When was 1891 england census taken

As with previous Census collections, the Census forms were distributed to all households a couple of days before census night and the completed forms were collected the following day. People who were travelling or living abroad were recorded at the location or place where they spent the night. All of the details from the individual forms were later sorted and copied into The Census books, which are the original records you can view images of today. Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet, born in , in Stinsford, Dorset, the son of a stonemason and local builder.

Most of his fictional works were set in the semi-fictional county of Wessex. He later became regarded as an influential poet. In the census, he is found living with his first wife ,Emma Lavinia Hardy, in Max Gate, Dorchester, a house he designed and where he lived until his death.

Along with providing access to Census, BMDs, Non-Conformist Records, Wills and more, the Diamond subscription gives you access to record collections that make it easy to find so much more about your ancestors.

Keep me signed in. Toggle navigation Email Password Forgot? This guide explains how to access the historical censuses from to and provides information on using the census returns of:. All later censuses remain in the custody of the Office for National Statistics.

They will remain closed to the public for years after the date they were conducted. Read section 12 for information on the census returns for Scotland and Ireland. The Register is similar to but not the same as the census. For more information on the Register, please read the guide on the Register.

The census is a head count of everyone in the country on a given day. A census has been taken in England and Wales, and separately for Scotland, every ten years since , with the exception of The object of the census was not to obtain detailed information about individuals, but to provide information about the population as a whole; listing everyone by name, wherever they happened to be on a single night, was the most efficient way to count everybody once, and nobody twice.

A page from the census. In every census year an enumerator delivered a form to each household in the country for them to complete. The heads of household were instructed to give details of everyone who slept in that dwelling on census night, which was always a Sunday. The forms completed by each household, known as schedules, were collected a few days later by the enumerator. From to the information from the schedules was then copied into enumeration books.

Once the enumeration books had been completed, most household schedules were destroyed, although there are some rare survivals. It is the enumeration books that we consult today online or on microfilm. The census was the first to list the names of every individual, which makes it the earliest useful census for family historians. However, less information was collected in than in later census years.

Read section 5 for details of the information recorded in each census year. The General Register Office was responsible for taking the census, so it used the administrative framework already in place for the registration of births, marriages and deaths. The Superintendent Registrar was responsible for collecting the returns from each Registrar of Births and Deaths in their registration district, and sending them to the Census Office in London.

Each Registrar of Births and Deaths was responsible for a sub-district, which they divided into enumeration districts EDs , and recruited enumerators for each ED. This map illustrates three of the registration sub-districts at the time of the census. In the censuses of , , and lists of names were not collected centrally, although some are held in local record offices. Some transcripts and images for these early censuses and census substitutes are searchable online on Findmypast.

The censuses from to are available online. It is free to search on these sites, but there is a charge to view full search results and digitised images. However, you can view them free of charge on site at The National Archives in Kew, at many libraries and record offices and at FamilySearch Centres worldwide. Many local and county record offices also hold microfilm or microfiche copies of the census returns for their own area, excluding Use Find an archive to find contact details for local and county record offices.

There are free indexes to all of the census returns up to at FamilySearch. Statistics on coverage are listed, by county , on their website. You can search by name, browse by place, or locate an exact page if you have the full census reference. Read section 11 for information on using census references. Depending on the census year, and the site, other search options may be available. Street indexes were created for districts containing towns with a population of around 40, or more, from to Online versions for the street indexes for , , , and are preserved in the UK Government Web Archive.

Please note that the limitations of the software that captures website content means that some links within archived web pages do not work. Printed copies of the , and street indexes are available in the reading rooms at The National Archives. For census registration district maps see Cassinimaps. Unlike earlier censuses, the census and later censuses are subject to the Census Act , as amended by the Census Confidentiality Act c.

Until then, they are held by the Office for National Statistics. Statistical information from these censuses is openly available. The census will remain closed until it is made available online by Findmypast. Unfortunately, the census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in , and no census was taken in because of the Second World War.

The following information on individuals enumerated within households is included in each census year as follows slightly different questions were asked on schedules for institutions and vessels, depending on the location and census year :.

In all the household schedules were kept, for the first time see RG 14 , and were not copied into enumeration books. Unoccupied houses and non-residential properties such as churches and factories are also listed. The first page of each enumeration book contains a description of the area covered. From onwards there are separate sections for a description of the boundaries of the ED, and for a list of the streets or dwellings included. From an exact address was required, including the house name or number, if any.

However, in rural areas the only information given still might be the name of the village or parish. Numbers in the left-hand column are schedule numbers, and should not be mistaken for house numbers. A note was made of buildings that were uninhabited, or under construction, in every census year. In and the number of rooms in a dwelling was listed, if fewer than five.

From to a census entry for a new household is indicated by a new schedule number. In a line is ruled across the page at the end of a building, or half-way across the page between households within a building. Example of a census form for vessels. Special enumeration books were completed for institutions such as workhouses, barracks and hospitals in every census year from , including 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 archive. The books were then filmed in to prevent the increasing usage from destroying these fragile records. You may find the odd torn or mutilated page but in general the records have survived in remarkable condition considering the heavy usage they have had. The U. The counting took about three months to process instead of the expected time of two years if counting had been done by hand.

Canada, Norway and Austria were quick to follow and the machine was used to process their census. Meanwhile, at home here in the UK, it's business as usual.

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