The first complete census in England was conducted in under William the Conqueror who was the first Norman King of England. As the new king, he wanted an accounting of land owners who held lands belonging to the crown along with the number of owned livestock. The results of this survey were recorded in what became known as The Domesday Book.
In England, the government census have taken place every ten years since , however, these earlier censuses were taken strictly for statistical purposes by the Overseers of the Poor and the clergy. The first census listing people by name was taken in with the census traditionally being taken every ten years since then except for due to WW II along with the fact that the census was destroyed during WW II. Census records are generally released years after they are taken.
Because of this situation with and census records there will be a thirty year gap. These records are one of the best ways to locate ancestors at a given place and time. Although the census is of great value, it had some limitations. It was originally produced on blue paper and inscribed with pencil. Many of the original images on film were very poor but the digital quality has improved them. In the census, relationships were not given, the age of individuals older than 15 years was rounded down, and specific birthplaces were not provided.
The census and subsequent censuses provide more detailed information, making it easier to find family members. Census details changed little from year to year. See a detailed listing of the changes made to the census over the years starting in The percentages shown in the chart to the right are the percentage of increase in population since the previous census year. At each census, a pre-printed form was used, and this was handed by the enumerators to heads of household.
They were told to only record those actually at home on census night, therefore you will not find listed at home those at boarding schools or those working at night. These were collected soon afterwards. In the enumerator copied the details given onto a master form which is what survives, but in the original forms were kept, with each household having its own form. There are surviving census listings for created on the parish level. Consult an archive in your county to determine what may be available, or information on pre census records can be found in:.
The census was collated by the census office and the resulting Parish Register Abstracts form an important part of the published census material, because from it alone, the clergymen's manuscript returns have survived.
There is statistical data available for every parish in the pre censuses. Consult Online Historical Population Reports article for further details. The links below show the form layouts and the column headings on each census form.
The headings listed the questions asked on each census in PDF format. Also, Guy Etchells has assembled a collection of the official instructions given to enumerators for each census. This census is significant because it was the first census in England and Wales to name every member of a household.
This census was conducted by the Registrar General and has the identifying marks of "HO" which stands for 'Home Office'. The returns were sorted and copied into enumerator's books in the format seen today in the digitized online records.
This was a voluntary census; most places of worship participated. More information about the census can be accessed here. Additionally, this guide from The National Archives provides a better understand of the Ecclesiastical Census of Further information on this census is provided by F. More information. The Census includes additional questions, in addition to what was asked in the census, include giving age in years and month, people born abroad giving a country and province, whether children were orphaned, whether previously divorced, and whether attending school.
A census was held in which unfortunately was destroyed in due to a fire unrelated to the war. However records from Scotland have survived.
In FindMyPast released the register to the public. It was a registration of the population of England on September 29th, , taken for administrative purposes due to the outbreak of World War II. This Register was to be a critical tool in coordinating the war effort at home.
The first Federal Population Census was taken in , and has been taken every ten years since. However, data from recent censuses are not available after because of a year restriction on access to the Census. Most researchers find it most helpful to begin with the Census and work backwards to locate people in earlier generations.
The National Archives has the census schedules on microfilm available from to , and free online access is available through our digitization partners at any National Archives facility. Please note: Most of the Census was destroyed in a Department of Commerce fire, though partial records are available for some states. From , householders were asked to give more precise details of the places of birth of each resident, to state their relationship to him or her, marital status and the nature of any disabilities from which they may have suffered.
The enumerator then collected the census schedules and these were copied into census enumerators' books. The way these are grouped may mean that a road is split over several folios with other streets in between. In this case the street indexes should list a series of folio references.
Although the original census schedules were destroyed many years ago, the books were kept and eventually moved to the PRO Kew now known as The National Archives. The books were then filmed in to prevent the increasing usage from destroying these fragile records. You may find the odd torn or damaged page but in general the records have survived in remarkable condition considering the heavy usage they have had.
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