CENSUS RECORDS

Since 1801 a census of the country has been made every ten years (except 1941 during the Second World War).

From 1801-31, the census was basically a headcount of the numbers of people (male and female), houses and families in a parish or township; it was carried out by the overseer of the poor. The General Register Office (GRO) was set up in 1837, so from 1841 onwards the GRO carried out the census using a team of temporary workers called enumerators. The enumerators gave out a form a couple of days before the census, and the form was completed on the night of the census, listing the name of everyone who spent that night in the house. Every village, town and county was split into enumeration districts, with about 200 households in each enumeration district.

The enumerator collected the forms and helped householders who couldn’t fill them in. Then the enumerator copied the form into a book, explained any extra or missing people (e.g. if a platoon of soldiers was temporarily posted elsewhere), and signed the book before sending it to the local registrar. The registrar checked the book, signed it and sent it to the superintendent, who in turn signed it and sent it to the Registrar General in London.

Census details are kept private for 100 years as they contain personal information, so the last census to be made available for public viewing was that of 1901. The next to be made available will be that of 1911, in January 2012.

The census dates were:

• 1801 – 10 March
• 1811 – 27May
• 1821 – 28 May
• 1831 – 30 May
• 1841 – 6 June
• 1851 – 30 March
• 1861 – 7 April
• 1871 – 2 April
• 1881 – 3 April
• 1891 – 5 April
• 1901 – 31 March

What information they contain

Census returns 1830-31

Simply a count by overseers of the numbers of people (male and female), houses and families in each parish or township. For the most part, they do not include names, but some enumerators made lists of names (which are available at county record offices; some family history societies have also published transcriptions).

Census returns 1841

• Name (only gives the first forename)
• Address (may be approximate, e.g. just the hamlet name, but may give street name)
• Approximate age
• Occupation
• Whether the person was born in the same county as he/she was living in on the night of the census (if not, this may be S = Scotland, I = Ireland, or F/FP = Foreign Parts; or NK = ‘not known’).

Census returns 1851 onwards

• Name
• Address (streets, roads, this may also give house numbers and names; in 1891 this also included the number of rooms occupied by a family if less than 5)
• Exact age at last birthday
• Marital status (‘condition’ – ‘mar’ = married, ‘u’ = unmarried and ‘w’ = widow or widower)
• Rank, profession or occupation (children are often noted as ‘scholars’; in 1891 there are also columns for employer, employed or ‘neither employer nor employed’ – the latter means ‘self-employed’; in 1901 it is ‘employer, worker or own account’ and there is also a column ‘if working at home’)
• Relationship to the head of the house (e.g. wife, son, daughter, sister, brother, visitor)
• Parish and county of birth
• Notes (i.e. if person is deaf-and-dumb, blind, ‘imbecile or idiot’, or lunatic; by 1891 the last two categories are lumped together).

Census enumerator books

The front pages of the enumerator books describe the boundary of the enumeration district. The number of people enumerated is a running number on the left-hand side of each page; the house number might appear in the second column next to the street name, or is otherwise unlisted.

Where to find them

Cenus returns

The originals for the 1841-91 censuses for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are kept in the Family Records Centre in London. However, the ones for your county should also be available in your local record office and in some local studies centres on microfilm or microfiche. You can also search digital images and transcriptions of the 1901 census at www.1901censusonline.com: it is free to search the indexes although you will pay a small fee to see the census pages and transcripts. You can also search the 1891 census at www.ancestry.co.uk. The Society of Genealogists also holds copies of the returns 1841–61 and 1891 on microfilm.

Census returns for Scotland are at the General Register Office for Scotland, though there is a computerised index to the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census at the Family Records Centre. You can also search the indexes online for a small fee at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/.

It is also possible to buy CD-ROMs that cover the census returns for one county in a particular year, from specialist geneaology suppliers. You can also buy microfiche copies of registration sub-districts from the National Archives.

Census enumerator books

The originals (and a microfilm set for the whole of England and Wales) are kept in the National Archives at the Family Records Centre, however, the ones for your county should also be available in your local record office on microfilm.

Potential difficulties

For 1841, full addresses are not always given and family relationships are not included. Ages of anyone over 15 were rounded down to the nearest five years (so if someone was 44, their age would be recorded as 40), and birthplaces only show if someone was born in that county, or if that person was born in Scotland, Ireland or ‘Foreign Parts’.

