Reference Centre, Quick Reference Charts
Census - England, Wales & Scotland
1801 1811 1821 1831
1841 1851 1861 1871
1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| Index | Some surviving returns have been published, but these are scarce. |
| Notes | Jersey, Aldernay, Sark and Scilly Islands not included in census. Only 99 of 850 Scottish parishes could complete returns. Some Overseers compiled listings of individuals before completing return which may be still in parish chest or local town, borough, or county record offices. Original returns destroyed in 1901. |
| Index | Some surviving returns have been published, but these are scarce. |
| Notes | Some Overseers compiled listings of individuals before completing return which may be still in parish chest or local town, borough, or county record offices. Original returns destroyed in 1904. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1821 28 May |
No | No. # of inhabited and un- inhabited houses plus # of families occupying them. | Neither | No | No | Recorded in 5-year groupings as well as # of baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish. | Statistics only | # of marriages in the parish only. | Statistics of male/female employed in agriculture, trade, handcrafts, manufacture and others. |
No | No | No |
| Index | Some surviving returns have been published, but these are scarce. |
| Notes | Some Overseers compiled listings of individuals before completing return which may be still in parish chest or local town, borough, or county record offices. Original returns destroyed in 1904. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1831 30 May |
Statistics only | No. # of inhabited and un- inhabited houses plus number of families occupy- ing them. |
Neither | No | No | Recorded in 5-year groupings. | Statistics only | # of marriages in the parish only. | Statistics of male/female employed in agriculture, trade, handcrafts, manufacture and others. |
No | No | No |
| Index | Some surviving returns have been published, but these are scarce. |
| Notes | Some Overseers compiled listings of individuals before completing return which may be still in parish chest or local town, borough, or county record offices. Original returns destroyed in 1904. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1841 6 Jun |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is not stated. | Yes | Birth place only general- ized to if born in: county, Scotland, Ireland or foreign | No | No | Ages over 15 to be rounded down to nearest age ending in a 5 or 0. Ages under 15 were to be recorded exactly. Ages not always recorded in accor- dance with this procedure. |
Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites and index only fully accessible for free on Family Search and partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1851 30 Mar |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind or other. | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupa- tion |
Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1861 7 Apr |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind or other. Scotland records education as number of people in household attending school. | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupa- tion |
Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1871 2 Apr |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind, idiot or lunatic. | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupa- tion |
Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1881 3 Apr |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind, idiot or lunatic. | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupa- tion |
Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1891 5 Apr |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes. Also records # of rooms in the house. | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes. Also notes if person is employed, unemployed or an employer. |
Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind, idiot or lunatic. | No | No |
| Index | Some available through family history societies and on-line. England, Wales, Channel Is., Isle of Man index fully accessible for free on Family Search. Scotland rough index fully accessible for free on Family Search. England, Wales and Scotland partially accessible for free on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupation | Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1901 31 Mar |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes. Also records number of inhabited and un- inhabited houses and buildings. Also records number of rooms occupied if less than five. | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes | Yes. Also notes if person is employer, worker or if working on own account or at home. | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile or feeble-minded. | No | No |
| Index | Some available on-line. England, Wales Index only fully accessible for free on Family Search. Minimal returns available on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. |
| Year & Date |
Names | Address | Place of Birth and/ or Nation- ality |
Immigra- tion |
Rel. or Race |
Age or Birth Date |
Sex | Marital Status | Occupa- tion |
Education or Infirmities |
Military Service | Add'l Sch. |
| 1911 2 Apr |
All persons in house. Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes. Also # of inhabited and un- inhabited houses and buildings. Also # of rooms occupied if less than five. | Birth place only | No | No | Exact age | Yes | Yes with # of years married to current spouse, (only answered by married women). Also, # of children born to present marriage, # still living, # who have died.1 | Yes. Also notes if person is employer, worker or if working on own account or at home. | Education no. Infirmities as deaf, dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile or feeble-minded. | No | No |
| Index | Some available on-line. England, Wales Index only fully accessible for free on England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. Minimal available on FreeCEN. |
| Notes | England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man index and images fully accessible on pay-per-view websites. Index to Scottish census available on some pay-per-view websites. Scottish census and index are fully accessible at: Scotland's People. |
1 This procedure was not always followed precisely. Often, the information was asked of a widowed husband or wife, the statistics entered but eventually crossed through. Also, this procedure leaves no avenue for the accounting of children either spouse may have had by a previous marriage.
Census taken 19 June 1921
| Name & Surname | Relation to Head | Age | Sex | Marriage or Orphanhood | Birthplace | Nationality | If Attending School | Occupa- tion |
Employ- ment |
Place of Work |
Total Children Under 16 |
Ages of Children Under 16 |
| All persons in house. | Relation to head of house is stated. | Yes, in years and months. | Yes. | If married, single, divorced, or widowed. Children have a statement of whether one or both parents are alive even if they are not living in the household of their parents. | Yes | Yes. Also whether British born, British Citizen, citizen of another country, or visitor. | If whole time or part time. | Yes | Yes, with name of employer if not self. | Yes. Notes if person is working at home or the address if they work away from home. | All persons in the household, except children, are asked how many children they have under 16. | Yes, for all children of persons in the household even if the children are not living in that household. |
| Index | England and Wales census only available on FindmyPast until 2025. Scotland census only available on Scotlands People. |
| Notes | 1The census was originally scheduled to be completed in April and, in fact, the 1921 census schedules all bear the date of 24 April 1921. The census was postponed as there was a coal miners' strike at that time with the threat of a possible national strike which would include the transport workers. The 1921 census will be exclusively available on Findmypast until 2025, after which The National Archives (TNA) will be able to set up deals with other partners such as Ancestry, TheGenealogist or MyHeritage. A household was defined as an independent unit. For example, if there was a family living upstairs and a family downstairs in a two-storey terraced house, each was a separate household and needed its own census schedule. A boarder – an individual who received both bed and board within the family – was part of the household in which they boarded. On the other hand, a lodger – an individual who received bed only, and ate independently of their hosts – constituted their own household and required their own census schedule. |
The 1931 Census of England and Wales was destroyed in a fire at the Office of Works in 1942.
The 1941 Census was never taken due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
The 1951 Census is not due to be released until 2052.
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