1901 Census Records of England and Wales
The census was taken on the night of Sunday 31 March 1901.
In 1901, England and Wales were shown to have a combined population of 32,527,843.
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.
1901 Census Headings (in bold)
No. of Schedule
ROAD, STREET, and No. or NAME OF HOUSE
HOUSES [with four columns below: Firstly Inhabited, then two columns headed Uninhabited with In occupation and Not in occupation below, and finally Building]
Number of Rooms occupied if less than five
In an improvement on the 1891 census, occupied rooms were qualified as including a kitchen, but excluding a scullery, landing, lobby, closet, bathroom, warehouse, office or shop.
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), F-in-law (father-in-law), M-in-law (mother-in-law), 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, Worker, or Own account
If Working at Home
WHERE BORN
If
(1) Deaf and Dumb
(2) Blind
(3) Lunatic
(4) Imbecile, Feeble-minded
Where it applied, householders were often reluctant to complete this section.
Notes on the 1901 Census of England and Wales
- Enumerators' books were organized by administrative county, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish, county borough/municipal borough/urban district, ward of municipal borough or of urban district, rural district, parliamentary borough or division, and town or village or hamlet.
- 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.
- The category 'Idiot', which had been listed since 1871, was replaced by the less derogatory 'Feeble-minded'. As a consequence the numbers recorded rose markedly, perhaps reflecting the inclusion of occupants with senile dementia.
- In Wales, the language question (English, Welsh or both) applied to those aged three and above. An age stipulation had not been applied in the 1891 census.
- As in 1891, specially translated schedules were printed in Yiddish and German for Jewish residents of London's East End. This aided speakers in the correct completion of the English version.
- The village of Deal in Kent is missing in its entirety from 1901.
- Shipping schedules are usually at the end of the household returns for the nearest census night port/place or schedule delivery point.
- The original enumeration district books are held by The National Archives (TNA); Reference RG 13.
- The records were released online on 2 January 2002.
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