Census: 1841 to 1911

A Census has been taken every ten years in England and Wales since 1801, with the exception of 1941 during WWII.  Most of the very early censuses were simply head-counts, so of little use to us beyond providing statistics.  Those from 1841 recorded individuals who were living in each household.  The Family Records Centre provide a fact sheet on the Census Returns explaining the information you can expect to find in them.  Click on the PDF link on the left, to open the link.  To view this file, you will need Adobe Reader.

Census Resources

FreeCEN have a host of volunteers who are in the process of transcribing the 1841-1891 census returns for various counties across the United Kingdom.  The transcriptions are searchable and free to view. FreeCEN are always looking for new transcribers, so if you can help in any way please look at their Transcription Page and contact the Coordinator for the County you are interested in.

Archive CD Books was founded by Rod Neep in March 2000 with the aim of reproducing old books, documents and maps onto CD-rom for genealogists and historians.  Due to Rod's retirement, resources are no longer available from the British site.  However, resources which include scans of the original census enumerator's books are still available for various English counties and can be purchased from the Archive CD Books sites in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands and USA.  Please click on the country flag to take you to the respective store.

The scans of documents have been reproduced on CD-rom as PDF files.  To view these CD's, you will need Adobe Reader.

Ancestry.com have scanned and indexed the 1841-1901 Census Returns for England and Wales, the Isle of Mann, Channel Islands and Scotland.  You can search the indexes, but then require either a monthly or annual subscription to view the pages.  Alternatively you can buy credits which last for a shorter period.

• 1841 Census - See links above for Archive CD Books and Ancestry.com.
• 1851 British Census CD - This is a CD rom produced by the Mormon Latter-Day Saints or LDS containing a searchable database of the 1851 census for Devon, Norfolk and Warwickshire.  You can find by navigating through the following menus:

  1. Find Products
  2. Family History
  3. Software & Databases
  4. Census

• 1861 Census for Devon - Joint transcription project by Devon Family History Society and FreeCEN.
• 1871 Census - See links above for Archive CD Books and Ancestry.com.
• 1881 Census for United Kingdom - You can search this online at the LDS Family Search site.  The Mormon Church have also produced this as a CD rom set, which is available to purchase.  You can find details through their Distribution Services website navigating through the following menus:

  1. Find Products
  2. Family History
  3. Software & Databases
  4. Census

  Bob Sanders website Ships in UK Ports 1881 provides transcriptions of ships that were in UK ports in the 1881 census.  These include passengers, crew and also Royal Navy personnel.  These also include mariners at various shore establishments e.g. Royal Navy Barracks, Training Schools and Colleges and prisons.
• 1891 Census for Devon - A searchable database provided by FreeCEN.  Full details of progress of the Devon project can be found here.
• 1901 Census Online - This site has the 1901 census for England and Wales and is part of the 1841-1901 census collection provided by Genes Reunited.  You can search the indexes for free but will need to buy credits to view the images.
• 1911 Census for England and Wales - The 1911 census for England and Wales is part of the Find My Past.com collection of records and provided in association with The National Archives.  Find My Past.com offer a subscription package to view their other records but at the moment this does not include the 1911 census.  You can search the indexes for free, but will need to purchase PayAsYouGo Credits to view a census image or a transcription of the page.