The census only lists the people who stayed at the house on census night. Places of birth are not always correct – the enumerator might have misheard them or spelled them wrongly. And people within the family may not be at home on census night: for example, servants who lived in at their place of work, people in the army and navy, or people in institutions such as workhouses, hospitals, schools and prison.

For the 1841 survey, the microfilm is a negative copy; it’s quite hard to read white handwriting on a black background.

It’s also possible that ages are inaccurate; some women didn’t want to admit that they had married a much younger man, and children are often shown as older than they really are because they could earn better wages as a 15-year-old, say, than as a 12-year-old. Family relationships could also be inaccurate; a woman’s illegitimate child was often described as being the youngest child of her parents.

LOCAL CENSUS RETURNS

Some cities also took a census of their poor. For example, in 1570 there was a census in Norwich. It was taken in order of parish.

What information they contain

• Name
• Age
• Comments (e.g. who he worked with, how he treated his wife)
• Spouse’s name, age and occupation
• Children’s names and occupations
• Where they live
• The verdict.

For example, in the parish of St Peter Southgate, there is an entry: ‘Richard Rich of 35 yeris, a husbondman that worke with Mr Contrell, & kepe not with his wufe but at tymes & helpeth her little... They have dwelt here 2 yeris... The house of Mr. Robert Suklyng. No almes & Veri poore. Hable to work. To go Away?

In sharp contrast, in the parish of St John Timberhill: ‘Gefry Roberdes of 40 yeris, cordwainer in worke & diseased with the stone, & Anne, his wife, that botcheth; & 3 daughters, the eldes 9 yers and spyn & the rest to skole, & hath dwelt here ever.’ He didn’t get alms, but he wasn’t asked to leave the parish.

Where to find them

Local record offices; sometimes records are published by local record societies. For example, The Norwich Census of the Poor was published by the Norfolk Record Society in 1971.

Potential difficulties

As with many records, survival may be patchy; there may be copyright, access and legibility issues.

ELECTORAL REGISTERS

Electoral registers (sometimes called the Electoral Roll) record the names of people who are entitled to vote. They are arranged in order of electoral division, polling district and then alphabetically by voter or street. The series of registers starts in 1832, when they had to be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace.

What information they contain

Names and addresses.

Where to find them

Local studies libraries and county record offices have collections of registers. Some will be original; others will be on microfilm or microfiche. Other archive sources that have copies include the British Library; the National Archives; and the Society of Genealogists.

Potential difficulties

Not all registers survive; because they were large, they were often thrown away when they were no longer current.

Earlier registers will be smaller because fewer people were entitled to vote. It is worth noting the dates of enfranchisement:

• From 1832 – in the boroughs, all male householders (i.e. including tenants) of land worth at least £10 a year, and in the counties, owners of property worth at least £10
• From 1867 – in the boroughs, all owners of dwelling houses and occupiers who paid more than £10 in rent a year, and in the counties, all male householders of property worth £5 or who occupied land and paid rent of more than £50 a year
• From 1884 – all owners of dwelling houses and occupiers who paid more than £10 in rent a year (so this is most men over 21)
• From 1918 – all men over the age of 21; all women aged over 30 who were householders or wives of householders
• From 1928 – all women over the age of 21.

Note that not everyone registers to vote, so electoral registers will never be complete.

TAXATION AND RATING RECORDS

Records of taxation – which identify taxpayers, people who were exempt from tax and people who were in arrears of payment – survive from medieval times. There were different types of taxes and the records were kept by different people.

The National Archives has a database of taxation lists in England between the late 1300s and 1689; this is online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e179.

Land Tax Assessments

Land tax was levied each year between 1692 and 1949 (though the tax itself wasn’t abolished until 1963); the Clerk of the Peace in each county kept the copies of the land tax assessments. The tax was based on 4 shillings in the pound and was levied on land with an annual value of more than £1 a year. Catholics had to pay double between 1692 and 1831. From 1798, landowners could sign a contract with the Land Tax Commissioners to pay a lump sum or buy government stock in exchange for freeing them from liability.

Hearth Tax Assessments

In 1662 there was a tax of two shillings for every fire, hearth or stove in households; it was payable in two instalments, at Michaelmas (29 September) and Lady Day (25 March). The tax was difficult to collect and was very unpopular; it was abolished after March 1689. There were exemptions:

• Houses rented at less than £1 a year
• Houses containing less than £10 of goods
• Hospitals
• Almshouses
• Paupers (if they had a certificate of exemption signed by the parish priest and churchwarden).

