish, township, or place are chiefly employed in agriculture; how many in trade, manufactures, or handicraft; and how many are not occupied in any of the preceding classes?

    Local parish clergy completed a 'Form of Answers by the Clergyman', providing numbers for the following questions:
  • What was the number of baptisms and burials in your parish, township, or place in the several years 1700, 1710, 1720, 1730, 1740, 1750, 1760, 1770, 1780, and in each subsequent year to the 31st December 1800, distinguishing males from females?
  • What was the number of marriages in your parish, township, or place in each year, from the year 1754 inclusive to the end of the year 1800?

    Both the Overseers and Clergyman forms contained spaces for comments.

 

27 May 1811

Despite becoming part of United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, Ireland was still excluded.
Questions ran along similar lines to 1801. Added and amended questions included:

  • How many Houses are now building, and therefore not yet inhabited?
  • Referring to the number of Persons in 1801, To what Cause do you attribute any remarkable Difference in the number at present?
  • Clergy were asked to record the number of baptisms, marriages and burials in the each of the previous 10 years.

28 May 1821

For the first time the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Ireland were enumerated this year. An added - although discretionary - question for the overseer asked for a breakdown of the population by sex and age group (under 5 years, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, then by decade, and finally if over 100). 

30 May 1831 

1831 marked the final numerical-based census. A series of additional questions concerned males over 20 years of age and their occupations. This was geared to assess the military potential of the populace. Amongst added questions for the clergy were the number of illegitimate children born in 1830 and the annual number of unregistered births, marriages and deaths.

During the 1820s and 1830s the simplistic format came in for increasing criticism. A fundamental review was called for. In 1840, a committee from the London Statistical Society (LSS) made a range of proposals. Many of their recommendations were incorporated the following year - and thus the 'first modern' census was born.

See our blog article to learn more about The Origins of the First UK Census


8. England and Wales Census Dates and Population 1801-1921

Census date Population Census Act reference and date
10 March 1801 8,892,536 41 Geo. 3. (G.B.) c. 15
27 May 1811 10,164,256 51 Geo. 3. c. 6 (1 November 1810)
28 May 1821 12,000,236 1 Geo. 4. c. 94 (21 April 1820)
30 May 1831 13,896,797 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. 30 (23 June 1830)
6 June 1841 15,914,148 3 & 4 Vict., c. 99 & 4 & 5 Vict., c. 7 (10 August 1840)
30 March 1851 17,927,609 13 & 14 Vict., c. 53 (5 August 1850)
7 April 1861 20,066,224 23 & 24 Vict., c. 61 (6 August 1860)
2 April 1871 22,712,266 33 & 34 Vict. c. 107 (10 August 1870)
3 April 1881 25,974,439 43 & 44 Vict., c. 37 (7 September 1880)
5 April 1891 29,002,525 53 & 54 Vict., c. 61 (18 August 1890)
31 March 1901 32,527,843 63 & 64 Vict. c.4 (27 March 1900)
2 April 1911 36,070,492 10 Edw. 7 & 1 Geo. 5. c. 27
19 June 1921 37,886,699 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 41
Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021

Note
In 1966 a quinquennial 10% census sample was taken.