History

Long history of Census in the spotlight

By Laura Manning

THE October meeting of the Blackmore Vale Family History Group featured Dr Penny Walters, who gave a talk on ‘UK Censuses from 1801 to the Present’ at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton.

Penny is an experienced international lecturer on family history topics and her talk gave novices and experienced researchers plenty to think about.

For the best results, Census returns should be viewed with other documents, such as the official registration of births, marriages and deaths, and with a map of the UK to hand. Penny pointed out how county boundaries have changed over the years – for example, streets in Bristol have been in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Avon and now, the City of Bristol. This may explain away some of the ‘brick walls’ when trying to locate an address.

The first four censuses – 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 – were just head counts and statistical summaries for Government purposes – mainly tax. The first useful census for family historians was taken on Sunday 6 June 1841 and recorded the names of inhabitants, their age – rounded up or down – sex, job and whether they were born in or out of the county.

A Sunday was chosen for this task as it was presumed that most people would be ‘at home’. The 1851 census records relationships within the household and everyone’s place of birth. The UK census continued to be taken on a Sunday every ten years and each time more details were recorded.

The enumerators had the job of collecting the forms – which had been distributed a few days before census night – and of sorting the responses and copying them into the enumerators’ books. This information was copied into an enumeration book by the district registrar before being sent to the General Register Office in London.

Obviously, there was room for human error at several stages. It is microfilmed copies of these books to which family historians now have access – the original books are held at the Kew National Archives but are not available to the public.

On the first page of each book may be found the route the enumerator took – this is useful to confirm the whereabouts of streets that have disappeared.

The 1911 Census was the taken on Sunday 2 April 1911 and was the first to be filled in by and signed by the head of the household. This one-page return also asked for the number of years a person had been married, the number of children born and the number of surviving children. Some of these figures are distressing. The 1911 Census was also a time of great suffrage activity – the rallying cry was ‘if women don’t count, neither shall they be counted’ and many supporters of the Votes for Women movement did their best to be ‘absent’ on the night of the count. Emily Wilding Davison hid in a broom cupboard in the House of Commons on the night – and was duly registered on the House of Commons’ return. Emily’s mother, however, also noted her as being resident at their home.

Penny gave another example of one very self-assured householder who spent the night of the Census with his mistress – and recorded her occupation as such!

The 1921 Census should have been taken in April but was delayed until 19 June 1921 because of the coal miners’ strike. This was the first Census taken after the First World War and revealed the huge loss of men in the years of conflict and the after-effects of the flu pandemic. The data from this has been available online since January 2022.

A few weeks after war was declared in 1939, the Government organised the 1939 Register. The information gathered from this was used to produce identity cards and ration books – therefore, it’s probable that people were more honest about their returns. As this is not classed as a proper Census, this is freely available online.

The meeting was reminded that everyone completed a Census return in 2021 – and the results of this will not be made publicly available for 100 years. It is probable that this will be the last UK headcount taken, as so many other ways now exist of keeping track of the population.

The Blackmore Vale Family History Group meets again on Wednesday 16 November at 7.30pm at The Exchange, Sturminster Newton. Speaker Felicity Herring will tell the amazing story of Dr James Barry, who was, in fact, a female doctor, and the first such in Britain. There is a small charge of £3 to Somerset & Dorset Family History Society members and £4 for non-members. Everyone is very welcome. Enquiries to blackmorevalegroup@gmail. com or visit https://sdfhs.org

Family historians should be aware that county boundaries have changed greatly over the years, something they may need to consider when trying to locate an address

The 1911 Census was taken at a time of great suffrage activity, when the rallying cry was ‘if women don’t count, neither shall they be counted’. Many supporters of the Votes for Women movement did their best to be ‘absent’ on the night of the count