1871 Census Records of England and Wales
The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1871. One change was the addition of 'Imbecile or Idiot' and 'Lunatic' to the disability column - all acceptable terms for the time.
In addition to British, foreign vessels in port (arriving since 25 March) were first included. British vessels engaged in the coasting and home trade who berthed between 25 March and 2 May were also enumerated.
In 1871, England and Wales were shown to have a combined population of 22,712,266.
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.
1871 Census Headings (in bold)
No. of Schedule
ROAD, STREET, and No. or NAME OF HOUSE
HOUSES [with Inhabited and Uninhabited (U.) or Building (B.) in 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).
WHERE BORN
[Whether]
1. Deaf-and-Dumb
2. Blind
3. Imbecile or Idiot
4. Lunatic
Where it applied, householders were often reluctant to complete this section.
Notes on the 1871 Census of England and Wales
- Enumerators' books were organized by civil parish, city or municipal borough, municipal ward, parliamentary borough, town, village or hamlet, local board and ecclesiastical district.
- England and Wales were divided into 625 registration districts.
- 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.
- Known missing parts include:
Piece 3278: St Margaret, Leicester.
Piece 4213: Preston
Piece 5729: Eastoft and Haldenby
Piece 5444: Llangyfelach, Penderry, and Llandilotalybont.
Piece 5463: Porteynon Penrice, Oxwich, Nicholaston, Penmaen, Reynoldston, Llandewy, Knelston.
Piece 5590: Talgarth, Grwyne-fawr, and Grwyne-fechan. - Institutions of more than 200 'inmates' were to be returned in institutional books.
- Shipping schedules are usually at the end of the household returns for the nearest census night port/place or schedule delivery point.
- England and Wales were divided into 33,000 enumeration districts.
- Street indexes were created for districts containing towns with a population of around 40,000 or more, from 1841 to 1901.
- The original enumeration district books are held by The National Archives (TNA); Reference RG 10.
- On a final note: The historical author and poet, Agnes Strickland (1796-1874), was so keen to avoid the enumerator that she spent the night driven around in a taxi.
Create Your Own Website With Webador