The CENSUS is taken every ten years since 1841 and is a key document for any house historian.Generally they are only available to view after 100 years. So from 1841-1921 they are available.
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Year of Census |
Date that census was taken England & Wales |
England & Wales Name Index * |
Scotland Name Index * |
Ireland Name Index * § |
1841 |
6 June |
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1851 |
30 March |
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1861 |
7 April |
No index |
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1871 |
2 Apri |
No index |
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1881 |
3 Apri |
No index |
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1891 |
5 April |
No index |
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1901 |
31 March |
No index |
No index |
|
1911 |
1 April |
No index |
No index |
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1921 |
19 June |
Name Index |
Late 2022 |
- |
* The Name Indexes can be found at FamilySearch which is a non profit genealogical site associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
§ The majority of the Ireland census was destroyed in a fire only a small amount of information relating to certain counties remains.
§ The majority of the Ireland census was destroyed in a fire only a small amount of information relating to certain counties remains.
Find an address in the census
Find My Past now have a button on all their census pages which allow you to search for an address direct. No more searching for someone by name you can got straight to an address, if it existed in that census year. For more about how to use the census go to our census page on this site Click on the link to go to the the Find My Past or Ancestry Census Pages
A word of warning about transcriptions
A lot of the census has been transcribed and indexed on line which is good news, otherwise you would be looking through reams of paper to find your occupier. In a town that would be next to impossible.
But the bad news is that sometimes the transcriber has had a guess at the name of a place and there are some really bizarre examples which if somebody took half a minute to think about it could have been corrected.
The best place to view the census is online. Most sites are subscription only or pay as you go, although thanks to the Church of the Latter Day Saints (who have done so much to help family historians) the 1851 census is free.
But the bad news is that sometimes the transcriber has had a guess at the name of a place and there are some really bizarre examples which if somebody took half a minute to think about it could have been corrected.
The best place to view the census is online. Most sites are subscription only or pay as you go, although thanks to the Church of the Latter Day Saints (who have done so much to help family historians) the 1851 census is free.
Census for Ireland (1901 and 1911 only)
View digitised and indexed images of the 1901 and 1911 census records for Ireland (including Northern Ireland) on the National Archives of Ireland website.
Use the CensusFinder for locating Irish census substitutes and surviving fragments of the 19th century censuses.
Find My Past has links to some census material
Note: The majority of the Ireland census was destroyed in a fire only a small amount of information relating to certain counties remains.
View digitised and indexed images of the 1901 and 1911 census records for Ireland (including Northern Ireland) on the National Archives of Ireland website.
Use the CensusFinder for locating Irish census substitutes and surviving fragments of the 19th century censuses.
Find My Past has links to some census material
Note: The majority of the Ireland census was destroyed in a fire only a small amount of information relating to certain counties remains.
1922 CENSUS - IS NOW AVAILABLE
Taken on 19 June 1921, The 1921 Census of England and Wales has been locked away for over a century. Until now and it is now available online exclusively at Findmypast. We provide some quick links to the most important pages below
Main 1921 Census Landing page
1921 Address search
1921 Employer search
Main 1921 Census Landing page
1921 Address search
1921 Employer search
Where to find the Census
FreeCen - Some transcripts of census records covering England, Wales and Scotland are available on FreeCen If you want to find out which areas are covered or how much information has been transcribed there is a list by county
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Census - Where to find it - Subscription sites
For general searches click on the link below
Census for England & Wales (1841-1921)
Census records for England and Wales from 1841 to 1921 are available online at subscription sites.
It is free to search these sites but if you want to explore or download the full transcriptions or original documents then you will be required to pay. You can view these free of charge onsite at The National Archives office in Kew and many libraries and record offices have subscriptions to some of these websites which means you may be able to search for free.
Find My Past Census 1841-1921
Ancestry Census 1841-1911
For house historians or people searching for a particular house or road the 1911 and 1901 can be searched by address at Find My Past or The Genealogist
Census for Scotland (1841-1921)
Search and view the census returns for Scotland from 1841 to 1911 at Scotlandspeople but it will require a subscription
Indexes to the Scottish censuses 1841-1901 are also available on Findmypast.co.uk and Ancestry and but they do not have any links to digitised images.
The format of the Census returns for Scotland are on the whole identical to those for England and Wales, except for 1911, when similarly detailed information was gathered, but was then copied into enumeration books.
1921 census is expected to be released late 2020
Search and view the census returns for Scotland from 1841 to 1911 at Scotlandspeople but it will require a subscription
Indexes to the Scottish censuses 1841-1901 are also available on Findmypast.co.uk and Ancestry and but they do not have any links to digitised images.
The format of the Census returns for Scotland are on the whole identical to those for England and Wales, except for 1911, when similarly detailed information was gathered, but was then copied into enumeration books.
1921 census is expected to be released late 2020
FREE DOWNLOADS - Census Forms
BLANK US CENSUS FORMS
We do not supply blank U.S census forms but they can be obtained at the Ancestry site
We do not supply blank U.S census forms but they can be obtained at the Ancestry site
Where Can I Find Out More?
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Census – The Family Historian’s Guide by Peter Christian & David Annal
Amazon A great book covering the UK censuses in some depth.  
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Tracing Your Ancestors Using The Census by Emma Jolly
Amazon A very useful detailed guide to the British census records examining each census and putting it in context with the information that can be found,  
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Census records which can help you are available from 1841 to 1911.
Your local library or record office should have copies and possibly have indexes of streets and districts.
Several on-line paid sites have access to the census.
Find My Past and Ancestry have many records that are free to view
Using the Census A guide from the National Archives
How to use the census records for Family Tree Research by Family Tree
Census Records (England & Wales)- A Guide by the Society of Genealogists
The National Archives is in the process of converting about 300 binders of street indexes to the censuses of England and Wales for 1841-1891 to create an online finding aid and local history resource.
Currently the street indexes to the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses are uploaded onto Your Archives.
Demo of the census street search at TheGenealogist. youtube.com/watch?v=DyrtCN…
Your local library or record office should have copies and possibly have indexes of streets and districts.
Several on-line paid sites have access to the census.
Find My Past and Ancestry have many records that are free to view
Using the Census A guide from the National Archives
How to use the census records for Family Tree Research by Family Tree
Census Records (England & Wales)- A Guide by the Society of Genealogists
The National Archives is in the process of converting about 300 binders of street indexes to the censuses of England and Wales for 1841-1891 to create an online finding aid and local history resource.
Currently the street indexes to the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses are uploaded onto Your Archives.
Demo of the census street search at TheGenealogist. youtube.com/watch?v=DyrtCN…