1861 Census Records of England and Wales
The census was taken on the night of Sunday 7 April 1861. Householders faced a potential fine of £5 for incorrect completion of their return.
The returns now included large numbers of schedules for vessels; merchant vessel returns were completed by the masters or captains. It included Royal Navy (RN) ships overseas.
In 1861, England and Wales were shown to have a combined population of 20,066,224. An increase in industrial workers and urban areas reflected Britain's position as a major industrial nation.
How to Access
You can search and view digitised images of the 1841-1921 censuses (plus the 1939 Register) of England and Wales by subscribing to Findmypast, 'The home of British and Irish family history'. Until at least 2025, it will remain 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.
An address search option is available on Findmypast. You can search by street name and town. There is a spelling variant option available for street names.
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.
1861 Census Headings (in bold)
No. of Schedule
Road, Street &c., and No. or Name of House
Houses [with Inhabited and Uninhabited ('U'.) or Building ('B'.) columns below]
Name and Surname of each Person
Initials or first letters of other Christian names may be inserted.
Relation to Head of Family
daur. (daughter), serv. (servant).
Condition
M. (married), Unm. (unmarried), Wid. (widow), Widr. (widower).
Age of [with Males and Females in columns below]
mo. (months) if aged under one.
Rank, Profession, or Occupation
Ag. Lab (Agricultural Labourer), Ap. (Apprentice), Cl. (Clerk), Serv. (Servant).
Where Born
Whether Blind, or Deaf, or Dumb
Where it applied, householders were often reluctant to complete this section.
Notes on the 1861 Census of England and Wales
- Enumerators' books were organized by parish or township, city or municipal borough, municipal ward, parliamentary borough, town, hamlet or tithing, and ecclesiastical district.
- A single diagonal penstroke / marked the end of a household, whereas a double penstroke // marked the end of a building. This applied to the censuses from 1841 to 1901, save 1851.
- Enumerators had to note in each dwelling the number of rooms that had windows.
- About 3% of the 1861 enumerators' books are missing or damaged. A list of missing parts can be found at Findmypast.
- Institutions of more than 200 'inmates' were to be returned in institutional books. In 1861 only initials needed to be entered for institutional schedules.
- Shipping schedules can be found at the end of the household returns with those for the Royal Navy (RN).
- Street indexes were created for districts containing towns with a population of around 40,000 or more, from 1841 to 1901.
- The 1861 census report (1863) revealed that for the first time - in England and Wales - more individuals lived in towns and cities than in the countryside; 10,960,998 lived in urban areas, whereas 9,105,226 lived in country parishes.
- The original enumeration district books are held by The National Archives (TNA); Reference RG 9 (they were saved from destruction in 1891 by the then Registrar General, Sir Brydges Powell Henniker).
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