Lesson 6 - UK Census Records

Census Records

The England, Wales & Scottish and Isle of Mann Census was taken every ten years. The 1841 is the first one to survive with the whole household recorded. The information that can be found on this census is:

Address of house

Name of person

Male/Female and their age

Occupation

Born in County Y/N

Subsequent census’ have more information.

Because they were taken every 10 years they can be used to find children who were baptised in a different place, narrow down the year someone died or if a whole family moved/emigrated.

The 1851 census is more detailed and usually shows where each person was born and their relationship to the Head of house, this will help with your search of parish registers.

NOTE: The information given to the census taker is correct as far as the person giving the information knows. The ages of each person can vary on each census. Ages were also rounded up and down, so a search of +/- 10 years may be needed to find the baptism, usually applies to the adults.

Some places of birth may be where the person remembers growing up, not where they were born. If you can’t find their baptism in the parish given, widen your search to the surrounding parishes. This is where the Parloc program can help to identify those nearby parishes. (type Parloc into the Search this Page box to find how to download the program).

Searching census records and seeing the results will mean taking a subscription or purchasing credits to view.

The three main web sites for the English census records are:

FindMyPast – You will need a UK or World subscription or purchase credits to view.

The Genealogist - https://www.thegenealogist.com/
Ancestry

Subscription only.

You can search both sites for free.

You can also find census results when searching FamilySearch.org. These only show the person you are searching, they don’t show the household. To view the household, you are directed to FMP where you still need a subscription or credits to view.

You can search both sites for free.

SEARCHING CENSUS RECORDS

As I subscribe to FMP, I will be using this site to show how to search the census records.

Click on the Search Tab and you will get a drop-down menu. Go to the bottom A-Z of Record Sets and click this.

You will be presented with the first page that includes these:

Select the census you want to search. For this exercise, I have selected the 1841

I’m searching for William Edwards born circa 1837 in Gwennap, Cornwall. I’ve filled in the basic information and left the birth year +/- 2 years (you can go back and adjust as required).

I could have entered Gwennap under Town but chose to leave it blank in case my information was incorrect.

I get this result.

You can get this far without subscribing or buying credits. To view the transcription, click on the page icon. From other family information, I believe his parent’s to be Thomas and Elizabeth. Clicking on the first one we get this result.

Matches known information, so then click on view image. Sometimes the household can be spread across two images either before or after the page you are viewing. These images are available for all census records except for Scotland. You can still see the transcriptions page for the Scottish census but you need to go to Scotland’s People to view the image. This will cost more.

Always view the image as sometimes the transcription is wrong.

At the bottom-right of the image screen is Download

This will download the image to your computer. I suggest that you go to your downloads folder, find the image and rename it to suit your filing system.

This example is a very straight forward search. 

There are strategies you can employ to find names that have been mis-spelled or mis-transcribed.

You can use the * wild card in your names. This will help find names that have been transcribed or spelled incorrectly.

Do not put any dates in the search criteria.

If you are fairly certain of the county where they came from, enter this in Birth County.

Use any/all of the above in various combinations.

If you still can't find your family, try removing each criteria, starting with birth county. Add a range of years if you have an approximate birth year.

LOST COUSINS 

This web site, once you have registered (free), allows you to enter any relatives from these census’

After entering your families, this part is free, click Search and it will automatically match anyone researching that family. If you get a match you will need to subscribe to get their contact details.

·      Free to register and input information.
·        England & Wales 1881 Census free to search and view results
·        Ireland 1911 Census free to search & view
·        All other census’ are free to search but cost to view
·        Cost of £10.00 per year for Lost Cousins.