Poll taxes

Poll taxes were collected in 1377, 1379 and 1381, then again after restoration of the monarchy in 1660, 1667, 1678, 1689, 1691, 1694, and 1697. The charge was based on people’s social rank, occupation or office. It varied between poll taxes:

• In 1377 it was 4d per person aged over 14
• In 1379 it was 4d per person over 16
• In 1381 it was a shilling per person over 15 (and this led to the Peasant’s Revolt)
• For the 17th-century taxes, people over the age of 16 paid a shilling (if they weren’t otherwise chargeable) and children under 16 paid 6d. Paupers were excluded.

Window taxes

The window tax was collected from 1696 to 1851. There was a flat rate house tax for part of these years, as well as an amount which varied with the rateable value of the house. There was also a tax on the number of windows, which again varied:

• 1696–1766, on houses with 10 or more windows
• 1766-1825, on houses with 7 or more windows
• 1825-51, on houses with 8 or more windows.

Windows of business premises were exempt in some years. The occupier rather than the owner had to pay the tax, but people who didn’t have to pay poor rates were usually exempt. Many people blocked up windows so they didn’t have to pay tax.

Domesday books

In 1910 (under the Finance Act) all properties in England and Wales were valued, and the registers were called the ‘Domesday Books’ (sometimes the ‘Lloyd George Domesday Books’). For more details, see Chapter 7, page 125, Field Office Valuations.

Poor Rate Assessments (‘rate books’)

Before 1834 property-holders had to pay a rate to the parish to help keep the poor. (See below for more information about poor relief.) The overseers of the poor in each parish kept accounts of the rate paid in special rate books. During the 1800s, the rate was collected by the Boards of Guardians; in 1925, collection of the rates became the responsibility of the district councils. Poor rate assessments survive from the mid-1600s until the mid-1900s.

What information they contain

Land Tax Assessments

• Names of landowners of property worth £1 (i.e. 20 shillings) a year or more
• Names of the owner/occupier of property
• Names of tenants.

The 1798 assessments show which landowners signed the contract to free them from liability and also list the contract number. Contracts made from 1905-50 include plans of the property.

Hearth Tax Assessments

• Names of chargeable and non-chargeable households, arranged by county and then by parish
• The number of hearths in the house
• How much they had to pay.

Sometimes the returns (the actual amounts paid) were listed separately; in some lists the returns are marked on the assessments.

Poll tax lists

• Names of people who paid the tax
• How much they paid.

Some may also list occupations and relationships between household members.

Window tax returns

• Name and address of taxpayers
• Number of windows in the house
• Tax paid.

Domesday books

• A brief description of the property
• Name of the property owner and occupier
• The property’s value.

Some are shown on large scale Ordnance Survey maps – see Chapter 7.

Poor Rate Assessments

Early lists show only the occupier’s name and the sum assessed; even later books might not have a full description of the property – it might be simply listed as ‘cottage’. From 1834, the names of owners and the rate assessments tend to be in separate books.

Where to find them

Land Tax Assessments

County record offices, on microfilm or microfiche (usually in quarter sessions – in the records of the Clerk of the Peace); or for the 1798 assessments see the National Archives, series IR23 and IR24.

Hearth Tax Assessments

Assessments for Michaelmas 1662 to Lady Day 1666 and for Michaelmas 1669 to Lady Day 1674 are in the National Archives, series El79; other years are held in county record offices, either on microfilm or microfiche. Between 1666 and 1669 the tax was collected by commissions (freelance collectors, known as ‘farmers’) and few lists of taxpayers survive for that era.

Poll Tax Lists

Poll tax lists for the 14th century as well as those for 1660, 1667 and 1678 are held in the National Archives in series El79; later ones are in series El82. County record offices hold some poll tax lists.

Window tax returns

Returns are generally in the county record offices.

Domesday books

These are held in county record offices; also in the National Archives.

Poor Rate Assessments

These are held in county record offices.

Potential difficulties

Land Tax Assessments

Not every householder’s name is documented after 1798 because some paid the lump sum to avoid future taxation. Survival of records before 1780 is patchy.

Hearth Tax Assessments

The number of hearths might be inaccurate, and might change from one assessment to the next. Not every householder’s name is documented because of widespread evasion.

Poll Tax Lists

Not everyone is documented, due to widespread evasion of the tax. The 14th-century lists are in Latin.

Domesday books

Survival of records can be patchy and county record offices may not have all maps available.

Poor Rate Assessments

Survival is patchy – it’s unusual to find a complete set of rate books – and details aren’t always accurate.