1891 Census Records of England and Wales
The census was taken on the night of Sunday 5 April 1891. For many schools and universities this was an Easter holiday date. Consequently, pupils and students may appear in unanticipated locations. The 1891 census was the first to employ women enumerators.
All vessels in port (arriving since 30 March) were now enumerated as were those engaged in the UK coasting trade who berthed up to the end of June.
In 1891, England and Wales were shown to have a combined population of 29,002,525.
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.
For more information read our blog article The 1891 Census: the Last Account of the Victorian Age.
1891 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]
Number of rooms occupied if less than five
As no 'room' definition was given, answers should be treated with caution. This was qualified in the subsequent census of 1901.
NAME and Surname of each Person
Initials or first letters of other Christian names were to be inserted.
RELATION to Head of Family
daur. (daughter), serv. (servant)
CONDITION as to Marriage
M. (married), S. (unmarried), Wid. (widow), Widr. (widower).
AGE last Birthday of [with Males and Females in columns below]
mo. (months) if aged under one.
PROFESSION or OCCUPATION
Employer
Employed
Neither employer nor employed, but working on own account
The above three status columns were often answered inaccurately or left blank..
WHERE BORN
If
(1) Deaf-and-Dumb
(2) Blind
(3) Lunatic, Imbecile or Idiot
Where it applied, householders were often reluctant to complete this section.
Note: Schedules for Wales and Monmouthshire had an additional column 'Language Spoken'.
Notes on the 1891 Census of England and Wales
- Enumerators' books were organized by administrative county, civil parish, municipal borough, municipal ward, urban sanitary district (USD), town or village or hamlet, rural sanitary district (RSD), parliamentary borough or division, and ecclesiastical parish or district.
- England and Wales were divided into 631 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.
- Separate schedules were issued In Wales and Monmouthshire. These included an enquiry as to whether individuals spoke English, Welsh or both. Some Welsh parishes though - administered under English Registration Districts - did not receive the appropriate schedule.
- For the Jewish residents of London's East End, specially translated schedules were printed in Yiddish and German. This aided speakers in the correct completion of the English version.
- The only known missing pieces from 1891 are the returns for Great White Lion Street in Holborn, London.
- Institutions of 100 or more '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.
- 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 12.
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